Before the questions, a bit of background: I dose my 38g with about 30ml of B-Ionic Parts 1&2 per day. I top off a bit less than 1G RO/DI per day. I need to automate the dosing of Ca/Alk and have been researching several options. I'd like the automated system to be able to handle 2 weeks without intervention.
My first thought was dosing pumps to dose the needed amount of B-Ionic per day. However, the pumps I can find do about .8gph which translates into 50ml per minute, way too high a flow for dosing B-Ionic. Also I tried out a Kent Aquadose and getting it to drip at such a slow level in next to impossible.
Now I'm pondering Kalk and I'm not sure whether to go with just mixing into my top-off or going with a Nilsen reactor. So now on to the questions.
1) Will Kalk in top-off keep up with needs? I'm pretty lightly stocked now but plan for a few more SPS which will increase need. Is there a calculator that can help me figure out the amount of Ca/Alk I'll be dosing in .9gallons of topoff?
2) Can Kalk be mixed directly into the top-off reservoir? I've read some people do this but in other places I've read you need to mix and then siphon off the liquid only into the resevior.
3) If I can mix Kalk directly in how often will i probably need to clean out the reservoir. I'm using a 15g high for top-off and I can get to it for cleaning but not easily. I don't want to have to pull it out every week to clean out sediment.
4) Would a Nilsen be less maintenance and can it be mounted under a tank with the output going all the way up to the top of the main tank? I don't want to go this route and then find out that the feeding pump isn't strong enough to push through the reactor and all the way up to the tank.
Sorry for the long post but my research has hit a dead end considering the size tank i have.
My first thought was dosing pumps to dose the needed amount of B-Ionic per day. However, the pumps I can find do about .8gph which translates into 50ml per minute, way too high a flow for dosing B-Ionic. Also I tried out a Kent Aquadose and getting it to drip at such a slow level in next to impossible.
Now I'm pondering Kalk and I'm not sure whether to go with just mixing into my top-off or going with a Nilsen reactor. So now on to the questions.
1) Will Kalk in top-off keep up with needs? I'm pretty lightly stocked now but plan for a few more SPS which will increase need. Is there a calculator that can help me figure out the amount of Ca/Alk I'll be dosing in .9gallons of topoff?
2) Can Kalk be mixed directly into the top-off reservoir? I've read some people do this but in other places I've read you need to mix and then siphon off the liquid only into the resevior.
3) If I can mix Kalk directly in how often will i probably need to clean out the reservoir. I'm using a 15g high for top-off and I can get to it for cleaning but not easily. I don't want to have to pull it out every week to clean out sediment.
4) Would a Nilsen be less maintenance and can it be mounted under a tank with the output going all the way up to the top of the main tank? I don't want to go this route and then find out that the feeding pump isn't strong enough to push through the reactor and all the way up to the tank.
Sorry for the long post but my research has hit a dead end considering the size tank i have.