Randy's 180G Reef-Photo Journal
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
I plan on getting a pH controller once I get a calcium reactor going.. The plan would be to use the pH controller to normally control the effluent pH but just dip it into the tank when I want to know the tank pH.
rdmpe
New member
jnarowe - do you have an aquacontroller? I know the higher end models can have dual PH probes/controls. Pretty cool. I loved my milwaukee ph meter/controller, but I like the Aquacontroller setup even better. It's great having it right there to see and will be easy to have it control the kalk.
However, I have found out the answer as to why the controller is leaving the pump on even though all of the electronigs say it is off... The outlets are controlled with triacs, and according to Neptune "Very small inductive loads with poor power factors can make it impossible for a triac to shut off". So I'm going to have to plug something else in along with the aqualifter. I need something that can go on and off with the kalk, at night, and not be annoying. And it has to be reliable since if it fails I could get a kalk overdose. Any ideas?
However, I have found out the answer as to why the controller is leaving the pump on even though all of the electronigs say it is off... The outlets are controlled with triacs, and according to Neptune "Very small inductive loads with poor power factors can make it impossible for a triac to shut off". So I'm going to have to plug something else in along with the aqualifter. I need something that can go on and off with the kalk, at night, and not be annoying. And it has to be reliable since if it fails I could get a kalk overdose. Any ideas?
jnarowe
New member
I have an ACIII Pro with the PX-1000 add-on module.
Strange statement from Neptune particularly because I never heard that from Curt when we were trying to figure out what the problem was with my Vortech pumps. Neptune is a good system but like any of them, it has some issues.
One thing that comes to mind is a powerhead. You could marry one to the Aqualifter circuit and have a little random flow when the kalk kicks on.
Strange statement from Neptune particularly because I never heard that from Curt when we were trying to figure out what the problem was with my Vortech pumps. Neptune is a good system but like any of them, it has some issues.
One thing that comes to mind is a powerhead. You could marry one to the Aqualifter circuit and have a little random flow when the kalk kicks on.
rdmpe
New member
Ahh yes, but then I'd have to desecrate my tank with a 
powerhead :lol: I have so much dang flow right now I have a hard time finding anywhere to put any LPS... This is a pretty annoying issue. I'm walking around my house looking for some piece of useless junk to plug into my tank controller :lol:
powerhead :lol: I have so much dang flow right now I have a hard time finding anywhere to put any LPS... This is a pretty annoying issue. I'm walking around my house looking for some piece of useless junk to plug into my tank controller :lol:
:rollface:
rdmpe
New member
Well, my Project Manager had a great suggestion. I didn't think it would work, but I figured what tha hay... An old piece of crap lamp timer. It's one of those timers with the rotating front that you pull the pins up or down to set the on/off times. I don't have anything actually plugged into the timer. It's just the timer plugged into the same extension cord that the aqualifter is plugged into. With the timer and the aqualifter together, everything works fine. I've had it go on and off a bunch of times and it hasn't "stuck" on at all. So I think that's the ticket.
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
rdmpe
New member
ROFL ! My wife loves that movie.
Well, I was messing around with the reef chem calculator
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/chemcalc.html
and I'm surprised to see the fairly modest effect that kalk actually has on the CA and ALK levels. I thought it would pack a little more punch. But I was looking at what it would take to go from CA of 435 to 450 and it was approx. 3.3 gallons!
So if my kalk pump is controlled by my PH levels, it is very unlikely that I'm going to blow my CA and ALK levels too high. I'll probably have to still dose two-part for sure unless I go to a reactor design and use kalk for all of my topoff.
The problem with that is that my topoff system does not tend to "dribble". It is set up to allow approx. 1" of drop in the sump and then fills that inch back up. So it would add too much kalk at once unless I choked it back with a ball valve or tied it to my PH levels. Well, I may end up going in that direction, not sure.
So for tonight, I'm going to let it run all night where the kalk comes on at PH 7.99 and goes off at PH 8.02. I'm not going to dose any two-part overnight. I'll measure the CA and ALK tomorrow morning and hand dose as needed. I want to see what the kalk does by itself and how much actual limewater gets used out of my resevoir.
Well, I was messing around with the reef chem calculator
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/chemcalc.html
and I'm surprised to see the fairly modest effect that kalk actually has on the CA and ALK levels. I thought it would pack a little more punch. But I was looking at what it would take to go from CA of 435 to 450 and it was approx. 3.3 gallons!
So if my kalk pump is controlled by my PH levels, it is very unlikely that I'm going to blow my CA and ALK levels too high. I'll probably have to still dose two-part for sure unless I go to a reactor design and use kalk for all of my topoff.
The problem with that is that my topoff system does not tend to "dribble". It is set up to allow approx. 1" of drop in the sump and then fills that inch back up. So it would add too much kalk at once unless I choked it back with a ball valve or tied it to my PH levels. Well, I may end up going in that direction, not sure.
So for tonight, I'm going to let it run all night where the kalk comes on at PH 7.99 and goes off at PH 8.02. I'm not going to dose any two-part overnight. I'll measure the CA and ALK tomorrow morning and hand dose as needed. I want to see what the kalk does by itself and how much actual limewater gets used out of my resevoir.
tgunn
Active member
It's amazing just how much Kalk is required to raise the Ca and Alk. That's why most people just use it for maintaining the levels.
You definitely wouldn't want to be topping it off quickly. When I do my twice daily cleaning of my kalk dripper outlet to unplug it, I usually junk crank open and close the valve quickly to unplug. I get a little cloud from even that small amount of kalk going in all at once.
I'd bet at this point you could probably make up all of your Ca and Alk demands with just kalk alone.
Tyler
You definitely wouldn't want to be topping it off quickly. When I do my twice daily cleaning of my kalk dripper outlet to unplug it, I usually junk crank open and close the valve quickly to unplug. I get a little cloud from even that small amount of kalk going in all at once.
I'd bet at this point you could probably make up all of your Ca and Alk demands with just kalk alone.
Tyler
rdmpe
New member
You may be right about that. I tested this morning with only the kalk running overnight (no two part). The kalk only came on as needed to keep the PH at 8.00, and this morning my CA and ALK actually look good. I left it that way for now, so I'll test it again this evening at the end of the light cycle. At that point, the kalk will not be dosed for a long time since the PH will be up above 8.0 during the daylight cycle. That will give the CA and ALK a chance to drop some.
rdmpe
New member
The first night of adding kalk went pretty well I think. I found that it took about a gallon of saturated kalk to keep my PH at 8.0 overnight. This will probably vary though depending on how closed up the house is and such. But I was hoping it wouldn't take that much. My 5 gallon resevoir is not going to be practical for kalk. I'm going to need either a big brute can outside (exposed to the weather, etc.) or a reactor.
So my numbers were:
12/04/06, 23:00, CA = 435, ALK = 11.2 dKH / 4.00 meq/L
Then I dosed kalk set to keep the PH at or above 8.0. No 2-part.
12/05/06, 20:00, CA = 435, ALK = 10.4 dKH / 3.72 meq/L
The CA didn't seem to change much but the ALK sure dropped over the course of one day. Not sure why I'm seeing that or if it's normal.
Tonight I'm going to leave the kalk set to run when the PH drops below 8.0 again, but I'm going to also dose some 2-part. I think I'll probably continue that way and see how steady I can make it.
In the long term though, I'm not going to use the 5g bucket if I have to refill it every 3 days... I may rig up a float valve to top it off. The articles that I read by Randy Holmes-Farley show that a large container of kalk with plenty of extra solids at the bottom will stay saturated without stirring. He has measured saturated kalk over the course of a whole month with no stirring. However, I don't know how well that will hold if the tank is being topped off. Another question for the chemestry forum.
So my numbers were:
12/04/06, 23:00, CA = 435, ALK = 11.2 dKH / 4.00 meq/L
Then I dosed kalk set to keep the PH at or above 8.0. No 2-part.
12/05/06, 20:00, CA = 435, ALK = 10.4 dKH / 3.72 meq/L
The CA didn't seem to change much but the ALK sure dropped over the course of one day. Not sure why I'm seeing that or if it's normal.
Tonight I'm going to leave the kalk set to run when the PH drops below 8.0 again, but I'm going to also dose some 2-part. I think I'll probably continue that way and see how steady I can make it.
In the long term though, I'm not going to use the 5g bucket if I have to refill it every 3 days... I may rig up a float valve to top it off. The articles that I read by Randy Holmes-Farley show that a large container of kalk with plenty of extra solids at the bottom will stay saturated without stirring. He has measured saturated kalk over the course of a whole month with no stirring. However, I don't know how well that will hold if the tank is being topped off. Another question for the chemestry forum.
