Kalkwasser / Big container / Need to stir?

iTread · Jun 5, 2019

Hi,

I have been using Kalkwasser for a while and like it. I recently purchased a large tank and now keep my Kalkwasser in a 20 gallon bin ( I was getting sick of replacing it as I go through a lot). Still figuring out my actual consumption, but I get at least a week without having to replace it (much longer than before). So...do I need to have it stirred occassionaly? Or will it maintain it's saturation level for a long time?

dieselkeeper · Jun 5, 2019

I read some where mixing the kalk with vinegar leaves no kalk on the bottom to stir. But will the small amount of vinegar in lets say 10 gallons of top off, be consider carbon dosing.

iTread · Jun 5, 2019

Yes, I did that for a while, but then I had a cyanobacteria breakout which I attributed to the vinegar/carbon. I stopped, it went away after a month (1 dose of chemiclean).

DangerDave · Jun 5, 2019

A stirrer made my life with kalk a breeze. I would recommend it, very easy, low maintenance. Good luck!

Roy Arena · Sep 26, 2019

Just put a cover over the container after mixing kalk solution. It doesn't need to be air tight because a crust will form on the surface to provide a barrier for CO2 entering the solution. It will remain saturated without any mixing.

BeejReef · Sep 27, 2019

I second Roy Arena

People sometimes confuse a kalk stirrer and a kalk reservoir. The stirrer intakes pure RODI and gently saturates it with Kalk so the effluent is fully saturated kalkwasser. The stirring needs to happen in that context.

If you're simply using a separate reservoir and a dosing pump (as I also do, and can't understand why more don't.. lol) you don't want to stir it at all, aside from the initial mix. Doing so will just reduce it's potency and cause more of it to precip out to the bottom of your reservoir.

6g blue recycling bucket here. Works like a charm.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 28, 2019

I agree. Do not stir a reservoir after initial mixing. Keep it closed and unstirred. I did that from a 120 gallon reservoir formed from 3 brute cans plumbed together.

Apotack · Sep 28, 2019

How much mixing is required? I add the required amount to my top off and mix just by adding ro until full. Am I good?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 28, 2019

It can take some decent mixing for a few minutes. Just dribbling in ro won’t do it. Stirring overnight is also ok, but then I’d stop.

Apotack · Sep 28, 2019

The ro is pumped in from a a strong pump (mag 12 I think) takes a few minutes to fill 10 gallon container

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 28, 2019

Apotack said:
The ro is pumped in from a a strong pump (mag 12 I think) takes a few minutes to fill 10 gallon container

Won’t be enough, I think. I typically watched the conductivity rise as I mixed limewater and it takes minutes of decent stirring.

Apotack · Sep 28, 2019

Ok thanks !

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 28, 2019

You’re welcome.

Happy Reefing.

DeputyDog95 · Jul 13, 2023

Curious. I'm thinking about setting up a large container. Maybe 90 gallons.

Is the thought process to simply fill it w RODI, add the appropriate amount of Kalk, mix it for a minute, seal it up, let it settle out for a few hours, and then dose out of the container not adding anything or stirring anything until you're almost empty and then repeat the process?

Also, what is the best device to measure the "potency" of the Kalk? I've seen people referring to conductivity devices but I'm not sure which one. I have a Hanna "salinity" meter, but I'm guessing the range on that would not be appropriate for this purpose.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 13, 2023

That's about what I did, except it took more than a minute of stirring to dissolve it. More like 15 min in my cause.

Conductivity is the best measure of potency. 10.3 mS/cm at 25 deg C is about saturated. You need to measure in that range.

DeputyDog95 · Jul 13, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That's about what I did, except it took more than a minute of stirring to dissolve it. More like 15 min in my cause.

Conductivity is the best measure of potency. 10.3 mS/cm at 25 deg C is about saturated. You need to measure in that range.

Thanks.

How did you know when to stop mixing?

What are you using to measure the conductivity?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 13, 2023

DeputyDog95 said:
Thanks.

How did you know when to stop mixing?

What are you using to measure the conductivity?

I monitored conductivity in real time. i could see it rise, and when it got where I was happy, i stopped.

I was using an Orion Model 128 (no longer sold, but a great tool if you can get one on ebay with a 4 electrode probe).

DeputyDog95 · Jul 13, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I monitored conductivity in real time. i could see it rise, and when it got where I was happy, i stopped.

I was using an Orion Model 128 (no longer sold, but a great tool if you can get one on ebay with a 4 electrode probe).

Like this one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3638533459...MPGvxTRIeFBqb54RA9WAAl1ScA==|tkp:BFBM7If7h6pi

I also saw this one too:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3643494495...F9JtfON/avSy6RZ7RlUmCWlA==|tkp:Bk9SR-6H-4eqYg

ShawnSaucier · Feb 3, 2025

I am debating on doing a kalk mixing station in my garage. Working on a new tank and it’s a smaller footprint with the sump taking up most of the floor space in the stand. As I have an Avast Marine Kalk stirrer from my previous system and plan on using a calcium reactor in the new system, I was considering Kalk to help with my two part pre- CARX and post to help with PH issues.

The idea would be a second reservoir next to my 70g RODI reservoir. A pump (Versa maybe) would feed the Kalk stirrer from the RODI and dump into a second reservoir. This second res. ( Kalk Res. ) would be where I pull top off water to fill my ATO Reservoir under the display. Would use a combo of float valves and water sensors to trigger the pump to turn on and refill the Kalk reservoir.

Second thought on the flow pattern would be for the RODI to feed directly to Kalk res. after sensors trigger pump, and then use a secondary pump to feed the Kalk Stirrer from the Kalk res. And dump back to thank res. Almost like a recirculating type flow.

ATO res at the tank is 15g, so thought would be nice to have 30g constantly mixed in garage. This would eliminate having to clean out a barrel full of used slurry and contained in the reactor. Any thoughts on this?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 3, 2025

ShawnSaucier said:
I am debating on doing a kalk mixing station in my garage. Working on a new tank and it’s a smaller footprint with the sump taking up most of the floor space in the stand. As I have an Avast Marine Kalk stirrer from my previous system and plan on using a calcium reactor in the new system, I was considering Kalk to help with my two part pre- CARX and post to help with PH issues.

The idea would be a second reservoir next to my 70g RODI reservoir. A pump (Versa maybe) would feed the Kalk stirrer from the RODI and dump into a second reservoir. This second res. ( Kalk Res. ) would be where I pull top off water to fill my ATO Reservoir under the display. Would use a combo of float valves and water sensors to trigger the pump to turn on and refill the Kalk reservoir.

Second thought on the flow pattern would be for the RODI to feed directly to Kalk res. after sensors trigger pump, and then use a secondary pump to feed the Kalk Stirrer from the Kalk res. And dump back to thank res. Almost like a recirculating type flow.

ATO res at the tank is 15g, so thought would be nice to have 30g constantly mixed in garage. This would eliminate having to clean out a barrel full of used slurry and contained in the reactor. Any thoughts on this?

I never cleaned my kalk barrels until I took the tank down. Probably more than 15 years.

You will still get some precipitate in the intermediate reservoir from calcium carbonate precipitating, but certainly less, and what you suggest seems workable. I personally think it sounds unnecessarily complicated (and expensive), to use both a stirrer and two reservoirs compared to a single settled reservoir).