has any one built a diy Kalk reactor?
- Thread starter jasonkola
- Start date
douggiestyle
New member
this is my favorite design.
take a salt bucket with lid. drill and tap a couple holes to fit some jaco fittings. drill a hole large enough to fit a plug from a small power head. thread the power head plug through. then take to plastic lids that are larger than the plug holes (spice jar lids work good)drill hole the size of cord and add a slot. slide one over cord on inside of lid slide one over outside. fix height of power head just above the floor of the bucket. fill the lids with silicon and tape into place. let cure.
take one of the jaco fittings and drill out the inside 1/4"slip a 1/4" tube in and glue. cut tube to lenght so it stops just above the bucket floor.
ready to roll.
i built one for about 5 bucks. all items were already in hand except silicon.
take a salt bucket with lid. drill and tap a couple holes to fit some jaco fittings. drill a hole large enough to fit a plug from a small power head. thread the power head plug through. then take to plastic lids that are larger than the plug holes (spice jar lids work good)drill hole the size of cord and add a slot. slide one over cord on inside of lid slide one over outside. fix height of power head just above the floor of the bucket. fill the lids with silicon and tape into place. let cure.
take one of the jaco fittings and drill out the inside 1/4"slip a 1/4" tube in and glue. cut tube to lenght so it stops just above the bucket floor.
ready to roll.
i built one for about 5 bucks. all items were already in hand except silicon.
douggiestyle
New member
the power head
douggiestyle
New member
thats an interesting design. the drawing helped alot. I just got one question. which line is the input and which is the output. also what power head do you recomend? it seems like the kalk could be hard on the powerhead being sucked through it all the time. do you have any problems with it leaking? how often do you have to stir the kalk. if I hooked up a aqua lifter to feed this system would that work? that is how i was thinking of feeding the calcium reactor.
douggiestyle
New member
blue is in. red is out. i stir 3 times per day for 10 min. yes kalk reactors are hard on ph. i no longer use mine. even with my pm unit the ph nedds a new impeller every year. no problem leaking. i had the unit under 8' of head pressure. dont know why an aqua lifter wouldnt work but, ive never owned one so i cant remark on maintainance. i used an old aqua clear? dont remember size. my pm uses a mj400.
looking at my drawing i had my ph output pointing down
looking at my drawing i had my ph output pointing down
Mr Bojangles
New member
here is mine, I think it is simple just a pump in a sealed container. A tip that I have is you should have the reactor hold the amount of water that you go threw in a day, Mine is 3g
it seems like such a simple consept. I cant believe the prices places are charging for these. I will probably build me one too. douggiestyle is there any paticular reason you stopped using the bucket and went to a pm. by the way what is pm? I like the idea
that Bojangles had on locating the pump higher up and pushing down through the pipeing. seems like a little less kalk will be sucked through the powerhead that way.
that Bojangles had on locating the pump higher up and pushing down through the pipeing. seems like a little less kalk will be sucked through the powerhead that way.
Mr Bojangles
New member
yup, with the pump up high which you will find on alot of the comertial one is so you dont suck up raw kalk. When mine is turned on it will only go up to the pump so only mix water goes in.
douggiestyle
New member
pm is precision marine. very good company. quality products, imo.
why.... lets say "a fool and his money are soon parted."
bojagles is right. in my design the ph is about 4" above the bucket floor. the salt bucket is so large that the ph was never submerged in the lime muck at the bottom. even when using two bags of mrs. wages.
why.... lets say "a fool and his money are soon parted."
bojagles is right. in my design the ph is about 4" above the bucket floor. the salt bucket is so large that the ph was never submerged in the lime muck at the bottom. even when using two bags of mrs. wages.
