Then, now and tomorrow.

[atoll]

I have been in this hobby on and off mostly on for something like 37 years now and one thing that keeps hitting me is the fact the more I learn the more I realise there is yet to learn. Some of that if not most comes from the advances that are made in the hobby but not just by professionals but also people like you and me.

Back in the day in the UK anyway what we learned was mainly via the likes of you and me making discoveries and learning via the clubs around the country along with PFK FAMA, Marinews ( the quarterly journal of the British Marine Aquarist Association) and seminars, yes we had a few of them each year held by the likes of TMC, WYMAG and the odd LFS.

Hobbiest are still making discoveries of one sort or another today of course be it with corals or fish as well as tank conditions etc.

Not as much DIY like back in the day as there are far more companies offering well made equipment. There is still scope for DIY. Personally I have been experimenting with a DIY Kalk reactor as an example. I am afflicted with a disease called if it ain't broken fix it anyway.

One of the main things I think that keeps my interest in this wonderful hobby is the learning and finding out new things. Sometimes I find things out by myself but often from others on UR and other .com forums. We have no boarders with the interweb only language ones esp with European forums. I wish I could speak german for instance.

I am left wondering what the hobby holds for the future. Will it expand or even be shut down. Will energy costs, cost of animals and equipment be the death or will we see great advances in the hobby, one can only wish and wonder.

The hobby can be frustrating disappointing, upsetting, expensive and I can often pull what hair I have left out. However, what a wonderful sight to behold when a plan put in place a few years ago comes together and you have created a wonderful part of the ocean be it a pico or massive reef tank.

Here's to another 37 years , I hope it continues and we get more and more captive bread corals and fish. I won't be around to see the results.

 

[WVNed]

Any tips for a DIY kalk reactor for 600-700 gallons. I will need to make one soon.
I am thinking a 5 gallon bucket, plastic paint stirrer driven by a corded drill with a 50ml/min feed pump controlled by a Hydros with a pH probe.

West Virginia is a desert for most endeavors now but I am making do.

 

[atoll]

A drill would run too fast and is not designed to run continuously. Take a look at some of the commercially available kalk stirrers/reactors which should be easy to copy and scale up. You could use a large old reactor or Tupperware container. You could use a powerhead as used with the UK company Cleartides here.

Kalk Stirrier | Cleartides

www.cleartides.com

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

Any tips for a DIY kalk reactor for 600-700 gallons. I will need to make one soon.
I am thinking a 5 gallon bucket, plastic paint stirrer driven by a corded drill with a 50ml/min feed pump controlled by a Hydros with a pH probe.

West Virginia is a desert for most endeavors now but I am making do.

Not sure if youre on instagram but kalk slurry sounds like something you may be interested in reading up on if you have not already. Check out @telegraham or @mahina corals on instagram.

@telegraham @Lousybreed on here

I know telegraham has been using a jaebo slw-10 for about 300 days straight mixing his kalk slurry. I believe they also use a simple 5 gallon bucket. A peristalic doser such as a versa or kaomer.

Also @RobB'z Reef has some good info on this.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Eh just put a large magnetic stirrer under the bucket and a large stir bar in the bucket. Lol. Bam. Done.
D

 

[WVNed]

Not sure if youre on instagram but kalk slurry sounds like something you may be interested in reading up on if you have not already. Check out @telegraham or @mahina corals on instagram.

@telegraham @Lousybreed on here

I know telegraham has been using a jaebo slw-10 for about 300 days straight mixing his kalk slurry. I believe they also use a simple 5 gallon bucket. A peristalic doser such as a versa or kaomer.

Also @RobB'z Reef has some good info on this.

I will look into it.
Thanks.

 

[telegraham]

Eh just put a large magnetic stirrer under the bucket and a large stir bar in the bucket. Lol. Bam. Done.
D

That doesn't have enough spin spin to keep 3-4% slurry mixed. The SLW is the ticket.

 

[telegraham]

I will look into it.
Thanks.

If you scroll a bit, @mahina_corals on IG has a great how-to post.

 

[WVNed]

That doesn't have enough spin spin to keep 3-4% slurry mixed. The SLW is the ticket.

I am not sure I need to dose slurry. I do not grow sticks. There are things in my tanks that eat them. My plan is a stirrer made from a 5 gallon paint mixing paddle in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, a cheap electric drill that is hacked and mounted and a 50ml/min doser from BRS all controlled by my Hydros. I just want to cut down on dosing for the system size after the upgrade and maybe a bump on the pH. Once you get so much water surface inside the house the outside air to the skimmer thing losses it's effectiveness.

Part of the fun is making it work yourself, isn't it?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I beg to differ. My mag stirrer will stir a 5g bucket. Lol.
+ a large stir bar.
Done. Np.
Than u would just need to dose it or trickle feed it.
D

 

[Sean Clark]

I beg to differ. My mag stirrer will stir a 5g bucket. Lol.
+ a large stir bar.
Done. Np.
Than u would just need to dose it or trickle feed it.
D

I killed a mag stirrer in about 8 months by running it 24/7. Yes it can do it. Maybe I didn't have a quality one. IDK

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Mines cheap so prob would crap out to. Lol
D

 

[HuduVudu]

I am afflicted with a disease called if it ain't broken fix it anyway.

Sorry, it's terminal.

 

[MickeyCT]

My recommendation would be to skip the Kalk stirrer and just use a 45 gal. Brute mixed with Kalkwasser then dose a set amount to your tank, typically just under your evaporation each day. Easy to refill, just needs manually stirring for 30 seconds each time the barrel is refilled.

I have a 225 and I dose 5 liters every day. My ATO kicks in only a couple times a day for a minute or so.

Of course, it depends on how what you want to gain by using Kalk and how much your tank evaporates. But this way there is no danger at all of accidentally dosing any undissolved Kalk slurry to the tank. I learned this lesson the hard way when I came home to a tank that looked like it was filled with milk with lots of fish and coral loss.

Mickey

 

[telegraham]

I beg to differ. My mag stirrer will stir a 5g bucket. Lol.
+ a large stir bar.
Done. Np.
Than u would just need to dose it or trickle feed it.
D

Drop 2/3 to 1 cup of calcium hydroxide per gallon into that 5g bucket, get your spinner spinnin', and not the lack of a homogeneous solution. Been there, which is why I now use the SLWs. @WVNed ... consider spinning it slowly. You won't want a vorticity introducing air.