ATO and Kalk setup discussion.

oscar.millan

New member
I have my 65 gallon aquarium pretty dialed in, but now I'm looking at ways to make the daily tasks more automated.

ATO seems to be a natural progression since I dose kalk daily. I'm pretty set on investing on the Tunze ATO.

Can you describe your ATO setups and how you keep the Kalk "fresh." Any recommendations?

I will be taking pictures shortly of the space for the container to give you a better idea and maybe help in the recommendation.

Thanks everyone!
 
I'm not sure if you have a controller or not, but I just use a small float in my sump wired to the controller to trigger a peristaltic pump that delivers the lime water from a still reservoir, the pick up tube is about 3-4" from the bottom of the reservoir.

There is no real need to attempt to keep it "fresh", attempting to mix it will have the opposite effect.

I fill up my ato reservoir, dump in the kalk powder, give it a half hearted swirl with an acrylic stick, then forget about for about a week when its time to refill the reservoir.
 
Can you describe your ATO setups and how you keep the Kalk "fresh." Any recommendations?

I agree with the above post in that it is best kept fresh by closing it up (like in a trash can) and not messing with it. No stirring, etc. Once mixed it is fine for weeks. :)

I show that here:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

The Self Purification of Limewater (Kalkwasser)
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php
 
Here are some pics of the space

Here are some pics of the space

The space behind the tank for a resevoir:

<a href="http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff11/oscarmillan/?action=view&current=2009-11-30135606-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff11/oscarmillan/2009-11-30135606-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Here is the actual space:

<a href="http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff11/oscarmillan/?action=view&current=2009-11-30135658.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff11/oscarmillan/2009-11-30135658.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
I'm not sure if you have a controller or not, but I just use a small float in my sump wired to the controller to trigger a peristaltic pump that delivers the lime water from a still reservoir, the pick up tube is about 3-4" from the bottom of the reservoir.
I have a RK2 controller.

There is no real need to attempt to keep it "fresh", attempting to mix it will have the opposite effect.
Great info, makes perfect sense.

I fill up my ato reservoir, dump in the kalk powder, give it a half hearted swirl with an acrylic stick, then forget about for about a week when its time to refill the reservoir.
Will do thanks again.
 
Can you describe your ATO setups and how you keep the Kalk "fresh." Any recommendations?

I agree with the above post in that it is best kept fresh by closing it up (like in a trash can) and not messing with it. No stirring, etc. Once mixed it is fine for weeks. :)

I show that here:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

The Self Purification of Limewater (Kalkwasser)
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php

Randy thanks for the links, I always enjoy reading your articles, always informative.
 
The tunze wont work, you will need a topoff that can handle limewater.

Really? I have heard of people using the Tunze unit with Kalk. That doesn't disprove your knowledge, but I'm a little surprised.

Can anybody else corroborate this information?
 
The guy who owns BulkReefSupply ran kalk in his tunze topoff for many years ( I was his tank sitter for vacations ) .

The pump does wear out over time ( about 1.5-2 years ) because of it but it's like a $26 replacement part.
 
Here is the vid from BRS specifically making reference to the Tunze ATO.

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The solution that I have succesfully used for years is to combine the Tunze osmolator and a kalk reactor. I use the tunze pump in fresh water resevoir and then run the output line through a PM 620 kalk reactor before it goes into the tank (you will need to use a check valve to prevent back siphoning.) This works very well IMPE.
 
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