Need help please-Stirring your Kalk reactor??

[Reefnjunkie]

I am adding a kalk reactor (KR) to my system the will be ran of off my Reef Keep Elite (RKE).
I have a few questions for those who have KR;

1.How often do you stir, and for how long?
2.How long after I stir should I wait before I have the controller "dose"

I am going to set my controller to dose if the PH drops below 8.20 and stop dosing once the ph hits 8.26.


My KR is a DIY and holds about 3.5 gallons and has a maxijet 900 for the stirring application. Also not pictured is a 12 tube within the body connected to the output side, so it gathers the mixed kalk from about halfway down the reactor not at the surface

My thought was to stir twice a day for 15 minutes. After the stir let it sit for some unknown time before it doses- Again curios as to how long it should "settle" and also how many times a day should it stir and for how long.

Hope that makes sense-More questions to follow-:wink:

 

[Acroholic]

I have an MRC Nilsen, and I set mine to stir for 2 minutes every 3 hours.
Dave

 

[JNye]

i stir for 6 minutes every 6 hours. half hour after stirring, no dosing. I dose through my top-off, not by a pH reading. i would use the ph to shut it down as a fail safe, not to turn it on though.

 

[Eggs]

I stir for 1 minute, every 4 hours

 

[killingseed2000]

i stir for 3 minutes every 6 hours and dose for 25 sec every 3 hours. my dosing may be low but i would rather have it low them high. i do not dose as a ATO i have an aqualifter as my ATO and running that seprate from the kalk. i feel on my old tank i was over dosing. i could see stress from differnt colors that have been doing great under these setting.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

i stir for 6 minutes every 6 hours. half hour after stirring, no dosing. I dose through my top-off, not by a pH reading. i would use the ph to shut it down as a fail safe, not to turn it on though.

I did not want to dose through an auto top-off, to many stories I read where Kalk stuck a float and dosed the whole reactor worth into the sump and killed everything-granted a couple dozen horror stories, you don't read about the thousands of "good stories"
I have a RO/DO plumbed into a 35 Gallon res that is gravity fed to a float in the sump for my top off

The RKE is a really cool controller, I have a relay (my safety net) and a solenoid ran from the controller, when the probe reads 8.20 (which means anthing 8.2 or lower) it opens the solenoid and doses until the probe reads 8.26, the closes. The relay I have will be programmed to be "on" for a period of time after the stir- that is why I had to ask everyone how long they wait after a stir before they dose, I was not sure how long I needed to wait for the stuff to settle and the water clear???

I run a Ca Reactor as well, so the Kalk Reactor is being used primarily to keep PH stable between 8.2-8.3