Help fixing DIY kalk reactor design...

[tgunn]

Hey all,
I've build myself a very simple kalk reactor out of a 5 gallon instant ocean bucket.

There's a water feed that comes in through the top and drips the water near the bottom of the bucket.
Near the top I installed a 1/4" drain hole that the kalk comes out of and goes into a 1/4" line in into the sump.

I essentially was planning to feed the reactor with fresh RO/DI water at a slow slow drip.

I've got a powerhead going into the pail for occasional mixing so because of the cord the bucket top isn't 100% water and air tight.

So I had this set up and ready to go. I came home and opened the pail and noticed the water was 1/2" above the drain hole. So clearly the drip was going. Upon disturbing the line in to the sump a siphon started and it started to quickly empty out the kalk. Of course I didn't let that run into the sump (don't wanna dose a huge amount that quick).

Anyone have any ideas how I could fix this kalk reactor so I get a slow slow drip into my sump? I thought the principle was sound; drip water in slowly to get water to slowly overflow the reactor into the sump..

Thanks!
Tyler

 

[Gobie]

 

[jdieck]

To properly work as a Kalk reactor and not as a Kalk reservoir the container will have to be air tight. The water going in pushes the water going out and the powerhead recirculates once in a while. If the bucket can be made airtight (Some have an O ring on the top cover then you can use a couple of bulkheads and hose or pipe to make a closed loop for the powerhead which will be connected to a timer.
The above design IMO has two issues. every time the powerhead mixes there wil be solids added to the tank, second if it is not air tight the mix will degrade as every time the powerhead mixes you will be adding CO2 from the sourounding air. In this case it is better not to stir and just use it as a reservoir and use a float system or a timer to peristaltically pump it out or just drip it by gravity.

 

[tgunn]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Clearly my idea isn't quite going to work as I've attempted to implement it.

The I/O pail goes have a rubber gasket sealing lid.

I'll have to weigh the options and decide on the best system. I've noticed that replacing the evaporated with kalk is the way a lot of people go. I don't have a huge load of corals (4 sps frags and a frogspawn in a 120 gallon tank) yet, so I dunno if replacing evap would be overkill..

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6675175#post6675175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tgunn
Thanks for the ideas guys. Clearly my idea isn't quite going to work as I've attempted to implement it.

The I/O pail goes have a rubber gasket sealing lid.

I'll have to weigh the options and decide on the best system. I've noticed that replacing the evaporated with kalk is the way a lot of people go. I don't have a huge load of corals (4 sps frags and a frogspawn in a 120 gallon tank) yet, so I dunno if replacing evap would be overkill..

Thanks,
Tyler

If you think it might be an overkill then the reservoir system will be more suitable as you can manage the Kalk mix concentration. You can make it less concentrated if you do not need that much in a way to alow matching the addition to march both your Alk consumption and your evaporation.

 

[tgunn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6676431#post6676431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
If you think it might be an overkill then the reservoir system will be more suitable as you can manage the Kalk mix concentration. You can make it less concentrated if you do not need that much in a way to alow matching the addition to march both your Alk consumption and your evaporation.

So setting up as a reservoir system I'd basically be mixing a filed amount of kalk powder with the water to get a proper concentration of kalk; no extra powder sitting on the bottom of the pail. In this case I could just use gravity to push the kalk out a hole in the bottom of the bucket.

If I aimed for a true reactor where I was sealing it up tightly, how would I prevent solids from entering the aquarium during mixing? I guess I'd have to be using a dosing pump that could be shut off or something to that effect?

Thanks!
Tyler

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6677249#post6677249 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tgunn
So setting up as a reservoir system I'd basically be mixing a filed amount of kalk powder with the water to get a proper concentration of kalk; no extra powder sitting on the bottom of the pail. In this case I could just use gravity to push the kalk out a hole in the bottom of the bucket.

If I aimed for a true reactor where I was sealing it up tightly, how would I prevent solids from entering the aquarium during mixing? I guess I'd have to be using a dosing pump that could be shut off or something to that effect?

Thanks!
Tyler

Yes in a reservoir you just mix it at certain concentration and that's it. If you wanted it saturated just add more Kalk powder and let it settle drain the drip line a couple of inches avobe the bottom so the solids stay in the contrainer and the drip line avobe the sediment.

In a closed sealed reactor you only mix the bottom half and drain from top so even when mixing dolids do not get withrawn. To do this using a powerhead, the intake of the pump is from the half way from the top and the discharge is on the side to the bottom so the sediment gets stirred, as soon as it reaches the midle of the reactor the pump sucks it back down so it never reaches the top but still saturates the whole content. Your inlet line goes to the bottom so the new water added has to pass trough the sediment. As simple as that.

 

[tgunn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6698551#post6698551 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
Yes in a reservoir you just mix it at certain concentration and that's it. If you wanted it saturated just add more Kalk powder and let it settle drain the drip line a couple of inches avobe the bottom so the solids stay in the contrainer and the drip line avobe the sediment.

In a closed sealed reactor you only mix the bottom half and drain from top so even when mixing dolids do not get withrawn. To do this using a powerhead, the intake of the pump is from the half way from the top and the discharge is on the side to the bottom so the sediment gets stirred, as soon as it reaches the midle of the reactor the pump sucks it back down so it never reaches the top but still saturates the whole content. Your inlet line goes to the bottom so the new water added has to pass trough the sediment. As simple as that.

Thanks for the clarification between the two.... I really like the idea that a reactor can be filled with a large amount of kalk and then left for a longer period of time before requiring intervention. However, there is an inherent simplicity to the reservoir that I like.

I will have to look at some of the many simple designs for kalk reactors I've seen on here and see what makes the most sense...

Thanks,
Tyler