Using a K1 stirrer with BRS kalk. I've got about a cup in there. My alk and pH took a dive, and I've found the kalk is like thick mud. I can barely pull the stirrer out of the goop. Any idea what's going on? The stirrer is feed RODI.
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pH is 11.8 in the stirrer. I'm seeing that 12.4 is considered saturated. So I guess the question is how undersaturated is 11.8?
Thanks guys. I think to reliably run this thing long term, it needs a pH probe.
Yeah, RODI. I pulled the stirrer out and and the kalk seemed to be about twice as thick as pudding.Please confirm you are using RODI water...tap/well water can be high in calcium and help create mud.
My other thought looking at the picture is too much Kalk....the BRS stuff is a powder. lots of powder and water = mud.
Too little kalk and it does not form a cloud at the bottom/not mixing. I know how the typical sludge at the bottom of a reactor is and had never posed a problem with normal kalk.probably too much kalk if you're just running saturated kalk. It gets pasty when settling in mass. Personally, just add less kalk and have the reactor stir occassionally or just shake it up once real well when adding kalk and then just dose the water (without stirring again until the water is almost gone). I don't think the saturation level really drops over time (i think you can repeatedly stir to increase saturation but no stirring i don't think drops it--randy could chime there)... Really just having a consistent dose, whatever the saturation level is, i think is what you want.
i run kalk as a slurry and just stir it up automatically a minute or so before dosing, many times a day. That has held alk very stable; there are lots of ways to run kalk!