Avast Marine K1 Kalk Stirrer Mod

[Natural_Reefer]

Following since I have similar issues with both BRS and ESV Kalkwasser.

 

[Moe K]

I was in the process of making a new Kalk reactor and researched a lot about materials. I was originally going to use PETG but found out it will break down. I put some filament in kalk solution and it did indeed become brittle and was able to break apart easily. This took about 2 weeks to notice. Recommend using ABS but I have yet to test that.

 

[Waboss]

I was in the process of making a new Kalk reactor and researched a lot about materials. I was originally going to use PETG but found out it will break down. I put some filament in kalk solution and it did indeed become brittle and was able to break apart easily. This took about 2 weeks to notice. Recommend using ABS but I have yet to test that.

Interesting. I wonder if different PETG manufacturers are different. I had a set in for at least 2 months and when I checked them, they didn't seem any more brittle.

ABS would work too though. I've printed a lot of stuff from ABS but stopped after I couldn't figure out a good way to vent the fumes. It is not a pleasant, or healthy, smell.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Interesting thread. I'm heading down a kalk stirrer journey myself to supplement a CaRX for the pH boost. I'm having the same issue where the recommended dosing per the calculator doesn't check out. I'm dosing more kalkRX vol than I should be in order to maintain my alk. This lead me to thinking maybe my kalk is bad which I recently replaced with the MS Coral brand. Shows a bit of an improvement, but still things don't add up. So now I'm checking the gear.

Your mod is very interesting, but question to the overall stirrer experience: When you stir before the mod, do you see the expected white cloudy water? If so, then wouldn't you expect the stirrer to be doing it's job without the mod? I tried playing with the stirrer timing to stir approx 20 mins before dosing time for the kalk to settle. I'm now down to an hourly stir!. If we're all seeing milky water, shouldn't we all assume it's mixing well?

I'm replenishing the kalk weekly per a couple scoops, but I'm starting to see thicker and thicker layer of kalk at the bottom which eventually need to get removed if it's not doing anything. I can't imagine our experience here to be the norm.

 

[Waboss]

Interesting thread. I'm heading down a kalk stirrer journey myself to supplement a CaRX for the pH boost. I'm having the same issue where the recommended dosing per the calculator doesn't check out. I'm dosing more kalkRX vol than I should be in order to maintain my alk. This lead me to thinking maybe my kalk is bad which I recently replaced with the MS Coral brand. Shows a bit of an improvement, but still things don't add up. So now I'm checking the gear.

Your mod is very interesting, but question to the overall stirrer experience: When you stir before the mod, do you see the expected white cloudy water? If so, then wouldn't you expect the stirrer to be doing it's job without the mod? I tried playing with the stirrer timing to stir approx 20 mins before dosing time for the kalk to settle. I'm now down to an hourly stir!. If we're all seeing milky water, shouldn't we all assume it's mixing well?

I'm replenishing the kalk weekly per a couple scoops, but I'm starting to see thicker and thicker layer of kalk at the bottom which eventually need to get removed if it's not doing anything. I can't imagine our experience here to be the norm.

All good points!

I made the mod to try and "push" the slurry at the bottom higher in the stirrer so the fresh water feeding the stirrer would be forced to go through the slurry a little more.

While I did see an improvement, in the end it didn't solve my issues long term. So I've gone back to mixing up fully saturated kalk/water in larger quantities (15 gallons at a time) and just using that.

I think the stirrer is a great add if you only need a little boost or are just looking for the ionic balance it's supposed to provide. And it did seem that the mod helped with that. Unfortunately, my situation requires a fully saturated mixture, which I was ultimately never able to sustain with the stirrer long term.

I might try Geo's kalk reactor one day, since it mixes differently, using a pump instead of a stir bar. I used one 2 decades ago and it worked well from what I recall, but I really didn't know what I was doing back then either! haha

 

[Saltyanimals]

All good points!

I made the mod to try and "push" the slurry at the bottom higher in the stirrer so the fresh water feeding the stirrer would be forced to go through the slurry a little more.

While I did see an improvement, in the end it didn't solve my issues long term. So I've gone back to mixing up fully saturated kalk/water in larger quantities (15 gallons at a time) and just using that.

I think the stirrer is a great add if you only need a little boost or are just looking for the ionic balance it's supposed to provide. And it did seem that the mod helped with that. Unfortunately, my situation requires a fully saturated mixture, which I was ultimately never able to sustain with the stirrer long term.

I might try Geo's kalk reactor one day, since it mixes differently, using a pump instead of a stir bar. I used one 2 decades ago and it worked well from what I recall, but I really didn't know what I was doing back then either! haha

I thought the whole point of the stirrer was to ensure fully saturated kalk water by keeping the kalk mixed with new fresh water? Isn't it equivalent to you mixing at 15 gallons at a time just doing it constantly?

 

[Waboss]

I thought the whole point of the stirrer was to ensure fully saturated kalk water by keeping the kalk mixed with new fresh water? Isn't it equivalent to you mixing at 15 gallons at a time just doing it constantly?

I do believe that is the point, but that was not the results I experienced. Over a period of time (generally days), the saturation level would drop off, even if mixing 24x7 and adding more than enough kalk to the stirrer. This is the whole reason I made the mod, I was trying to find a way to maintain a higher saturation (closer to fully saturated) for a longer period of time in the stirrer.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I'm right there with you. Not experiencing the stirrer love that I've read so much about on R2R. I can't imagine a magnetic stirrer with the pill would be any better either.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

One thing that I never agreed with on the avast kalk stirrer is that it rotates too slowly and is intended to only run on occasion.

Me, being a DIYer at heart have tackled this by making my own kalk reactor, and changing things that I thought were limiting factors in commercial units.

I made a magnetic coupled stirrer that uses a 3d printed paddle that also has a 3d printed ceramic thrust bearing on the bottom to limit wear.

I can control the rpm so that it can maintain the proper cloud level. By doing this, I am able to maintain full saturation of the effluent into the sump.


The paddlenis printed in 95a tpu, it seems to hold up a lot better than petg at the higher pH. My 1st iteration was petg and that fell apart after 6-9 months.

 

[Saltyanimals]

One thing that I never agreed with on the avast kalk stirrer is that it rotates too slowly and is intended to only run on occasion.

Me, being a DIYer at heart have tackled this by making my own kalk reactor, and changing things that I thought were limiting factors in commercial units.

I made a magnetic coupled stirrer that uses a 3d printed paddle that also has a 3d printed ceramic thrust bearing on the bottom to limit wear.

I can control the rpm so that it can maintain the proper cloud level. By doing this, I am able to maintain full saturation of the effluent into the sump.


The paddlenis printed in 95a tpu, it seems to hold up a lot better than petg at the higher pH. My 1st iteration was petg and that fell apart after 6-9 months.

Cool looking for sure. How well does it hold up against the unmixed kalk layers at the bottom? And are you dosing cloudy water since you're stirring 24/7? BTW. I think the AV now running constantly, but yes slowly which is why I asked about the cloudy water. I did a DIY myself and my entire reactor turns white when it stirs but I'm allowing it to rest and settle before dosing. .. and experiencing the low potency issue that lead me to this thread.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Cool looking for sure. How well does it hold up against the unmixed kalk layers at the bottom? And are you dosing cloudy water since you're stirring 24/7? BTW. I think the AV now running constantly, but yes slowly which is why I asked about the cloudy water. I did a DIY myself and my entire reactor turns white when it stirs but I'm allowing it to rest and settle before dosing. .. and experiencing the low potency issue that lead me to this thread.

Because it's running 24/7, the kalk doesn't get a chance to settle. When I refill it, I add 1 pound (roughly 3 cups I think) about every 10-15 days. If the power were to go out and the kalk had time to settle, it would probably take some work to get the paddle free.

Here's a video I just made to kind of explain the stratification between the slurry and saturated calcium hydroxide.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

My avast stirrer is very old. When the motor died I put in a slightly more powerful motor. I don’t have any issues with saturation. I just use mrs wages pickling lime , not the fancy stuff lol

 

[Saltyanimals]

Wanted to pick on this topic a bit more since you folks seem to have a good grasp of the kalk stirrers.

I've been carefully monitoring and recording my progress in my log making sure I keep things as constant as I can and take readings at the same time daily. My personal conclusion is that the kalk potency and overall alk contribution continues to drift downwards. I sucked out the majority of the settled kalk from my reactor on Saturday morning and replacing it with all new kalk. Gave it a good stir manually then kicked on the Rx stirrer for 15 mins which I immediately saw an immediate bump in my pH since the stirring action and my manual activities naturally pushed a bit of the kalk into the tank. Graph below as seen at the 8.05 spike coming from a 7.8 about an hour before. The day's pH continue to climb from that boosted point. Looking at my alk logs, I see a bump the next day and today it's back down. Net net is the benefits while awesome are very short lived. There are countless threads on R2R on degradation in potency and varies attempts to maintain. I believe I could maintain the benefits if I commit to adding a scoop or 2 every couple days and do a RX empty every couple weeks, but this total effort defeats the point of a low maintenance solution.

For the folks on this thread, are you able to maintain your alk with your Kalk RX alone keeping a constant tested level? Kalk stirrer doesn't seem to hold up for me as a primary solution personally. And really trying to make it work! =) I also run a CaRX that is rock solid. I'm starting to think that I need to need to focus my efforts back there again and should consider the KalkRX as a secondary pH booster to help supplement the CaRX.

 

[c4haskett]

Because it's running 24/7, the kalk doesn't get a chance to settle. When I refill it, I add 1 pound (roughly 3 cups I think) about every 10-15 days. If the power were to go out and the kalk had time to settle, it would probably take some work to get the paddle free.

Here's a video I just made to kind of explain the stratification between the slurry and saturated calcium hydroxide.

Do you have a build video or supply list? I'm interested in doing something similar. Especially like the stirrer, do you mind sharing the file for it?

 

[DarthChaos]

Can you share the STL???

 

[jonesdeini]

I would also like the STL or I would pay you to print one for me

 

[KENNYSREEF]

Haha! Wouldn't that be nice?

Have to see if it really makes a difference or not first!

Hi! How has this been working for you? Would pay you for the file if you’re willing to share.

 

[Zaireguy]

I would also be interested if your where to sell them

 

[Waboss]

Hi! How has this been working for you? Would pay you for the file if you’re willing to share.

It worked pretty well. It did keep the slurry higher in the reactor and seemed to maintain the full saturation, at least as well as I can measure it with a PH probe, for about 4x times longer while running about 3500ml a day through it.

I don't really like giving out files any more due to folks reprinting what I made and selling them....I mean I know I sell them, but I created the design as well. I'd be happy to print you up a couple of sets though if you like. Just shoot me a PM.

 

[Waboss]

I would also be interested if your where to sell them

I'll PM you.