thinking about changing ATO to go thru kalk reactor

[nickyblase]

I have a kalk reactor and an aqualifter that I was going to set up on a timer to go at night to maintain stable ph.

I already have a fresh water 5g bucket that's hooked up to my ATO, and use a calcium reactor as well.

Should I get rid of the 5g fresh water bucket and just use the kalk reactor for my topoff? If so, how do I keep the reactor filled with water without depleting my RO/DI resin too quickly? The reactor doesn't hold a ton of water, so I'd think it'd need to be filled pretty frequently.

Any design ideas welcome.

 

[Aquaman_68]

I have a kalk reactor and an aqualifter that I was going to set up on a timer to go at night to maintain stable ph.

I already have a fresh water 5g bucket that's hooked up to my ATO, and use a calcium reactor as well.

Should I get rid of the 5g fresh water bucket and just use the kalk reactor for my topoff? If so, how do I keep the reactor filled with water without depleting my RO/DI resin too quickly? The reactor doesn't hold a ton of water, so I'd think it'd need to be filled pretty frequently.

Any design ideas welcome.

L....I do top off thru a Kalk reactor....I use a 55 gal barrel for this....I store ro/di in the 55 gal which is plumbed to a peralistic pump (on a timer to go on after the lights go out) This pump drives water thru the kalk reactor so no actual kalk water ever touches the diaphram in the peralistic pump. (so the pump pretty much is not touched by the kalk & that means pump failure due to torn diaphrams from the kalk is eliminated )

My pump has a dial so I can regulate how much water passes thru it while it is on....You can dial it in to just push enough water back in for evaporated water from your system. Beauty of doing it with the lights off....It also aids in picking up the ph when the lights are off. (ph drop when the lights shut off is normal...It just makes it less of a swing)


HTH...PM me if you want specifics....


B

 

[JohnK]

Basically the same set up here .

 

[NateHanson]

That's what I did too. Nothing will change about your current top-off system except the output. Just take the output of your ATO off the sump, and run it into the bottom of your kalk reactor instead (or into the fitting on top that runs into the bottom of the reactor).

I'm curious, how are you using your kalk reactor right now? Is it set up with it's own RODI reservoir, so you essentially have 2 ATO systems? One through the kalk reactor, and one with straight RODI?

Nate

 

[alpha0r]

I have a single vessel that holds RO/DI water and feeds a float valve and my kalk reactor. My tank evaporates different amounts throughout the year and I don't have the cash for a nice pump so I let the reactor add about 1L a day and let the rest go though the float valve.

 

[nickyblase]

Thanks guys - this helps. Nate - the current setup of the kalk reactor is that it's not set up.

It's been sitting in my fish closet waiting for me to set it up. Now that I have my controller set up (thanks Ray!), I can now see the logs of what my pH goes to at night, and I want to keep it a lot more stable.

So if you guys do your topoff only at night, do you get any significant changes in salinity from day to night? My evap isn't too bad - between one and two gallons.

 

[Jim Tansey]

I did mine that way with a kalk stirrer, great setup.

Jim

 

[alpha0r]

My reactor feeds for 2 min 4 times at night aprox 250ml per shot (50g total tank volume). This amount has no mesurable impact on my salinity.

Edit: each shot raises the PH by about .1 to .15

 

[Aquaman_68]

Salinity doesn't change from the adding of water much at all...It goes up when water evaporates & down when you add evap water back but it is very minor...most systems don't evap more than three gals a day (200 gal total water volume) The bigger systems evap a little more but the fluctuation in salinity never changes. (cause pretty much the water volume is higher)


extreme cases of very hot houses & no chiller can effect how much evap takes place as well.....

HTH,
B