I had built a reactor to do my kalk dosing ,but it just did not seem to be doing right .I had heard a lot at the meeting talking about just dosing their top-off water .So I bought me a auto-top and thats how I started doing mine ,but do I continue to add water till the water does not get cloudy anymore or do I empty the container every time and add water and new kalk?I think I read that the water would only absorb so much kalk so the rest just goes to the bottem of the container.Is that part still good or is it waste ?
Kalk
- Thread starter Hard-Rock
- Start date
Billybeau1
Premium Member
You are correct. 1 gallon of fresh water will only disolve 2 tsp of lime. Its what we call saturation. Any more will not go into solution and just settle. 
You actually can get more into solution by adding about 45 ml of vinager but most people dont need that much.
You actually can get more into solution by adding about 45 ml of vinager but most people dont need that much.
buzzbait00
New member
I just mix some up in a gallon milk jug and drip it overnite.
8BALL_99
New member
Alot of people with auto top offs including me just buy or build a Kalk Reactor.. Its just a chamber made out of PVC or Acrylic. It has a pump or stirbar that mixes the solution.. You fill it with Kalk once every couple weeks or month just depends on how big it is.. You set the pump or stir bar on a timmer to mix every couple hours.. Then you hook your fresh water line to the Reactor.. When your auto topp off kicks on it pumps fresh water into the Reactor and Saturated solution is pushed out the top of the reactor..
Another way to do it is use a Dosing pump on a timer to kick on from time to time and dose a preset amount of freshwater to the reactor. This method is a lil safer then the top off version simply because if something goes wrong the dosing pumps pump very slow.
Or if you dont mind dosing every night you can just mix it with your topoff and either drip it or if its not alot you can just add it to the sump.
Another way to do it is use a Dosing pump on a timer to kick on from time to time and dose a preset amount of freshwater to the reactor. This method is a lil safer then the top off version simply because if something goes wrong the dosing pumps pump very slow.
Or if you dont mind dosing every night you can just mix it with your topoff and either drip it or if its not alot you can just add it to the sump.
TheGriffin
New member
Is there any negative effects to hooking your Kalk reactor to your sumps return pump (tank water) instead of your DI (other than just not being optimal)? :strooper:
8BALL_99
New member
Not sure about the link I've never seen a Kalk reactor that uses Co2 ,,, If they are talking about a calcium reactor then I dont agree. Alot of people run calcium reactors and dose with Kalk.. The Kalk even helps with the low PH Calcium reactors cause..
But they are right about just adding it for top off.. But that is how a Kalk Reactor works anyway... Now a Calcium reactor circulates tank water through it..
But they are right about just adding it for top off.. But that is how a Kalk Reactor works anyway... Now a Calcium reactor circulates tank water through it..
TheGriffin
New member
Maybe I missed my answer....So will the calcium hydroxide not break down in salt water vs ro water? I still can't find anything that says why you cant use tank water. Just stuff saying that you should use ro water. I'm hoping one doesn’t preclude the other just because its favored. Anybod know? :strooper:
H@rry
In Memoriam
I think the reason that people recommend RO water is that kalk is normally used by adding it to top off water to replace evaporation.
You mention connecting it to your sump return pump. Are you talking about teeing off your return line and running a very slow drip through the kalk reacter? That *might* be OK although I never have heard of anyone doing that. If you're talking about running the entire output of your return pump through there, that would immediately flush it out into the tank. That wouldn't be good. It would suddenly raise the pH and probably cause a snowstorm.
You mention connecting it to your sump return pump. Are you talking about teeing off your return line and running a very slow drip through the kalk reacter? That *might* be OK although I never have heard of anyone doing that. If you're talking about running the entire output of your return pump through there, that would immediately flush it out into the tank. That wouldn't be good. It would suddenly raise the pH and probably cause a snowstorm.
TheGriffin
New member
No, no, nothing silly like that. Just the standard kalk setup but using the return pump to supply the pressure gradient and tank water for the drip instead of the ro unit.
I just dont have the vertical room in my office tank stand for a drip nor do I have an RO unit to power the reactor. I have currently been mixing up some kalk in my topoff gallon jug every night to come in in the morning and dump 1/2 gallons in. I just dont like dumping that much kalk at one time into a 46 gal. I would rather have a reactor.
I just dont have the vertical room in my office tank stand for a drip nor do I have an RO unit to power the reactor. I have currently been mixing up some kalk in my topoff gallon jug every night to come in in the morning and dump 1/2 gallons in. I just dont like dumping that much kalk at one time into a 46 gal. I would rather have a reactor.
8BALL_99
New member
Sorry Griffin but I dont know.. I would think there is some reason why they aren't setup like that.. Cause your pretty much talking about running a Kalk reactor just like a Calcium reactor just without the Co2.. This would a very easy way of dosing Kalk so there has to be a reason why no one does it like this.. The only thing I can guess is mayby salt water wont disolve as much Lime.. I guess a simple test would be easy.. Take a gallon of Ro water and a gallon of Tank water.. Add a couple of tsp of lime and see what happens... Of course there could be some other reason that really can't tell by looking at it.. Might want to ask over in the chemistry forum.. lol be warned though the reply could be very long and might make you fall asleep....
Will
Will
TheGriffin
New member
Thanks Will, I'm thinking the same thing as you. I might have to mosey on over there.
6Speed
Zardoz
Can you keep adding RO water to the same milk jig so long as it has left over kalk in it?
What I mean is that I usually add 1 or 2 tsp to a 1 gallon jug and a layer of it will settle on the bottom. When I drip off the clear saturated water, the thin layer is left behind. Can I add new water, shake it up, and let it resettle again having a saturated solution, thus getting 2 run throughs from the original spoonfuls?
Kalk is cheap, so I guess there's no real reason to do this except that I try to conserve, reduce, etc on most things in life to make things run more efficiently. (although you wouldn't think it if you saw my room :eek1: )
What I mean is that I usually add 1 or 2 tsp to a 1 gallon jug and a layer of it will settle on the bottom. When I drip off the clear saturated water, the thin layer is left behind. Can I add new water, shake it up, and let it resettle again having a saturated solution, thus getting 2 run throughs from the original spoonfuls?
Kalk is cheap, so I guess there's no real reason to do this except that I try to conserve, reduce, etc on most things in life to make things run more efficiently. (although you wouldn't think it if you saw my room :eek1: )
Griffin,
You may already be aware but...
Do a search on "Slurry" method of Kalk addition. Anthony Calfo does what you're doing as his way of adding Kalk. He gives the dosage amount in that thread.
You can now find him on another forum, which may be the way to find his formula (basically add your kalk to cold top off water (I use tap) and add slowly immediately after mixing).
Harbour
You may already be aware but...
Do a search on "Slurry" method of Kalk addition. Anthony Calfo does what you're doing as his way of adding Kalk. He gives the dosage amount in that thread.
You can now find him on another forum, which may be the way to find his formula (basically add your kalk to cold top off water (I use tap) and add slowly immediately after mixing).
Harbour
