questions about kalk?

[kyle1284]

ok is its funtions to replace evaporated water w/ the kalk or to steady the levels? im kinda confused? cause mine is dripping into the tank 24/7 at about a drip every 3/4 of a sec.... am i doing something wrong?

[reefman420]

I drip only at night and it dripes every 1 second.so drip 1 miss. drip,but you have alot of sps

[Frankie]

Replace evaporated water with the saturated kalk (lime) water.
I drip all my top off with kalk. I do this at night after lights out. Just a slow drip until it gets to the level i keep my tank at with a float valve. Then in the morning i turn off the make up water until i get home and turn it back on.

[framerguy]

It's for both, evap and to add a balanced calc addition to help steady your alkalinity and ph. Dripping it all day is OK as long as your calc levels don't escalate and the alk and ph are good, and it's not putting to much freshwater in the system to put the salinity out of whack (that's a scientific term, feel free to use it!)

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by framerguy

out of whack

I've looked and looked and can't locate that term in any of the "Scientific Books" anywhere.

[kyle1284]

so many opinions !! lol

[framerguy]

It's in the "scientific terms for dummies"

[framerguy]

so many opinions !! lol

Not really. I only said you COULD drip it all day with a lot of qualifications. It's usually best to drip it at night because of the high (12+) ph of a saturated solution. Your tank PH is suppressed at night so kalkwasser won't make it go too high. I tend to drip mine all night and part of the day. It does kill two birds with one stone so to speak, fresh water top off and balanced calc addition. Has dripping all day caused any issues?

[kyle1284]

no issues at all ...right now the tank is at

8.2ph
2.0 mel/q (i know its kinda low i have been trying to maintain it w/ the kalk)
and calicum at 380

but the protein skimmer is not producing as much skimmate as i use to...

[JFK_Jr]

The problem with dripping Kalkwasser is just that... dripping.

I run a calcium reactor and top-off my evaporation with Kalkwasser.

At first, I used to drip... but I soon realized how time consuming and a pain it was to do... so I stopped dripping the Kalk. I soon realized that my tank wasn't as happy so I made a DIY Kalkwasser reactor/auto top off. It's really easy to do and didn't cost much to make.

Now my tank receives Kalkwasser and top off R/O automatically. My PH remains stable and now everyone's happy.

Here's my creation... very simple and staright forward to make.

[kyle1284]

Originally Posted by JFK_Jr

The problem with dripping Kalkwasser is just that... dripping.

I run a calcium reactor and top-off my evaporation with Kalkwasser.

At first, I used to drip... but I soon realized how time consuming and a pain it was to do... so I stopped dripping the Kalk. I soon realized that my tank wasn't as happy so I made a DIY Kalkwasser reactor/auto top off. It's really easy to do and didn't cost much to make.

Now my tank receives Kalkwasser and top off R/O automatically. My PH remains stable and now everyone's happy.

Here's my creation... very simple and staright forward to make.

thats awesome.... see when it comes to reactors i am as smart as a rock.... how do they work and what does a kalk reactor do and how would i go about making one?

thanks JFK

[JFK_Jr]

It's a real simple design.

Basically it's a 5 gallon bucket that has a closed loop powered by a Maxijet 900 to stir the kalk powder. I have the pump on a timer to stir the kalk a few times a day. My R/O is fed directly into the top of the reactor into a Kent marine float valve (this opens and closes my R/O water as needed). Near the bottom of the reactor I have a bulkhead that runs the limewater to my sump where there is a second Kent marine float valve (This allows water to fill the sump as needed).

So as my tank evaporates water, my Kalk reactor feeds it with Kalkwasser. I keep the reactor above my sump and let it gravity feed. I've run this system for over a year with no issues. Every couple of months I clean any calcium build-up on my float valve in the sump and my maxijet.

I've gone away for a week at a time with absolutely no one tending to my tank... Now that's awesome!

Here's a crude drawing...

[kyle1284]

Originally Posted by JFK_Jr

It's a real simple design.

Basically it's a 5 gallon bucket that has a closed loop powered by a Maxijet 900 to stir the kalk powder. I have the pump on a timer to stir the kalk a few times a day. My R/O is fed directly into the top of the reactor into a Kent marine float valve (this opens and closes my R/O water as needed). Near the bottom of the reactor I have a bulkhead that runs the limewater to my sump where there is a second Kent marine float valve (This allows water to fill the sump as needed).

So as my tank evaporates water, my Kalk reactor feeds it with Kalkwasser. I keep the reactor above my sump and let it gravity feed. I've run this system for over a year with no issues. Every couple of months I clean any calcium build-up on my float valve in the sump and my maxijet.

I've gone away for a week at a time with absolutely no one tending to my tank... Now that's awesome!

Here's a crude drawing...

now thats a pretty good drawing... how much are float valves? i have hear they are kinda pricy?

[kyle1284]

could the kalk be surpressing the protein skimmer?

[Disciple882542]

Hey JFK...props to you for such a simple reactor!! Got a few questions:


How much Kalk do you put in there at a time? Couple of lbs?
How do you keep the Kalk/precipitate from going directly out of the line to the aquarium?
This is running off of two float valves, right? One in the aquarium hooked up to the reactor and one in the reactor hooked up to RODI water.

Thanks and God bless,
Disciple