New Toy - DIY Kalkwasser Stirrer

The0wn4g3

The0wn4g3

New member
I once had a Deltec KM500S, but I traded it awhile back for a DAS EX-2 skimmer. Well, since then I've gradually become more and more lazy with adding kalkwasser to my top-off water. After a lot of thinking about how to build an inexpensive stirrer with parts readily available and a minimum amount of drilling, the light bulb clicked on, and this is what appeared :)

DSC03176.jpg


DSC03177.jpg


All total it cost me $43 in parts + a $19 160GPH pump from Petco + a 1/4" tapping bit. (I already had a 3'x6' sheet of 1/4" acrylic.)
I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of the thing. It's keeping the top-off water well saturated, and my tank is seeing a much smaller drop in alkalinity from day to day. SO much easier than mixing it by hand!
 
I just stumbled across this thread while researching a DIY stirrer. I'm originally from just down the road in Montgomery.

Anyhow, any chance we can get some semi-detailed build info on this?
 
Yes, indeed - some build hints would be great. I really need to build something like this for the church tank. It just has ATO from the RO/DI and I'd rather do this in order to help keep the alkalinity more stable.
 
Wow, I never thought this thread would come back to life!

In short, it's a 6"x4" PVC sanitary tee from The Home Depot. I used GE Lexan 100% silicon to bond the 1/4" acrylic to the PVC. The top piece of acrylic is removable, so it's not bonded. I then used a 1/4" tape and screwed in a 1/4" elbow and hooked in into my ATO. About a 10" piece of rigid 1/4" tube goes straight down the chamber, almost touching the bottom. The spout in the first picture is attached to 1/2" PVC the length of the tee section, then an elbow, and in the second picture you can see the PVC stop about 1" from the top of the main chamber. Inside the chamber a powerhead from Petco is suction-cupped upside-down to circulate the water about every 15 minutes.
So, the water enters via the ATO, is pumped to the bottom of the chamber, then overflow into the 1/2" PVC, and into the tank.
I can draw up some pictures if you want.

I downgraded from my 110 to a 40B, so I don't use this stirrer anymore. I wouldn't mind selling it if anyone wants a cheap DIY stirrer. It worked great.
 
Cool thanks, I'm going to have to build one of these. I'm not close enough to run over to Auburn to buy yours off of you anymore but the build info is useful.

You had this setup over your sump or DT? Was it hooked up to your ATO switch so that when it activated only the amount of Kalkwasser matching the top-off water pumped in was put into the tank?
 
Well, my "tank" at the time was a 110 gallon garden tub. So it was over the main "tank" since I had no sump. Yes, it was connected in-line with my ATO. The ATO water was pumped into the stirring chamber, where it would force an equal amount of water saturated with kalkwasser over the 1/2" PVC and into the tank. The output was essentially controlled by the float switch.
 
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