Giving up on Nilsen Reactor

[smcnally]

Well, I built it, and it came out alright, but I just don't trust it under pressure. I need to think of a way to dose my kalk....I can't have my auto top off go into another container before my sump due to space requirements. I really want to start dosing kalk, but it seems like it is going to be way too much of a pain. Can someone explain to me why I wouldn't be able to suck a gallon of water out of my tank mix with kalk, and then pour the saturated fluid into the tank once it settled? I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to do that. But, I keep reading posts from people saying you can't, although nobody knows why not.

 

[denvig]

See the first section of this Operation Manual It may help explain why you should not feed to fast.

http://www.aqua-medic.de/eng/support/Kalkwasserreaktor-e.pdf

 

[smcnally]

Dennis, I'm not talking about dosing it quickly. I'm talking about using tank water to mix it with instead of RODI since my RODI auto tops off my sump. That way I won't have a salinity fluctuation.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

You need to mix it with fresh water only, not saltwater. The reason why is that you'll get a lot of precipitated magnesium and calcium carbonates.

 

[denvig]

Dennis, I'm not talking about dosing it quickly. I'm talking about using tank water to mix it with instead of RODI since my RODI auto tops off my sump. That way I won't have a salinity fluctuation.

If your using a reactor why are you not running the auto top off through the reactor. Similar to the instructions for the Aqua-Medic.

Edit:
I just saw "due to space requirements" But this would be the best way.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

I think he means he's looking for an alternative to the reactor, since he doesn't like the one he made.

 

[smcnally]

You need to mix it with fresh water only, not saltwater. The reason why is that you'll get a lot of precipitated magnesium and calcium carbonates.

Thanks, that was EXACTLY what I was wondering. You're right...I don't trust the unit I built to hold up to constant pressure. I just need to figure out a different way to do this.

 

[JohnK]

You can leave the auto top off in place and run kalk top off seperate. Just use a perastaltic pump on a timer and set it to add 75% of the daily top off with the kalk. (if you can find the space for a seperate kalk res)

If your really unsatisfied with the reactor you built it's not too hard or expensive to make one from PVC. If your interested in that idea I can e-mail you a pic of the one I made.

also,
Can you run the reactor you made with a top off pump after the reactor, and have the inlet to the reactor connected to a resivor? This way it would operate under a slight vacum instead of under pressure.

 

[smcnally]

Could you send me that pic? Maybe that's what I'll do. I actually saw one for sale that was made from a water filter housing, but it seems way too small.

 

[JohnK]

can you PM me your e-mail so I can send a pic, I couldn't access it on the user panel or whatever it's called. Said user does not want to be contacted by E-mail.

The more I think about it my PVC kalk reactor wasn't all that cheap. I made it with a bunch of unuions, lg pvc pipe and fittings, and a mag 2 to circulate plus a digital timer and I must have spent 50-100$ on it. Whatever the case, It was a fun project you could copy or modify easily.