Kalk questions

[Silent]

I haven't used kalk in many years but when I did I just let it gravity feed into my sump. Now there are kalk reactors, kalk stirrers, kalk in ato, all using water pumps or dosing pumps. I don't even want to get started on all the conflicting info about storing it (stir it once, use only the clear, stirrers mix with CO2 and degrade kalk, reactors dose a slurry, ect.).

I understand kalk is caustic and can harm pumps. I have heard of people using a dosing pump to pull water from ato and push it through a kalk holding container and into their tank. The problem I see with that is the kalk in the container will become less saturated the more fresh water that is pumped in. Eventually wouldn't there be nothing but fresh water in the kalk container?

How about using almost the same set up as a gravity feed kalk system? Instead putting the container lower than the tank to stop constant siphoning and using an air pump (with a timer or controller) to push the kalk out of the container using pressure? Why spend all that money on reactors or stirrers when this could be done so easily and have the same control? You would not actually be adding CO2 to the kalk because the air pump would just add air to the top of the sealed container and force the kalk out of the tubing same as this diy set up in the brs video. Also nothing to wear out.

 

[Iván Olalla]

Sounds interesting... my toughts about this: an air pump that pressures the container and doesn´t allow back airflow might not be the cheapest, that and looking at wi fi dosing pumps costs today maybe cost/benefit is not a hugue difference... in my setup i use a BT kamoer dosing pump and deliver 40 ml of fully saturated kalk to the system every two hours... i mix a fresh batch every 10 days, it does not depend on evap rate and keeps my numbers steady in the 8.1/8.3 dkh range and ph around 8.4

Almost set it and forget it, just refill every 10 days, no wear or clogging since it´s a peristaltic pump, no gravity, no stirring and adjutsments are easy and very precise... cost wise maybe 110.00 including the fancy acrylic container, the dosing pump and 1.1 lbs of Seachem kalk that will last me at least a year

 

[Silent]

$110 isn't bad, but almost everyone has an old air pump laying around or buy a new one for $10 and a couple merloc fittings and make this for basically free is my point.

 

[eea60123]

You have piqued my interest. I normally drip it in because I have no plans to basically lick my tank to blow into a tube. Do you have any thoughts on air pump sizes and couldn’t you just use it to start the flow and immediately shut it off?

 

[wrasse hole]

Interesting thought.

You'd need to figure out how much air to pump in, and as the tank emptied you'd need to pressurize it more to get the same dosage of kalk since the height differential between your tank and kalkwasser would be gradually increasing and volume of air in the container would also be increasing. Depending on the height differential between the kalk container and where you're dosing it, a basic air pump likely doesn't make the pressure you'd need. It sounds unnecessarily complicated. Also, constantly pumping air into the kalk container might have some effect on the potency overtime, but that's just speculation.

I run kalk in my ATO and haven't had issues with the pump in for 1.5 years and running. Replacement pumps are only $20 anyways.

 

[Silent]

As long as the container is not huge and the distance is not far I would think about any air pump could pump liquid through the tubing within a stand. If the air pump is plugged into a timer or controller it would be utilized the same way a reactor or stirrer would be. Set it up to dose for say 15 min every hour during the night when the lights are off for pH reasons or just all throughout the day. The down side to gravity feed is it drips until it is empty. This is not like that. A simple check valve should keep the container pressurized enough for this.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I use a dosing pump and a 30 gallon Brute. The system delivers a set amount of saturated Kalkwasser spread over 24 hours. I use a Litremeter III but an inexpensive dosing pump (possibly a BRS 50 ml/min or similar) and a digital lamp timer will do the trick.

 

[eea60123]

I feel like I’m missing something. Do you use the air pump before the container? If so, how to you stop the flow once you’ve pressurized the container. Wouldn’t work like blowing into the container to start the flow? Pardon my ignorance

 

[Silent]

Yes before the container. Very low pressure, just enough to move kalk through air line tubing. Also keep container below the output to stop siphoning. Basically this is for using kalk in a free or almost free way with the benefits of a more expensive unit. For the person using gravity method or tired of replacing parts due to caustic kalk. I think this will work fine. Anyone else think this wouldn't work?

 

[wrasse hole]

As long as the container is not huge and the distance is not far I would think about any air pump could pump liquid through the tubing within a stand. If the air pump is plugged into a timer or controller it would be utilized the same way a reactor or stirrer would be. Set it up to dose for say 15 min every hour during the night when the lights are off for pH reasons or just all throughout the day. The down side to gravity feed is it drips until it is empty. This is not like that. A simple check valve should keep the container pressurized enough for this.

Well what kind of height differences are we talking about? Would the kalk container be sitting next to the sump and dosing up to the tank?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I've never experienced any caustic issues using a small pump in my ATO reservoir using kalkwasser. Decades of use.

 

[Silent]

I am thinking something like inside the stand dosing into the sump. Basically like many do with 2 part. @wrasse hole love the name btw lol

 

[Silent]

I've never experienced any caustic issues using a small pump in my ATO reservoir using kalkwasser. Decades of use.

I have heard about impellers breaking and needing replaced often with kalk. Glad you have not had any issues. What pump are you using?

Also ATO containers needing cleaned often. I would rather have a separate container for kalk.

 

[wrasse hole]

I am thinking something like inside the stand dosing into the sump. Basically like many do with 2 part. @wrasse hole love the name btw lol

Haha thank you!

I like the idea, but still think it will be way more expensive than using a pump designed for moving liquid and replacing as necessary.

12" w.c. is about 0.43 PSI, so you'd probably need an air pump that can do at least that. It will also need to be variable speed to deliver a consistent dose of kalk otherwise you'll notice the kalk flow rate dropping considerably as the kalk vessel empties.

 

[Silent]

@wrasse hole Interesting point. So you think there would be that much pressure difference in say a 1 gallon sealed container from when it is 3/4 full to 1/4 full of liquid? For a need to adjust the speed.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I have heard about impellers breaking and needing replaced often with kalk. Glad you have not had any issues. What pump are you using?

Also ATO containers needing cleaned often. I would rather have a separate container for kalk.

Small jeabo utility pump. I clean my reservoir maybe once every six months.

 

[afuel]

I know there are many ways to do things but for me I want stability. Just dosing with ATO evaporation rates can change with the season. I have chose to switch to a kalkreactor and set a constant dosing rate using a Kamoer doser. I set it just below what is needed to make up evaporated water daily. The rest is taken care of by a separate ATO. The Kaomer also takes care of doing my calcium, alk and mag that doesn’t get completely taken care of with kalwasser. This keeps me dosing the exact same amount of kalk daily and hopefully I’ll spend less time making adjustments in the future. This clearly isn’t the cheapest way to get it done

 

[wrasse hole]

@wrasse hole Interesting point. So you think there would be that much pressure difference in say a 1 gallon sealed container from when it is 3/4 full to 1/4 full of liquid? For a need to adjust the speed.

Yes I think so. In the 3/4 full tank there is only a small amount of air volume, so it only takes a small amount of air to pressurize it to pump the kalk. In the 1/4 full tank, the larger air volume means more air will need to be pumped in to achieve the same pressure and pump the same amount of kalk.

Think using a bicycle pump to inflate a bike tire vs. using one to inflate a car tire. I might only need to pump 50x to hit 30psi in a bike tire, but might need to pump 500x to hit 30psi in a car tire.