Looking for ideas for a DIY kalk Reactor

[naturebatslast]

I'm mixing 5 gal of kalk at a time and using it as topoff, and it's a little PIA. My space is kind of a limited, has anyone seen smaller DIY kalk reactor?
Thanks, Matt

 

[JOHNNY O.]

reactor

you must have seen this one but ill list it Any way.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=587186&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[naturebatslast]

Thanks Johnny for the link in the Ca reactor, but, I'm looking or a kalk DIY design.
Thanks though, Matt

 

[JOHNNY O.]

reactor

sorry miss read your post.

 

[naturebatslast]

No worries

 

[JOHNNY O.]

reactor

how much room do you have?

 

[naturebatslast]

For Height, a little taller than a 5 gal bucket. Length and width are about 2ftx2ft.

 

[JohnK]

here's mine

 

[naturebatslast]

That's pretty slick.
So, your topping off thru the Kalk reactor? Maybe I've thought about this the wrong way, and I'm still confused how to go about it.

Could this be modified into a low tech bucket/small barrel method. I have a topof system that uses 2 float switches, one for low water and one for high, both in sump. Could I somehow use the 2nd switch to run a kalk topoff?

 

[Steve H]

I built this one a while ago and still use it, works pretty good. I'm in the process of breaking down my tank when I get to equipment you can have it if you want
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13227

 

[Reef55]

That's pretty slick.
So, your topping off thru the Kalk reactor? Maybe I've thought about this the wrong way, and I'm still confused how to go about it.

Could this be modified into a low tech bucket/small barrel method. I have a topof system that uses 2 float switches, one for low water and one for high, both in sump. Could I somehow use the 2nd switch to run a kalk topoff?

Just have the water output from your current top-off go though a kalk-reactor before the water gets dumped in your tank.

 

[naturebatslast]

I built this one a while ago and still use it, works pretty good. I'm in the process of breaking down my tank when I get to equipment you can have it if you want
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13227

Thanks very much for the offer, but my size constraints may not let me use that.

Just have the water output from your current top-off go though a kalk-reactor before the water gets dumped in your tank.

Mmmm. I don't have the money to pony down on a reactor, but I do have the body of an old Seaclone. Maybe I can play with it and figure something out.

 

[JohnK]

It can be really simple - a jar with an in and an out john Guest fitting. Pick up and shake once a day. (In tube goes to a small resivor located anywhere)

The tricky thing is pumping the kalk - doesn't necessarily work well with standard pumps. Peristaltic pumps work well. You can use the $90 aquamedic one and connect it to your top off controls.

The only risk with direct kalk top off is if you lose some water somehow, say you siphon a gallon in cleaning, if you don't replace that gallon manuallly with SW, the gallon will get replaced with kalk - too much too fast.

Personally I run a perastltic pump that runs all day to cover most of the top off needs with kalk. This is backed up by a simple float valve top off of RO. Both the kalk reactor and the float valve are fed from the same RO resivor. If I loose some water the tank gets diluted a bit, but not kalk spiked.

 

[Gina McReeferson]

You ever do anything with this Matt? I just whipped together one for myself, I was wondering how you ended up going about yours.

-Gina






-Ok, it was Dave, just being funny.

 

[naturebatslast]

Hey Gina, I was trying, but dosing in tandem with Ca reactor, it was elevating my alk too high. I'd still like to do it, but I'm pretty frustrated.
Are you all using both CA reactor and Kalk? What kind of design did you use?

 

[delta]

Matt just out of curiosity why are you trying to use kalk and a calcium reactor?

Low PH?

Anyway you can find a few designs in the DIY showcase stickied at the top of the DIY forum

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10623

 

[Gina McReeferson]

Here you go Matt, a little ghetto, but it gets the job done whilst I work on other projects. I will get back to the Kalk reactor after a couple of other projects are finished up (more on those soon... ) and nice it up a bit, but for now, this will do just fine. Simple, cheap, and to the point. I use a paristaltic pump to dose to the system from the bucket, and the hose coming out the left hand side there is plumbed to the RO/DI unit keeping the bucket full. I use a PH controller to run the pump through a timer and these are the only components (the pump and controller) that cost me any "real" money. As an aside, I am not too impressed with the "PinPoint" PH controllers, but that is another subject. I used an old gearmotor I had lying around (it's a Pittman unit) to do the stirring (that's 3/8" acrylic tubing the stirrer is made from) and I run that off of a 12V "wall wart" on a timer.

Here are some pics, I am sure you get the general idea...

Edit: Oh yeah, had to heat and bend the bucket a bit near the top so the float valve would not interfere with the stiring mechanism.

 

[naturebatslast]

Matt just out of curiosity why are you trying to use kalk and a calcium reactor?

Low PH?

Anyway you can find a few designs in the DIY showcase stickied at the top of the DIY forum

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10623

I was trying to bop up my levels at night. I've had this Ca reactor for the last 6 months and cannot get good calcareous algae coverage. Also, I was trying to duplicate the system that Gurumasta/Derek had with slow dripping kalk at night with a Ca reactor running 24/7. I've tried elevating the drip and bubble rates, but no dice. I also bop up my water changes with some additional Ca added. Had to stop the kalk, because, of course, levels were too high.

 

[naturebatslast]

Here you go Matt, a little ghetto, but it gets the job done whilst I work on other projects. I will get back to the Kalk reactor after a couple of other projects are finished up (more on those soon... ) and nice it up a bit, but for now, this will do just fine. Simple, cheap, and to the point. I use a paristaltic pump to dose to the system from the bucket, and the hose coming out the left hand side there is plumbed to the RO/DI unit keeping the bucket full. I use a PH controller to run the pump through a timer and these are the only components (the pump and controller) that cost me any "real" money. As an aside, I am not too impressed with the "PinPoint" PH controllers, but that is another subject. I used an old gearmotor I had lying around (it's a Pittman unit) to do the stirring (that's 3/8" acrylic tubing the stirrer is made from) and I run that off of a 12V "wall wart" on a timer.

Here are some pics, I am sure you get the general idea...

Edit: Oh yeah, had to heat and bend the bucket a bit near the top so the float valve would not interfere with the stiring mechanism.

One word, SLICK!
Very nice work, especially the the gear motor. Are yous guys using a Ca reactor as well?

 

[Gina McReeferson]

Not yet, it's one of the aforementioned "projects". This thing has really cut down on the "swing" at night.