DIY kalkwasser doser

[vwreefer]

just another way of doing this I thought I would share. You can take any type of plastic water bottle with a screw on lid. Drill a hole in the lid small enough to force a piece of airline tubing into it. cut the airline tubing to length based on your placement and purchase a airline valve (plastic of course) that can be placed at the end of the tubing to regulate the drip. This is by far the most cost effective way of doing this. To do this for myself cost nothing as I already had this stuff just lying around from when I was into freshwater tropical fish. If you are to purchase these yourself I think I saw the valves at walmart for less then $5.

 

[Anonymous]

they work great until you get a small piece of undissolved kalk plugging the tubing. I have an old DI housing set up the same way, but I pump the water in from my top-off (into the bottom of the unit) and the effluent comes out the top.

B

 

[Irie Eyes]

They are certainly great dosers for the money; however, as the other dude mentioned, the system failed once the valve becomes clogged (happens rather easily). A better and equally inexpensive method is to use an adjustable valve on the outside of the tubing (compression-type), as the flow won't become interrupted if particulates enter the feed tube.

 

[Anonymous]

>...as the other dude mentioned...

Bingo does not look like a dude...

Seriously, I used to do the airline method. It is definitely better than no dosing at all, but it is a lot of hassle. If the flow get too slow, the CO2 will make a crust around the tubing, and it will eventually clog the setup. It worked for me when I just started, and did that for about two years.

 

[kgross]

I agree completely this is an OK inexpensive way to go, but it does have its downsides.

But just about any container can be used as a kalk container, all you need is a way to regulate the flow.

One thing I do is have everybody I know if they go to the hospital, save the IV tubing if the get an iv. You can silicone this into lots of containers and have an adjuster that is very easy to clean out. Just open it up all the way, and most of the time any kalk clogs will clean them selves out.

Kim