Merry Christmas Reef Sanctuary!
- Thread starter StoneyReef
- Start date
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Awesome Patrick!
:smirk:
:smirk:
fidojoe
Fish Addict
I got it today! Yay, I'm so anxious to get it started up, but I have a few questions.
1) How much kalk should I put in it.
2) Do I have it set up right? I have the dosing pump hooked up to the blue valve (see pic above), and fesh water is being pumped through that, then, at the top, I have just a regular piece of tubing that feeds to the tank at about 1-2 drops per second.
Thanks:bigblue:
1) How much kalk should I put in it.
2) Do I have it set up right? I have the dosing pump hooked up to the blue valve (see pic above), and fesh water is being pumped through that, then, at the top, I have just a regular piece of tubing that feeds to the tank at about 1-2 drops per second.
Thanks:bigblue:
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Go Joe!
:smirk:
:smirk:
StoneyReef
No Longer a Member
Reeflady has it!!! No specified amount. I do put up to a full cup in mine. However, I use some pretty darn good kalk and have never gotten the grey sludge in the bottom. If you want to be obsessive about your tank, I would use hit and miss and work it out so you get about a month out of a recharge then take the unit off line and thorougly rinse it(which is really easy with the new valve!), that is if you want to be obsessive. Now if you want to be lazy like me, you look and see if there is any grey residue then open the lid and add more kalk and let her keep on a trucking!!!! Definately keep everyone informed how you like em!
fidojoe
Fish Addict
Geeze, I only added 1 tbsp to it, for starters, but I'll add more, cause the dosing pump is off right now.
I thunk up a few more ??'s too
How often should I set the timer to mix the water in the chamber?
Is kent marine kalk good?
Also, I was wondering, is it possible to add my Iodine supplement to the RO water in the bucket, so that it doses it that way, rather than adding 5 drops a day, putting the norm amt for a week in the water? Usually I top off about 4 gallons a week, so it would work perfect, as long as there are no harmful effects on the reactor.
BTW, stoney, thanks for throwing in those extra hose clamps, the intake in the mj mixing pump, where the flex tubing is, leaked without it, but all fixed now.
I thunk up a few more ??'s too
How often should I set the timer to mix the water in the chamber?
Is kent marine kalk good?
Also, I was wondering, is it possible to add my Iodine supplement to the RO water in the bucket, so that it doses it that way, rather than adding 5 drops a day, putting the norm amt for a week in the water? Usually I top off about 4 gallons a week, so it would work perfect, as long as there are no harmful effects on the reactor.
BTW, stoney, thanks for throwing in those extra hose clamps, the intake in the mj mixing pump, where the flex tubing is, leaked without it, but all fixed now.
StoneyReef
No Longer a Member
Mixing the reactor.
I use the intermatic digital timers you get at home depot. I set them to mix 2 minutes for every gallon of evaporation you dose per day. For example: if you replace 10 gallons of evaporation you would mix two minutes at a time 10 times per day. Since you using only 4 gallons a week, I would suggest that you mix twice per day 2 minutes per time.
Kent marine is a mid grade. It will work fine for you. The next step up in my opinion is ESV. Then the BEST is the Warner Marine kalk. My reactor builder and reefer opinion is to never use pickling lime in the reactor! It eats impellars and almost always causes grey sludge!
I do not know about Iodine. I need to leave that up to the Chemistry experts!!!! As even though I was a chem minor in college the old saying is true, USE it or LOSE it.
The clamps, I usually use plastic snap grip clamps, but I have been out for a while. And just not worth the shipping charge to order just those, when i can order a whole boat load of other supplies at the same time. So I threw those in because my order had not come in yet. They were meant to be in there!
I put several holes in that float switch mount for you so you have a couple of inches to fine tune your water level in your tank with. The ends of the snail guard are friction fit, so just slowly work them off with your fingers and then move the float switch to a higher or lower position on the mount. Remember that pump does 5 gallons per day max so when you step up to a big tank just move the reactor on over.
I use the intermatic digital timers you get at home depot. I set them to mix 2 minutes for every gallon of evaporation you dose per day. For example: if you replace 10 gallons of evaporation you would mix two minutes at a time 10 times per day. Since you using only 4 gallons a week, I would suggest that you mix twice per day 2 minutes per time.
Kent marine is a mid grade. It will work fine for you. The next step up in my opinion is ESV. Then the BEST is the Warner Marine kalk. My reactor builder and reefer opinion is to never use pickling lime in the reactor! It eats impellars and almost always causes grey sludge!
I do not know about Iodine. I need to leave that up to the Chemistry experts!!!! As even though I was a chem minor in college the old saying is true, USE it or LOSE it.
The clamps, I usually use plastic snap grip clamps, but I have been out for a while. And just not worth the shipping charge to order just those, when i can order a whole boat load of other supplies at the same time. So I threw those in because my order had not come in yet. They were meant to be in there!
I put several holes in that float switch mount for you so you have a couple of inches to fine tune your water level in your tank with. The ends of the snail guard are friction fit, so just slowly work them off with your fingers and then move the float switch to a higher or lower position on the mount. Remember that pump does 5 gallons per day max so when you step up to a big tank just move the reactor on over.
StoneyReef
No Longer a Member
One last safety tip, do not submerse the output of the reactor. God forbid someone trips or cat, dog, or alien pulls a hose out of the john guest fittings, it could back siphon, So leave the hose a inch or so above the water level and let it drip into a high flow area of your tank.
:smirk: Or you could just plug the mixing pump in for a few minutes each day while you dose your Iodine and then unplug it since you get about a gallon of saturated effluent in the reactor at a time. but then that would defeat one reason of having a reactor!
:smirk: Or you could just plug the mixing pump in for a few minutes each day while you dose your Iodine and then unplug it
since you get about a gallon of saturated effluent in the reactor at a time. but then that would defeat one reason of having a reactor!
Last edited:
fidojoe
Fish Addict
I only got the small jar of kalk to hold me over until I found out what the good stuff is that I should look for.
Once again Stoney, a HUGE THANK YOU
From what I've seen in the last 12 hours, this thing is awesome.
BTW, Stoney, there was no packing list or any papers with the reactor, so I broke the rule that said I had to read that first
Once again Stoney, a HUGE THANK YOU
From what I've seen in the last 12 hours, this thing is awesome.
BTW, Stoney, there was no packing list or any papers with the reactor, so I broke the rule that said I had to read that first
StoneyReef
No Longer a Member
Yeah, I know, I was going to surprise you with the dosing pump instead of the maxijet feed pump, but I could not contain myself once I started putting up pictures!
Anyhow, I am going to go pass out: Been a rough week for me!
Grandmother fell and broke leg, 8 month old nephew in ICU (long story that I am not going to tell), Samantha has pink eye, lots of extra stress coming down the pipeline at the day job etc etc, DANG!!! I need therapy time to go build some more reactors!!!! Dang I love that job!
OH! AND BTW, next time your at the store, pick up a BIG package of single edge razor blades!!!!! So that it is easier to scrape the corralline algae off your glass while your cussing me out because the reactor has just made it a three times a week chore!
Mark, I want to see pics of the Tunze osmolator in action!!!
Also if anyone sees Zack in chat, he needs to stop in and see me at my day job, have his mom call me, or get me his number so I can call his mom so we can get this tank of his set up!!!! Thanks to brian for getting the ballast here!!!
The tank is going to have dual 55W PC over it!!!
Whew, now up in 5.5 hours and back to the grind.
Anyhow, I am going to go pass out: Been a rough week for me!
Grandmother fell and broke leg, 8 month old nephew in ICU (long story that I am not going to tell), Samantha has pink eye, lots of extra stress coming down the pipeline at the day job etc etc, DANG!!! I need therapy time to go build some more reactors!!!! Dang I love that job!
OH! AND BTW, next time your at the store, pick up a BIG package of single edge razor blades!!!!! So that it is easier to scrape the corralline algae off your glass while your cussing me out because the reactor has just made it a three times a week chore!
Mark, I want to see pics of the Tunze osmolator in action!!!
Also if anyone sees Zack in chat, he needs to stop in and see me at my day job, have his mom call me, or get me his number so I can call his mom so we can get this tank of his set up!!!! Thanks to brian for getting the ballast here!!!
The tank is going to have dual 55W PC over it!!!
Whew, now up in 5.5 hours and back to the grind.