What valve do you use? I've been using a 1/4" push connect ball valve and it keeps slowing down. I'm assuming a needle valve is what I need, is the one BRS sells a good option?
Kalk Drip
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joseserrano
2500 Club Member
its clogging most likely. You at going to run into this issue again and again. best to just have an extra set of stuff and switch it out when you start to see It slowing down.
OP
OP
I dunno, I just set it up. I've been hand dosing two part and would like to be less tethered to my tanks. Set it to one drop per 5 seconds last night and this morning it was like one drop ever 12 seconds. But also the ball valve is a pain to set, would be nice to have more precise control. I let the solution settle for 24 hours(looks clear) and the pickup tube is a good two inches from the bottom. And if it was a clog wouldn't just opening the valve up to clear the block fix it for a time?
AllSignsPointToFish
"No Longer The Guy Without FaceBook"
I finally gave up on the kalk drip. I kept having the same issue where I could not meter the drip consistently. I was using an airline valve and sometimes it would slow down, other times it would just stop.
OP
OP
Yeah I had this issue with dripping kalk years ago and I just switched to hand dosing two part. I got dosers for the main tank but was hoping to just drip kalk for the small tank.
AllSignsPointToFish
"No Longer The Guy Without FaceBook"
I agree with using a dosing pump. I even tried to use a drip acclimation apparatus with little success. Had I had a spare head available on my current dosing pump, I would've tried that!
Wrasse-cal
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Agree on the pump. I've used the Kamoer FX-STP to dose kalk for over a year now and it's been bulletproof.
OP
OP
Appreciate the responses but I know I could use a doser, would love to hear what valves people are using to drip kalk successfully. If any..lol
Wrasse-cal
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None. Flow is controlled entirely by the pump.
AllSignsPointToFish
"No Longer The Guy Without FaceBook"
I think the issue is that, unless you have totally clear liquid (no suspended solids) and keep the valve meticulously clean, you will have drip issues without a pump.
splitting_lanes
Active Member
There is some recommendation to make sure the ball valve is not too close to the container of kalkwasser. I think if you search the reef2reef forums you will find some recommendations on getting the drip to work better.
OP
OP
It wouldn't be a kalk drip if you're using a pump, you would just be dosing kalk which I'm familiar with. I'm not asking anything about pumps or setups that use pumps.
I let the solution settle for 24 hours(looks clear) and the pickup tube is a good two inches from the bottom.
Yep, I've got the valve at the very end of the line. I did search and no one is talking about this issue in the first few pages so I gave up. Hopefully someone that is actually dripping kalk will chime in. I may end up grabbing another X1 but if I could just grab a different valve that would be preferable.
AllSignsPointToFish
"No Longer The Guy Without FaceBook"
The other issue is that the calcium hydroxide will precipitate out at calcium carbonate, so good cleaning is required frequently to keep the small opening in the drip valve flowing.
I feel like if all you had to do was buy bags of premixed kalk or couple bags of 2 part and get some disposable tips (nonmedical grade) you'd never clogJust thinking out loud here. I wonder if an IV drip setup would work better.
Aside from clogging, the other problem with dripping is that the flow through the valve is dependent on the level of fluid in the reservoir. As the level lowers, there is less static head to drive the fluid through the valve, and it will slow down. So you would have to periodically open the valve a little more to re-establish your desired flow rate.
OP
OP
I'm going to give that a try, thanks!Just thinking out loud here. I wonder if an IV drip setup would work better.
OP
OP
I wonder if it's at any meaningful rate though.
It will depend on how much vertical distance is between the reservoir and the valve. If you can maximize that distance, the change will be less significant. But if the valve is close to the reservoir, the change will be more pronounced. You can do a test run with pure RODI water to see what the real change is (pure water will eliminate the potential for blockage due to precipitation or particulates in the water).
