kalkwasser drip

[molsen187]

how do you calculate how much kalkwasser to drip into your tank. i know there is some math involved(unfourtnately) but not sure of the exact equation. i will be doing a dyi kalkwasser drip tomorrow or sunday am just wondering what drip to do.

[newreefguy]

That's a good question, I would like to know the answer to this as well...

[jski711]

hmm i never really did the math. i always mixed as strong as i could, which was i think 8 tbs per 5 gallons and dripped it every few seconds. no math involved and it worked for me.

[BigJay]

**Edit** Formula fixed .. sorry about the initial formula error

the best way I would go about it would require you know how much water you evaporate per day. Say its an even 1 gallon. Start a drip of solution in a measuring cup and set the drip rate so you drip 1/4 cup in just under 23 minutes.
Basically there are 16 cups in a gallon so adjust the formula to whatever your evaporation rate is .. ie 1/2 gallon per day would be 1/8 cup in 23 minutes.
Monitor your water level and salinity closely for the first few days and adjust as needed. After a while you'll be able to get a hang of it by counting the # of seconds between drops. For instance in my tank I evap 1 gallon a day and when using one drip system its 1 drop every 2.5 seconds to maintain and when using another size drip system I need 1 drop every 4 seconds.

or another way
A = evap rate in gallons
24 / (A * 16) = # of cups per hour you evaporate. You can then take that number and divide by 4 and that will give you , your evaporation rate every 15 minutes.

[jski711]

nice Bigjay, way to much math for me though LOL. you'll get the hang of it like anything in this hobby. just watch ur ph and salinity for the first week or 2.

[mps9506]

The easiest way in my opinion is to hook up a dosing pump to a top off switch. Then you don't need to calculate how many gallons you go through a day.

The issue I found with using drip systems with kalkwasser was that it is difficult to maintain a consistent drip rate. I used an IV setup and by the end of the day the drip would be slower than at the start of the day so I would have to reset the drip rate every evening. Not a huge deal, but just a pita.

[rbursek]

I loose about a gallon a day. I set mine up with a 7 gallon jug with a Tom's Aqua lifter pump on a digital timer that runs for 3min every 2hrs. Works just about right. Ditto mps9506, had the same problem when I was dripping from a 5gal jug, always adjusting the drip as the jug was emptiing.

[molsen187]

i will be using a two liter i have a shut off valve and some grommets and air line tubing. i just wanted to see if there was actually a formula for deciding how much to drip. thank you to everyone for the advice.

[BigJay]

I had that problem when on a siphon drip. Gravity drips will slow down a bit too as the water level declines there is less pressure pushing the water through. I feed my Kalk drip now through my RO with an inline ball valve. Drip rate never changes.
Dosing pumps are definetly the easiest but its also not the cheapest.


EDIT- a gravity to a float valve is cheap and its the method i plan to use just haven't installed the float valve yet.

[rbursek]

My set up, Tom's lift pump $12-14, at MD or Dr. F&S, digital timer about $15-20, at big box home improvment store, I do not remember how much the 7 gallon water jug was at a camping store.

[mps9506]

Originally Posted by BigJay

EDIT- a gravity to a float valve is cheap and its the method i plan to use just haven't installed the float valve yet.

Please don't do the float valve. Esp. with kalkwasser. These things clog and jam open or closed way too easily. Use a float switch attached to a solenoid or to a dosing pump. Much safer option. I flooded the back of my store so many times with a float valve on our ro system and our plant tank.

[BigJay]

much appreciated Mike. I hadn't thought of that. I know Kalk always clogged up my 1/4 tubing so I should have thought about it. I 've been using a kalk chamber I made out of pyrex which doesn't have that problem..guess thats why i hadn't thought about it. Anyhow thanks again.

[mps9506]

Jay,
Are you using a kalk/nielsen reactor? If so it is extremely easy to hook up a solenoid/float switch setup since it sounds like you already have it attached to your ro/di.

[BigJay]

I've got the drip rate pretty much nailed on my tank. I may have to make an adjustment of 1 to 2 cups of water per 2-3 weeks which I usually use to add any type of supplement I may need to the tank. Hence the reason I never hooked up the float switch. For a 115 gallon total system size thats not too shabby.

[Gerry]

I have the Red Sea 34 gallon nano tank. Is it posible to add Kalkwasser daily instead of dripping? I really have no spot for the drip apparatus. Was wondering if i could add an eye dropper amount per day or some similar amount?