Kalk stirrers

[Brockly]

Ok who has a kalk stirrer? And do you use it to try an maintain the alkalinity and calcium, or do you maintain below desired level and then dose two part in addition to maintain the desired level?

Here’s why I ask: I have ran 2 part for 2 years now. I was able to maintain pretty consistent levels once I dialed in the right amount. But my ph is a bit low and thought I would switch stuff around and try a kalk stirrer instead. I love avast marine equipment, I run their ATO system so added their stirrer downstream from my top off water and it doses concentrated kalk water as my top off. I have a modest bio load of a mixed reef about 100 gallons total system. As a baseline to maintain around 8 dkh I had to dose around 60ml a day 2 part.

Avast marine recommended about 2 cups of powder for around 2 gallons a day evaporation to start off with abs then every 2 weeks add the powder again and every other time (once a Month) rinse out and repeat. So fresh powder every 2 weeks basically. I should have known better and under dosed to start but in 24 hours I had a 2.5 dkh increase and bleached out a bunch of acros and setosa. They will heal, but it was to much of course. Over the last 2 week I have adjusted the dose almost every day trying to nail the amount needed to maintain 8-9 dkh over 24 hours. I have it down to somewhere between 1/2 - 3/4 cup. In 24 hours will hold the dkh where it was.

BUT... 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup is too low and it starts to drop after 3 days but 3/4 to 1 cup is too high and it increases over 3 days.

So after all the background the big question is... it seems super hard to find a powder amount that will hold the dkh steady for a 2 week period. It seams that after I add the powder it is potent for the first day or so but then Trails off quickly. The mix in the container seams about the same visually. I’m not sure if I should keep trying to find an amount that will hold it perfect, or if I should run an amount that declines a bit below my desired level and then use 2 part in addition to target my level. I was hoping to eliminate 2 part at least until the kalk couldn’t keep up.

Any thoughts from kalk stirrer folks? Thanks in advance

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I thought the point of a kalk stirrer was to put much more kalk in the chamber than can go into solution, and as you slowly pump water through, more kalk will dissolve, keeping the effluent always fully saturated. After several weeks the potency may start to drop off and that is when you can add more powder or drain/rinse/replace.

I would fully saturate the chamber and adjust your dosing amount only by the amount of effluent you are pumping through it.

I am actually in the process of adding an avast kalk stirrer to my 2-part setup and I plan on adding several cups to the chamber and then only dosing a few mL through the reactor per day and slowly backing off the 2 part as I slowly increase the reactor usage a few mL per week. You can use a conductivity probe to ensure the effluent is always fully saturated.

 

[Brockly]

I don’t have any sort of Controler with probes or anything. I have the larger of the 2 sizes avast makes. I would guess the chamber holds 1.5-2 gallons or so of water. Mine is set up to my ATO so about 2 gallons go through it a day. Multiple times a day as the tank evaporated and ATO kicks on for around 30 seconds or so each time. I’m in contact with avast now to try to understand the design of the stirrer and how it makes the slurry. Even Half a cup in the chamber will fully saturate the chamber and have settling out at the bottom and the stirring adjutator mixed it. But my observation is if it sits and mixes but you don’t run water through it the chamber goes pretty clear like if there was no mixer. It is mixing at the bottom of course but it’s gravity run and the effluent runs of the top of the chamber so the clearer stuff doses as intended I’m sure. But the inlet has ridged tubing thst runs to the bottom so as water enters based on the amount entering it mixes up the entire chamber greatly (at least it does on mine with about 30 seconds to 1 minute water calls from the ATO. In this setup you are then dosing a more potent effluent. I imagine this is intended and why the inlet is at the bottom. I think it’s an important part of mixing.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around my options

 

[mitch91175]

Any particular reason to switch from dosing 2-part to try to get your pH increased? That's what seems to have triggered wanting to incorporate kalk. Why not do both?

Just use the kalk stirrer at particular point where your pH suffers maybe. You could also use a CO2 scrubber, external air, etc. to chase pH.

 

[mitch91175]

Here is a chart of my pH for the past few days. I use a CO2 scrubber and am running a calcium reactor (CaRx). I turn off the reactor at night and dose alkalinity unless early morning, then turn back on the CaRx.

The scrubber obviously adds an additional expense and maintenance (but mostly everything we do to our tanks does).

 

[Brockly]

So after more thought. I’m pretty sure I have been getting some cloudy slurry back in the tank. The water inlet is very low in the chamber and based on the flow rate of my top off pump and the length of time it comes one the fresh water inlet into the stirrer gets the slurry whipped up more then normal and it rises and I think some is getting into the tank. I made some mods to the stirrer (shortened the inlet tubes depth, and closed down the tip-off tube so it doses slower) we will see if that can prevent the slurry from getting out of control and let’s me just dose the clearer solution at the top. If that doesn’t work I will probably just feed the stirrer with the dosing pump so I know how much is going in.

 

[Brockly]

Any particular reason to switch from dosing 2-part to try to get your pH increased? That's what seems to have triggered wanting to incorporate kalk. Why not do both?

Just use the kalk stirrer at particular point where your pH suffers maybe. You could also use a CO2 scrubber, external air, etc. to chase pH.

I swapped to a stirrer to one try something different, I have a hard time it changing stuff here and there. I wanted the higher ph. And three to lower the cost slightly as kalk is cheaper then 2 part.

 

[mitch91175]

So after more thought. I’m pretty sure I have been getting some cloudy slurry back in the tank. The water inlet is very low in the chamber and based on the flow rate of my top off pump and the length of time it comes one the fresh water inlet into the stirrer gets the slurry whipped up more then normal and it rises and I think some is getting into the tank. I made some mods to the stirrer (shortened the inlet tubes depth, and closed down the tip-off tube so it doses slower) we will see if that can prevent the slurry from getting out of control and let’s me just dose the clearer solution at the top. If that doesn’t work I will probably just feed the stirrer with the dosing pump so I know how much is going in.

Heck why not feed with the dosing pump? When I did have mine that is what I did. That way like mentioned you know how much you are adding and can adjust based off of what you measure in your tank better.

 

[dwest]

Ok who has a kalk stirrer? And do you use it to try an maintain the alkalinity and calcium, or do you maintain below desired level and then dose two part in addition to maintain the desired level?

Here’s why I ask: I have ran 2 part for 2 years now. I was able to maintain pretty consistent levels once I dialed in the right amount. But my ph is a bit low and thought I would switch stuff around and try a kalk stirrer instead. I love avast marine equipment, I run their ATO system so added their stirrer downstream from my top off water and it doses concentrated kalk water as my top off. I have a modest bio load of a mixed reef about 100 gallons total system. As a baseline to maintain around 8 dkh I had to dose around 60ml a day 2 part.

Avast marine recommended about 2 cups of powder for around 2 gallons a day evaporation to start off with abs then every 2 weeks add the powder again and every other time (once a Month) rinse out and repeat. So fresh powder every 2 weeks basically. I should have known better and under dosed to start but in 24 hours I had a 2.5 dkh increase and bleached out a bunch of acros and setosa. They will heal, but it was to much of course. Over the last 2 week I have adjusted the dose almost every day trying to nail the amount needed to maintain 8-9 dkh over 24 hours. I have it down to somewhere between 1/2 - 3/4 cup. In 24 hours will hold the dkh where it was.

BUT... 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup is too low and it starts to drop after 3 days but 3/4 to 1 cup is too high and it increases over 3 days.

So after all the background the big question is... it seems super hard to find a powder amount that will hold the dkh steady for a 2 week period. It seams that after I add the powder it is potent for the first day or so but then Trails off quickly. The mix in the container seams about the same visually. I’m not sure if I should keep trying to find an amount that will hold it perfect, or if I should run an amount that declines a bit below my desired level and then use 2 part in addition to target my level. I was hoping to eliminate 2 part at least until the kalk couldn’t keep up.

Any thoughts from kalk stirrer folks? Thanks in advance

I have the k2 stirrer. It’s great.

I control the gallons of water that goes through the stirrer to keep my alkalinity stable. The remainder of the required water goes through my ato. A spectrapure liter meter 3 feeds both the stirrer and ato.

As long as there is excess calcium hydroxide on the bottom, the solution added to the tank will always be saturated, or nearly so. Sounds like you may have pumped the kalk slurry to the tank, which could cause problems which you know already.

In the past, I used both kalk and 2 part to keep up, but so far on this tank, kalk is keeping up with alkalinity demand.

I add more kalk than avast recommends, then replace when when the solids level gets too low, or the pH monitor inside the stirrer drops.

 

[Brockly]

Yeah I am going to feed with dosing pump as I have thought more about it and get a Y so I can still use my ATO. I only have 1 pump line running through the wall to downstairs.

 

[Brockly]

Well my crappy jebao doser was fine pushing like 40 ml a day for a year and a half but all the heads are slipping bad trying to push a gallon a day through it. It’s cheapness is definitly showing through. I think I need to by a better doser. Are you guys using stuff like the Neptune dose for high volume? Or just a pump that you timer control and figure out how much is dosed in a set time limit