recommend a kalk ato pump besides aqualifter

[ambergris caye]

Lifter clogs up too much. Gallon and a half per day.

 

[ambergris caye]

I'd like to find a doser that isn't too expensive yet can draw from just off the bottom of my kalk reservoir easily through rigid tubing.

 

[m2434]

Most dosing pumps will have more head pressure and should clog less often. Although the cheap ones tend not to have the right flow rate. The BRS ones for example, jump from 1.1 to 50 ml/min. An adjustable would be best. I think the reef fillers are great, but pricey. I just use a ball valve on the aqualift to control the flow rate. When it clogs, I just open it and close it a few times. That usually breaks up the cake enough to unclog it. Maybe once every 4 months I'll soak it in vinegar, but the ball valve mostly does the trick.

 

[ambergris caye]

I'd like to find one trustworthy enough to take a vacation for a week without having to worry about it.

 

[m2434]

Hmm. Usually it takes longer than a week for my aqualifter to clog. If it's clogging that fast you may need a dosing pump I guess. Most parastalic pumps should be fine, if you can find one that has a decent flow rate. If you have a controller you can probably set it to shut off the ATO if the ph gets high. If need be, that should mostly make up for dosing a bit too fast. Not a bad idea anyways actually.



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[reefernutz]

Are you talking about a mixing pump or a supply pump?

Either way, go with the older model maxijet - pumps are cheap and so are the replacement impellers. They are used on the Geo and Reeftek kalk reactors as mixing pumps and I only had to replace the impeller once per year.

 

[ryeguyy84]

my aqualifter takes a good 6 months to clog, by that time i usually replace the tubing, and soak the pump in vinegar. worst case scenario you can almost completely rebuild the thing for like $3.

maybe cut back the Kalk and supplement with a 2 part?

 

[anderson0196]

What about the pre-filter for the aqua lifter? Could be a cheap solution...

 

[reefernutz]

It does seem kind of odd that it's clogging so much. My maxijet never clogged, but the impeller wore out......and that was using it as a mixing pump.

 

[MrSandman]

Spend the 75 bucks or so for a used peristaltic dosing pump and you won't have to worry about it ever again. I've had one for about 8 years now and have had absolutely zero problems with it. It runs about 3 minutes every hour for about 10 hours a day and it maintains my water levels perfectly when used with a float switch. It never clogs and i have yet to replace the tubing. More reliable than the aqualifter and the maxijet combined. Plus, it can handle very high head pressure and can suck water from a freshwater reservoir 30 feet away and push it another 10 feet or more and overcome the head pressure that a kalkwasser reactor imparts on it (that's what mine does). I wouldn't run an ATO system any other way.

 

[ambergris caye]

Peristaltic dosing sounds good. Does anyone have experience with any particular brand/model so I can look up the ratings/cost?

 

[d0ughb0y]

If you are using a kalk stirrer or kalk reactor, then only freshwater will pass through the aqualifter so it will never clog.

 

[MrSandman]

Depending on your setup the models will vary. Do you have kalk just sitting in a bin mixed with RODI water? Or do you have a kalk reactor? What is the distance and height the water needs to travel?

I'm running an industrial grade pump and this thing can create enough pressure to make my kalk reactor blow up (hence the ability to pump water such long distances). If you only have a few feet to travel, then the hobby grade ones will be fine for you. For hobby grade you can look at www.bulkreefsupply.com. For industrial and other hobby grades you can also look to ebay.

 

[milkman55]

I have the BRS 50ml dosing pump to top off my sump through a kalk stirrer. Works great.
I have a second top off that is gravity feed with RO to insure no issues.

If you feed RO through a Kalk stirrer, you will not have clogging issues even with the Aqualifter. I just wanted something more precise than an Aqualifter.

 

[ambergris caye]

I have kalk sitting in a bin with an autotopoff.com configuration. I pump up about 16 inches of rigid and regular air line tubing to the airlifter from almost the bottom of the reservoir, then over about 6 feet to my sump with maybe 6 more inches of incline.

 

[MrSandman]

Based on what you have mentioned, you evaporate about 5700ml's a day. With the BRS 50ml that equates to about 2 hours of on-time per day. I think that should be fine.