DIY kalk reactor idea.

i have tried this approach and had to shake the container by hand to get the kalk mixed up to any degree. my RO unit does not produce what i would call "flow" by any means. even if you had a HUGE RO unit the water would flow through the reacter too fast to mix the Kalk enought to saturate the effluent. you might as well run a micro or maxi jet and get quality make-up water/kalk into your tank. if this approach was efficient and effective you would see commercially made versions.
as far as wasting kalk vs. the cost of running a small pump for less than an hour a day? as long as the trouble of making/buying, installing, tuning and maintaining a kalk reactor produces reliable and consistent results then the cost of a few cents of power per day is the least of my worries.
this was not intended to be a put down, poke, pick, or anything like that. just an opinion. :) ;) :D :P
-nick
 
aim use a small power head coming on for 5 or 10 minutes three or four times per day.

dont run it 24/7 you will wear the shaft out in no time. even at 8 min per day every four hours i wear the shaft out in apx 12 months. the lime abrades the shaft. like fine sand paper.

what may make this wine bottel idea work is the taper at the bottom. when my ph breaks the kalk reactor stops working quickly. i no longer use my bucket design but use a PM reactor. i load it with enough mrs wages to last 6 months.
 
Trying to get this straight..........Can I run my RO/DI right to this kalk reactor, and let the minimal amount of RO/DI that is almost constantly called for from a float valve go into the reactor, go thru the kalk at the bottom and out the top to the sump as fully saturated kalk water?
 
JustOneMoreTank,

I drip my kalk at one drop per second 24/7. Would this litte amount of RD/DI water coming into the the reactor be enough to agitate the kalk powder?

Thanks
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8315841#post8315841 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scholl
Trying to get this straight..........Can I run my RO/DI right to this kalk reactor, and let the minimal amount of RO/DI that is almost constantly called for from a float valve go into the reactor, go thru the kalk at the bottom and out the top to the sump as fully saturated kalk water?
Click to expand...

Yes :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8316125#post8316125 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ironman
JustOneMoreTank,

I drip my kalk at one drop per second 24/7. Would this litte amount of RD/DI water coming into the the reactor be enough to agitate the kalk powder?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes to you as well. :)

Remember high school science class??? Water is the universal solvent. You do not need to aggressively or vigrously mix the kalk and RODI mix to get the solution fully saturated. The RODI water will rapidly and become fully saturated quite easily just by passing thru the kalk powder. The kalk simply "wants to dissolve" in the pure water.
 
thanks, I think I'll try it. One last question..........do you think I should put this on an auto top off, like autotopoff.com with a duel float switch or just use my Typhoon RO/DI that has an auto shut off valve?

thanks
 
water being a universal solvent does not mean that water is a good solvent. it only means that water will disolve most every thing and amazingly at a neutral ph (which is water when it is pure). if it was a really good solvent, we would have holes in our pipes and tanks.

perking the water though the lime will work. but it will not utilize all the lime. it can form channels. it could harden. the amount in solution could drop. but this is all dependent on how much flow enters the bottle etc.

example: when i dump some IO in my sump as make up for the skimmer. it can take 2 to 3 days to fully disolve and thats with 500 gph flowing around it.
 
When my float valve calls for rodi, its very little and slow. my rodi is in the basement and just the pressure of that is pushing up 1 floor to my sump. Maybe the very little slow drops coming into the reactor wouldn't create channels as much as a fast stream coming from a power head? but might not be enough flow to saturate the kalk?
 
it will definitly form channels over time. water is going to follow the path of least resistence and without a periodic mixing of ALL the kalk it will settle quickly and cause channeling. this will then definitly reduce the amount of kalk being dissolved as it passes through.
-nick
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8318155#post8318155 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by douggiestyle

example: when i dump some IO in my sump as make up for the skimmer. it can take 2 to 3 days to fully disolve and thats with 500 gph flowing around it.
Click to expand...

You cannot pretend to compare the two situations.
If you "dump" salt into your sump which already contains SALT WATER please dont be surprised that the salt does not easily dissolve and takes some time to happen. The water already is full of that solute and it doesnt easily take up more.
It is a very Different situation when you are continually adding pure RODI which literally wants to dissolve any solute that it comes in contact with and forcing it to pass through the kalk. Try it and see.

To check and see how well this works just set the drip to collect in a small plastic cup or other container and overflow that into the sump. Place your pH probe in this and keep a watch of the pH in the small container. The pH will remain very very high because it is fully saturated kalk water.

Good luck. I hope that you can try it and see how easy this is. If you like using pumps, timers, and expensive magnetic stir bars go ahead. I am just putting this out there as an easier alternative that works great. The water will become saturated kalk water after passing thru the kalk. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8323683#post8323683 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JustOneMoreTank
You cannot pretend to compare the two situations.
If you "dump" salt into your sump which already contains SALT WATER please dont be surprised that the salt does not easily dissolve and takes some time to happen. The water already is full of that solute and it doesnt easily take up more.
It is a very Different situation when you are continually adding pure RODI which literally wants to dissolve any solute that it comes in contact with and forcing it to pass through the kalk. Try it and see.

Click to expand...

yes but if i stir the salt it is disolved in seconds.

you may be right about the lime. ive never used your type of set up. i am interested in whether it continues to work over time. it is certainly simple and cheap. two of my favorite words.
 
How often then would you recommend shaking or stiring the kalk? Once a day/week? when ph starts to drop? Never, just add more kalk when ph starts dropping?

thanks justonemoretank
 
i am not trying to stir the pot (or reactor) lol.

but how about this for a simple test.

1. how much lime can be disolved in one wine bottle full of di.

2. add 3 times that amount to the bottle.
add di and shake.

3. allow excess lime to settle at bottom. this should be apx 2/3 of what was added.

4. using your design see how much more water is needed to flow through unit to desolve excess lime. this should be apx. 2-3 times the volume of your bottle.

if all is kosher. you should come up with a design that can be marketed.
im serious. this could be the new best thing. something the same price as the kent dosing jug that can be used with an auto top off.


ooo ooo, im thinking something along the lines of one of those brine shrimp hatcher two liter bottle converters...??? could work....
 
About when/if to shake... I have friends in the local reef club who tell me they shake the reactor "every once in a while". I am not sure if it really makes a difference or not.
There will be some material that is not dissolved in my experience. I have come to learn that this is material that you do not want in the tank anyway. The pH is very high and this prevents some chemicals from dissolving into solution. This is a good thing. I dont have the links handy but you can look at Advanced Aquarist articles (maybe Randy Farley ??) about dosing with kalk and read about it. This material should be thrown out.
Add kalk just when the water leaving the reactor is not fully saturated any longer. The pH probe in the effluent will tell you when. Or you could just estimate by collecting the effluent leaving the reactor and test its pH with a kit if you dont have a pH meter.
 
As far as patenting this and trying to market this as the next big thing... hmmm... I just dont think so. I am busy enough as it is with my work. My wife works for a big type corporation doing Medical Product Development. She has several patents (not bragging it is not difficult to do) and the company gets the patents. She has a set number she is expected to file every year or quarter or whatever. She tells me that big companies do a pretty good job at just "taking" individuals patents all the time. They just find a work around or like a slight difference in the design or idea and work off that. Even if it is the same the little fish cannot sue or go after the really big fish due to legal bills.
I am not interested in marketing this because it would be very timeconsuming and not my bag. I have several friends who run them and I am not the one who came up with it to tell you the truth. I just saw that it worked and I wanted to share with everyone else. Kinda like I wanted to share in the thread I started about drilling holes in glass tanks for bulkheads in the DIY forum. It worked well for me and I wanted to share and help others on the board out. That is all... nothing more nothing less. :)
:)
 
the ph kit i have doesnt have an accuracy large enough to measure the effluent from my reactor.

i am curious to read that article as ive posted a similar question concerning the ph using lime in the top off.
 
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