Marsfrogie's Super Simple $20 Kalk Reactor

[Marsfrogie]

Not too much to say about it. It works great, does not have a mixer but there is no need considering how soluble Kalk is in water. Total cost was under $20. (Not including Auto Topoff). If you include auto topoff and everything it is a $100 complete Kalk reactor. Water enters the long tube at the bottom and Kalk exits through the top tube. A 2 hole rubber stopper keeps air from coming in contact with the solution. One thing I may do is put a one way check valve on the outlet tube in order to minimize air contact.

 

[THE ROOK]

I would think that just adding kalk to your ato reservior would be much more efficient. Not to mention one less contraption to keep clean.

 

[Marsfrogie]

If you don't keep air from coming into contact with the Kalk it it will not be as effective.

 

[Mister Scopas]

There's a photo of this exact setup in one of the Reef Aquarium books by Delbeek / Sprung. The only difference is that in their version the Erlenmeyer flask has a teflon stirring bar in the bottom and the flask sits atop a magnetic stirring plate. I'm guessing that they use a timer to periodically turn the stirring plate on.

How much did you have to pay for the flask, and where did you end up sourcing it? I was thinking that the flask would be pretty expensive, and that your total cost would be well over $20.

 

[Marsfrogie]

You know it is actually great to hear that I was not the first to come up with this as it is so much simpler than the other alternatives. I personally don't believe agitation is needed but if you look closely in that picture there are some magnetic stir bars next to the flask. I may use them at a future date if I learn that stirring is mandatory.

 

[Marsfrogie]

Order was placed at The Science Fair D O T C OM. The flask was $8. It is a 1 liter flask with a #8 2 hole stopper.

 

[Mister Scopas]

Yes, even though you're not the first guy to have made a kalk reactor this way, you can still be proud of the fact that great minds think alike.

I have always thought that Kalk reactors are made more complicated than they need to be just so they will justify a high selling price. Your lab-grade solution is a nice alternative.

Thanks for the link. I'm going shopping now.

 

[Marsfrogie]

To top it off, (No pun intended ) you can build a DIY stir plate out of an old computer fan and hard drive. Just rip the hard drive magnet out and glue it centered on the computer fan with epoxy. Then either build or buy a variable voltage power supply and put the fan on some sort of stand. Bang, you have a cheap DIY stir plate.

 

[Mister Scopas]

Nice.

 

[THE ROOK]

I believe that Randy Holmes-Farley has shown no significant drop in kalk effectiveness as long as top off reservior is covered. I even added some 1/4" weatherstrip to the cover to seal a little better.

While I'm a fan of diy, this is just an added gadget that you really don't need as you already have an ato. Also seems like there is a very good chance for the kalk precip to enter your sump. Thousands on this site use their ato for kalk. No need to complicate things.

I know this comes off as criticism but others should know there are other options.

 

[Marsfrogie]

Well, technically it is criticism, but this is and open forum and tactful criticism is encouraged.

It really boils down to what you want to clean. Do you want to clean out your topoff bucket or do you want to clean out a small 1 Liter flask? I can assure you that I have monitored it and absolutely no Kalk powder makes it to the sump. Additionally, I don't see how this qualifies as "complicating" things as it is essentially just a passive device connected inline with the ATO.

Another advantage of doing it this way is the fact that you have no high pH water running through any of your pumps. Personally, I would rather not run Kalk through a pump as it is rather corrosive.

If you have an airtight auto topoff bucket and it works for you then I say keep with what works. Nothing wrong with options though as you said.

 

[Mister Scopas]

I like the erlenmeyer flask solution. There's a CLEAR advantage to using a lightweight, removable and CLEAR flask as the kalk mixing chamber. Its nice to be able to see what's going on in the reaction chamber.

With this method, any air entering the device would be self-purging if you located the effluent tube high in the stopper; you would not have to worry about kalk reacting with CO2 in the air to form CaCO3.

I also agree that the designs that use maxijets or other recirculating pumps inside of the kalk chamber are a less than optimal solution, as kalk tends to accumulate on the pumps/impellers which mandates additional maintenance/disassembly to keep the assembly in good working order.

I really like the idea of a cheap, clear flask and an inexpensive stirring plate. Thanks Marsfrogie. I found lots of good DIY stirring plate info using Google.

 

[bradbmbj]

Really nice, and don't be discouraged by the negative reactions of those who have nothing good to say.

 

[Marsfrogie]

Thanks for the compliments. I don't get discouraged on forums. People are welcome to agree of disagree as they choose. It's makes it more fun to have a friendly debate.

 

[bradbmbj]

Maybe, but sometimes I feel no matter what can be said on a subject from one point of view will be disputed regardless with the mindset of some.

 

[EverettReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14781497#post14781497 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bradbmbj
Maybe, but sometimes I feel no matter what can be said on a subject from one point of view will be disputed regardless with the mindset of some.

+20

Even if you just spent a minute looking at the option, you may have staved off Altzheimers for a day.... Thanks Mars frogie.... it gave me more than a minute.

 

[laverda]

I like the flask as it is stable, but tall narrow cylinder works better if your not stiring your Kalk. The in coming water does a better job of stirring the Kalk in a tall narrow jar. I use old jelly on my nano tanks. The taller and narrower the better. Just drill 2 holes in the lid and glue in a long and short tube. The long one should go as close to the bottom as possible without blocking it.

 

[dwl]

so, how well would something like a 1 litre water bottle or a 2 litre soda bottle do?

 

[Marsfrogie]

Soda bottle should work just fine. You will have to silicone the tubing in place so as to make air tight. (Or some other sort of paste/glue)

Laverda, I found that when I put the tubing very close to the bottom that it stirred up the Kalk enough that some made it to the outlet tubing. Do you not have this problem?

 

[laverda]

Actually I don't think a plastic soda bottle will work long term. I put to much Kalk in one of my reactors and had to remove some of the excess. I drained half of it in to a plastic container to save for later. When I went to use it it was all hard and dried as the container had some how developed cracks in it from the Kalk.

Marsfrogie
That is why tall bottles work better for me. I am sure some of it depends on what pump your feeding it with. I just use Aqua lifter and taller bottles on my large tank and the little battery powered air pumps for my nano tanks. These are real easy to wire a float switch to and I feed the Kalk reactor by pressurizing a 1 quart plastic juice juice bottle to force water out and in the the reactor. The quart bottle has tubes just like the Kalk reactor. If it is not close to the bottom the Kalk on the bottom just ends up as a hard lump for me. The whole set up costs less then $25.00.