JustOneMoreTank
New member
OK I made some room. Sorry bout that. 
Sure you can always add the Ca reactor as your coral/Ca needs increase.
Sure you can always add the Ca reactor as your coral/Ca needs increase.
DIY kalk reactor idea.
- Thread starter msuzuki126
- Start date
JRaquatics
New member
I am wondering how can you tell what the concetration of the lime coming out would be. Right now I am having trouble keeping my alk and calcium level were I want them to be. I dose a premix in my ATO and drip a super kalk dose at night. By using this DIY kalk reactor how do you control the amount you need for your tanks demands? How to you work around different times of the year were you get different evaporation rates?
Malifluous
New member
I am planning on building a DIY kalk reactor with out the constant flow from the RO/GI. I dont have a sink any where near my tank so I can not connect my reactor to water supply. This creates a problem cos now i can not seal the unit completely. I must create a vebt to allow air inside the reactor to prevent a vaccum from being created inside the reactor. I plan on using tom aqualifter to feed the Lime water into the tank. .
s o, the inside of the reactor wil be exposed to a small amount of air ( CO2) each time it pumps lime water out. Does anyone see this as a seerious problem>??
s o, the inside of the reactor wil be exposed to a small amount of air ( CO2) each time it pumps lime water out. Does anyone see this as a seerious problem>??
Afishianado
New member
I currently use a Kent float valve to control a gravity fed ATO. I think I will run that line through one of these. Anyone using this purely on a gravity fed system? Seems like everyone is using some kind of pump. I just don't want to add equipment , expense, and complication that I don't need. Is the gravity feed enough to prevent chanelling? It is really slow.
FWIW gravity fed ATO can not be beat, there is nothing more reliable than gravity.
FWIW gravity fed ATO can not be beat, there is nothing more reliable than gravity.
Malifluous
New member
I agree that ai wil get more precip on the water surface of the reactor but once a nice thick film of precip is formed it should seal the rest off from additional exposure to CO2. But when the mixeer turns on , it will destroy the skin of precip on the surface each time. WHat abou having a flat piece of styrofoam that would float on the surface of the water at inside the reactor at all times there by eliminating the air/ water interface? Seems like a good idea to me............
jman77
New member
"Did you guys know that lime is also sold for use in water treatment systems? I just bought a 50 lb bag of Calcium Hydroxide, suitable for drinking water treatment, for $3.99 at ACE hardware "
I did ... my water works at a water plant and told me that they use it there... but i never knew u could get it at ACE.....
All i have to say is .... NICCEEEE
I did ... my water works at a water plant and told me that they use it there... but i never knew u could get it at ACE.....
All i have to say is .... NICCEEEE
rdmpe
New member
From what I've read, the best way to measure the limewater strength is with a conductivity meter such as the pinpoint salinity monitor. Full strength limewater should read about 10.3 mS/cm. You can also test the alkalinity if the limewater is clear. But that is a less reliable method.
Kalk reactor is going to dose pretty much full strength limewater. If you want to dose a lower strength, you probably will have to mix it to the needed strength in a resevoir and dose out of that rather than through a reactor.
I think that a lot of people find that they can dose full strength kalk to meet their evap and still not have any problem with CA and ALK getting too high. But every tank is different.
rdmpe
New member
It sounds like you are talking about a resevoir full of limewater rather than a reactor. This is what I'm currently dosing with. I'm just using a 5g bucket and pumping limewater out of it with an aqualifter. The bucket has a lid on it with a 1/8" vent hole in it to avoid creating a suction inside. If you put plenty of powder in it and stir it well when you add the water, there is no need to stir it later. The small amount of air entering due to pumping out water will not hurt the strength as long as there is extra lime powder at the bottom. Randy Holmes-Farley did a lot of measuring of this situation and showed that over the course of a month there was no measurable reduction in strength as he pumped limewater out of his resevoir. Here are some good articles to read
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php
gibson981
New member
My setup is a 1 gallon water jug with 2 holes drilled in the cap. One hole is for a piece of rigid tube to go through to within 3/4 inches from the bottom. The other hole is for a piece of tube to go only about 1/2 inch into the jug. The first tube has a piece fo flexible airline attached at the top. This flexible tube has an airline valve at the other end. Each night before bed, I open the jug, put in about 25ml of distilled white vinegar (5% acidity) followed by 3 teaspoons of Mrs Wages pickling lime. I swirl it around to disolve the pickling lime. Then I fill the jug with RO water. I open the airline valve a bit, then I put air into the tube in the other hole (you can blow into it or use an air pump, but it only takes a second). Then I adjust the airline valve until I get 1 to 2 drips per second depending on the results of once weekly tests for Ca, dKH, Alk, and pH. The drip usually stops in the middle of the nightafter about 1/3 to 1/2 a gallon. Before I leave for work in the morning, I restart the drip while the lights are still off. When I get home there is only a little liquid left in the jug. For 3 or 4 weeks, the tests have shown; Ca about 420, Alk 3.6-3.9, dKH 9.9-10.2, pH 8.2-8.4. The vinegar is supposed to help with providing the equivalent of enough CO2 to react the calcium hydroxide all the way to the desired ions. I got that from an article that I am having trouble finding right now. If I find it, I will post it.
Ironman
New member
I use a Rubbermaid garbage container mixed with RO/DI and Kalkwasser. I have a MaxiJet 600 pumping water from the container to the sump which is about 6' away. I have the kalkwasser on a drip, about one drop per second. I keep the lid on the contaier but it is not air tight, I have the power cord and hose coming out from under the lid. The liquid last me about 1.5 to 2 weeks. I don't like that the hose appears to clogs up and I have to constantly re-adjust the drip.
Other than re-adjusting the drip does anyone see any problems with this system.
Thanks
Other than re-adjusting the drip does anyone see any problems with this system.
Thanks
sammy33
Member
Seems that this Kalkwasser reactor works quite well. Thanks to all contributors of this thread. 
I have mine controlled by a JBJ ATO with a float switch. The feed pump is an Aqua Lifter. The feed pump supplies fresh RO/DI water to the reactor from the 5g bucket. The inline valve allows control of the flow or drip rate. I have the Kalk dripping in to my "sumpfugium" at about 1 drip a second to make up for evaporation.
I am testing my calcium and alkalinity daily and have noticed an improvement just in the last couple days. Calcium was 380 ppm and today up to 400 ppm. Alk was 7 dKH and today is up to 9 dKH.
I have a bypass valve that I can use to change the Kalk to pure RO/DI topoff ratio. If the calcium continues to go up say past 425 ppm I can add some pure RO water to the topoff and reduce the Kalk to compensate. My calcium demand is not excessive (yet
).
I have added a timer to the ATO/Kalk reactor to turn on the system at night after the lights go out. The Kalkwasser additions have tended to raise the pH a bit so I have started dosing about an hour after the lights go out. The pH tends to fall a bit at night so the Kalkwasser has less of an impact on pH and actually helps to stabilize pH overnight.
I have mine controlled by a JBJ ATO with a float switch. The feed pump is an Aqua Lifter. The feed pump supplies fresh RO/DI water to the reactor from the 5g bucket. The inline valve allows control of the flow or drip rate. I have the Kalk dripping in to my "sumpfugium" at about 1 drip a second to make up for evaporation.
I am testing my calcium and alkalinity daily and have noticed an improvement just in the last couple days. Calcium was 380 ppm and today up to 400 ppm. Alk was 7 dKH and today is up to 9 dKH.
I have a bypass valve that I can use to change the Kalk to pure RO/DI topoff ratio. If the calcium continues to go up say past 425 ppm I can add some pure RO water to the topoff and reduce the Kalk to compensate. My calcium demand is not excessive (yet
).I have added a timer to the ATO/Kalk reactor to turn on the system at night after the lights go out. The Kalkwasser additions have tended to raise the pH a bit so I have started dosing about an hour after the lights go out. The pH tends to fall a bit at night so the Kalkwasser has less of an impact on pH and actually helps to stabilize pH overnight.
pimp2daizzo
Active member
i dont get it so you close it off and lut it mix or do u jhust lut the powder get in the the sump???
rdmpe
New member
Hey Sam - So you still have to fill your bucket with the ro/di? My goal is to eliminate the bucket filling. Why did you decide not to run your ro/di output through the reactor?
About the clogging - is your drip valve at the end of the tube? It seems to me that if the limewater is allowed to dry inside the valve when the system is not running, it will cause it to clog. If there is some tubing after the valve so that there is always liquid in the valve, it may not clog as easily.
Right now I'm using an aqualifter to pump limewater out of a 5g bucket. It turns on when the ph is 8.00 and turns off when the ph is 8.03. It only runs at night and doses about 1 gallon per day. I'm just using the limewater to help keep ph up at night. It doesn't meet all of my ca/alk needs so I also dose two-part over night and my ATO makes up the rest of the evap.
Once I get a reactor set up I'll run all of the topoff water through the kalk reactor slowly overnight but for now I don't want to have to fill the bucket every day. I lose about 2.5 to 3 gallons/day of evap.
Do you have a conductivity meeter (such as the poinpoint salinity meter)? I'd be interested to see what the reading is on your reactor output to see if it is coming out full strength.
About the clogging - is your drip valve at the end of the tube? It seems to me that if the limewater is allowed to dry inside the valve when the system is not running, it will cause it to clog. If there is some tubing after the valve so that there is always liquid in the valve, it may not clog as easily.
Right now I'm using an aqualifter to pump limewater out of a 5g bucket. It turns on when the ph is 8.00 and turns off when the ph is 8.03. It only runs at night and doses about 1 gallon per day. I'm just using the limewater to help keep ph up at night. It doesn't meet all of my ca/alk needs so I also dose two-part over night and my ATO makes up the rest of the evap.
Once I get a reactor set up I'll run all of the topoff water through the kalk reactor slowly overnight but for now I don't want to have to fill the bucket every day. I lose about 2.5 to 3 gallons/day of evap.
Do you have a conductivity meeter (such as the poinpoint salinity meter)? I'd be interested to see what the reading is on your reactor output to see if it is coming out full strength.
JustOneMoreTank
New member
Good job Sam. Looks like you have it pretty well figured out.
Roland Jacques
Premium Member
I guessing rdmpe uses this brand lime. how do you know it is safe? i found this one at ace also, $9.99 50lbs still seems like a good value.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8666619#post8666619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rdmpe
Here's a picture:
rdmpe
New member
I figured it was probably safe since it is OK to use in water treatment. I also posted about it in the chemestry forum. Take a look at this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=985879
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=985879
Roland Jacques
Premium Member
cool thanks,
I guess i should have just read the bag. So have you been using it for while?
I guess i should have just read the bag. So have you been using it for while?
sammy33
Member
Yup. Still filling the bucket manually. My RO is upstairs under the kitchen sink and the tanks are in the basement. The closest water connection is in the laundry room about 15 feet away. I did ask Santa for a deep sink in the basement.
My control valve is before the reactor after the pump. This way it only gets pure RO water and does not get clogged. I have it set for a steady drip that is just enough flow to mix the Kalk but not so much that it delivers too fast.
I do have a Pinpoint salinity meter. I have not tested the effluent but I can and will post the readings here.
