How to integrate a KalkReactor into my system

[rwillden]

I have an 80 gallon tank, with a 10g sump and 30g Refugium

Currently, I have an auto top-off float switch in my sump which activates a pump in my RO/DI resevoir to top off water as it evaporates.

I have been thinking of making a nielsen reactor to top off Kalk, as I currently dose calcium manually.

I guess I don't understand exactly how to make it work with my current system.

Here is the reactor I'm thinking of building:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Vall ... ilsen.html
http://www.kingvinnie.com/aquaria/diy/l ... .asp?id=95


Do I use a timer to top off my tank four times a day for 15 Minutes, and remove the float switch, or do I hook up the float switch to the reactor, and dose kalk as water in the tank evaporates... I don't have a clue...

Once I do have it connected, how do I monitor how much Kalkwasser to put into the reactor, and how do I limit the output to the tank, etc?

This calcium stuff is so confusing...

Any help/pictures would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ryan

 

[Anonymous]

Don't you worry, you're not the only one! I've only dosed with Kalkwasser, and have absolutely NO experience with reactors (but plenty with reactIONS). Have you looked up anything in the reefs.org library, perchance?

http://www.reefs.org/library/

 

[rwillden]

I've looked at the library a little, but I'm still confused about how to make it work...

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Well, for realtime help (assuming someone's there who knows the answers to your questions) you can load up mIRC (check out #reefs chat for how to) and get yourself on there, see what you can glean. I have a feeling that MegaDeth may know, as well as several others, unfortunately I can't help you any further.

 

[O P Ing]

..., I have an auto top-off float switch in my sump which activates a pump in my RO/DI resevoir to top off water as it evaporates.
...Do I use a timer to top off my tank four times a day for 15 Minutes, and remove the float switch, or do I hook up the float switch to the reactor, and dose kalk as water in the tank evaporates... Once I do have it connected, how do I monitor how much Kalkwasser to put into the reactor, and how do I limit the output to the tank, etc?

hi.
The problem with just using float switch to run your kalkreactor is that you can't control the rate (determine by the water pump in the reservior) in which the kalk are added. This can be dangerous, and not recommended. The first option with timer is much safer, but you still need to get the pump to run the kalkreactor slowly. If I were you, I will go with the first option, but either use a small pump, and/or install a flow regulator/restrictor to make sure the amount of kalk dosed is well-controlled.

 

[liquid]

What I did was setup a kalkwasser tub and purchase a diaphram dosing pump off ebay (Pulsafeeder diaphram industrial chemical dosing/metering pump). I then set up a timer to turn the dosing pump on only @ night and then I regulated my dosing pump output to exactly match my evaporation rate. This way my kalkwasser was only getting added at night I may have to adjust my output volume 1-2x per month maximum. You can see my setup @ http://www.liquidreef.com/ in the Equipment section.

In your case, if you want to use your float valve to actuate your pump, you'd build the reactor and then set up your float valve to turn on your dosing pump when your sump level goes down below a certain point. Then you'd set your dosing rate on your diaphram pump (Reeffiller pump) or peristaltic pump (Vario, Litermeter, etc) and your dosing pump would pump kalkwasser into your sump until the float switch turned it off.

Not sure if this helps or not. Please let me know if you need more info.

shane

 

[rwillden]

I may get ahold of you if that's okay. It's making more sense, but I'm still learning. I'll see if I can get ahold of one of those pumps.

Thanks, Shane
Ryan

 

[rwillden]

So if I understand correctly, I should have two pumps...

One Pump to stir the kalk solution 4-5 times per day at fifteen minute intervals. (This pump is a part of the reactor.) The other pump should be a dosing pump hooked up to some sort of regulator that reduces the flow of the RO/DI (Fresh) water being sent to the reactor. (For example, a powerhead powered by a floatswitch -connected to a dosing pump, connected to the reactor.) The reactor then through positive pressure returns the mixture of kalk to the tank/sump. Is this correct?

Is there any way to use a regulator rather than a dosing pump inline with the output of the powerhead in my RO/DI resevoir to the reactor?

Hopefully I'm heading in the right direction...

 

[liquid]

So if I understand correctly, I should have two pumps...

One Pump to stir the kalk solution 4-5 times per day at fifteen minute intervals. (This pump is a part of the reactor.)

Yep, one pump to stir the reactor, which would be that MaxiJet that's hooked to the reactor body.

The other pump should be a dosing pump hooked up to some sort of regulator that reduces the flow of the RO/DI (Fresh) water being sent to the reactor.

Any standard dosing pump will automatically have a regulator on the pump standard. Such pumps would be a Reeffiller (diaphram pump), Vario (peristaltic pump), Litermeter (peristaltic pump), etc. I used a Pulsafeeder in my setup as you can see from the pics on my website. Those black knobs on the pump are tune-able and regulate the flow thru the pump.

(For example, a powerhead powered by a floatswitch -connected to a dosing pump, connected to the reactor.)

You've got one two many pumps now. Remove the powerhead from your previous sentence. The dosing pump is hooked up to the float switch. It turns on and off based on what the float switch is telling it. The dosing pump then pushes RO/DI water into your reactor and then from the reactor (which is under positive pressure) the water flows into your sump/tank.

Is there any way to use a regulator rather than a dosing pump inline with the output of the powerhead in my RO/DI resevoir to the reactor?

You probably could regulate it down with a plastic needlevalve and just use a powerhead to push water from your RO/DI reservoir to your reactor and then to the tank, but you'd have to stay on top of the maintenance of the needlevalve as kalk will krud it up after a while thereby changing your flow. Dosing pumps made for dosing solutions will not have this problem. I've been using my Pulsafeeder pump for over 2 years now and have not had to clean it once. It's that reliable. (FYI: Pulsa makes the Reeffiller dosing pump.)

Hopefully I'm heading in the right direction...

So far it sounds like you're on the right track.

Shane

 

[rwillden]

WoW! Thanks a ton Shane. It's all making sense now. So the last question is, does it matter how much Kalk (Or Limewater) I put into the reactor. Does size of the tank, livestock, etc have any impact on how much, or do you always put the same amount (4 spoonfuls a week) and then adjust the calcium by the dosing pump?

By the way, is using limewater the same as using kalkwasser, or would I need to use something else to supplement it?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[liquid]

Kalkwasser (also known as limewater, calcium hydroxide, etc) only dissolves so much in water. At it's saturation point, about 1.5 tsp will dissolve per gallon of water (give or take a little depending on temperature). Typically what people do is just replace all (or part) of their evaporated water with kalkwasser (depending on their calcium requirements). If you see your calcium slowly rising over a couple weeks, back off on your kalkwasser additions so that your calcium level levels off. If you see your calcium level slowly dropping, increase your evaporation rate of your tank by using more fans and then adjust by adding more kalkwasser from your reactor. However, keep in mind that kalk will also increase the pH of your tank water so you could increase your evaporation too much and thereby inadvertently spiking your pH. If you're going to be dosing kalkwasser it's probably a good idea to monitor pH to make sure that it doesn't go above 8.4 tops.

Most people add a couple weeks worth of kalkwasser powder to their reactor when they use a kalk reactor. This way they don't have to add kalk powder as often. Myself, I add about 12 tablespoons of kalk powder to my kalk-tub every 2 weeks and everything seems to work fine.

hth

Shane

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Sounds like you are in good hand, but I just want to say something just in case you happened to use the regulator for flow control.

As you had mentioned when you ask the question, put the regular between the reactor and the feeding pump, so that the only thing that goes thru the regulator is plan RO water, and there is no worry for clogging.

 

[rwillden]

Is there a better monitor than the pinpoint, or anything cheaper?

Thanks

 

[liquid]

That one's pretty standard for the most part. I've never found anything cheaper unfortunately.

Shane

 

[hfmann]

Great Q&A session everybody. It's great to have all this experience available.

I'm getting ready to switch my Reeffiller pump over to a KW reactor. Any thoughts about whether it's better to pull KW from the reactor or push RO into the reactor?

Thanks.
Hal
_________________
great depression

 

[danmhippo]

Make sure the "tub" or whatever you use to hold saturated kalk solution are sealed tight. You do not want to have air (CO2 actually) contact with kalk solution as precipretation will form on top and useable cal dropped out of solution.

This is why those prefabricated kalkwasser reactor are all sealed cylinder with only 2 water outlets. One for RO-in, and the other for Kalk water - out.

Also, the dosing pump should be placed between source RO and the reactor (if you are using a sealed container) to prevent calcium buildup inside the tube. If your container is not sealed, your only placement of the dosing pump is between the tub and the sump. You should expect the feeding tube to be replaced every couple of months.

 

[hfmann]

Jimmy,

Thanks for the info. I like the idea of "pushing" the RO/DI water into the reactor for two reasons 1) you already mentioned that'll keep KW from building up on the pump parts (i.e., check valve I've had to clean many, many times before). and 2) I think the check valves built into the Reef filler pump I've got will prevent KW from "contaminating" my RO/DI reservoir.

You should expect the feeding tube to be replaced every couple of months.

I'm not sure exactly what tube you're talking about and whether this applies to a KW reactor setup.

Take care and thanks again.
Hal
_________________
Self-injury Recovery Forum

 

[rwillden]

I had an idea when I was at home depot... Tell me if you think it'll work.

Rather than using a dosing pump, I was wondering if I could do this instead...

At Home depot they have those drip systems. Well on that shelf of stuff they have a "1/2 Gallon per hour" inline regulator to limit water flow on sprinkler drip systems. I was thinking of putting one in line between my powerhead, and my reactor (that I just finished tonight ) to slowly push water from the RO/DI resevoir to the reactor. Is 1/2 Gallon per hour slow enough? I would think so... I was planning on doing this by putting a 1/2" ID barb to 1/4" OD barb on my powerhead output then run the RO/DI water to the reactor through 1/4" OD clear tubing. Think it'll work?

I hope so. I may try it tomorrow and see how it works. Any last suggestions on what could go wrong before I do this?

Thanks, Ryan

 

[highrpm]

Just when I thought the board was slowing down, a ton of good/new topics pop up!


Do you use weld-on type acrylic glue for the acrylic to PVC joints, or standard PVC glue?

I know I will probably get flack for this one but here goes....do you see a huge issue with not using RO/DI for kalk? My current tank is 1.5 years old, and was upgraded from a 2yr old 75 gallon. I have always used my standard tap water and have not had any abnormal issues.

Thanks for the help

 

[rwillden]

I built my own protein skimmer out of acrylic PVC a while back, and they make a special glue for that specific purpose. You can buy it at any acrylic supply store. It's designed specifically for bonding acrylic to other types of plastics.

Ryan