dosing Kalk

[dschflier]

I was asked the other day about dosing Kalk using a dosing pump. Currently the person uses 2 parts but is considering trying Kalkwasser feeling it is less expensive. He currently uses a dosing pump set at 4 drips per minute. I have never heard of using a dosing pump for dosing Kalkwasser. I have always used my auto top off.

 

Is their a reason that people don't dose Kalkwasser this way? What problems might this create if any? It seems this would eliminate the possibility of a Kalk over dose.

[dschflier]

bump

[salmon alley]

I'm currently dosing Kalk using a Litermeter...same concept, that is I dose a fixed amount of kalk each day (in my case 1500 ml) and then have an automated top off make up for any additional evap. The only downside I see to this is if my kalk requirement ever gets so high that it is greater than my daily evaporation, I'll have a problem. So far, so good.

[dschflier]

Thanks for the info

[reefhunter]

I dose all my top off through a kalk reactor with a dosing pump.

[flowerseller]

How would you define "dosing"?

 

Does it have to require a dosing pump or can it mean adding small amounts (relative to system size) 12+ times a day?

 

I replace all evaporation through a kalk reactop and an ATO.

My ATO never (well only once recently) adds more than a 1/4-1/3 cup of saturated solution at a time.

I evap around 3-4g a day this time of year.

 

Is that "dosing" or merely "topping off"?

[lanman]

How would you define "dosing"?

 

Does it have to require a dosing pump or can it mean adding small amounts (relative to system size) 12+ times a day?

 

I replace all evaporation through a kalk reactop and an ATO.

My ATO never (well only once recently) adds more than a 1/4-1/3 cup of saturated solution at a time.

I evap around 3-4g a day this time of year.

 

Is that "dosing" or merely "topping off"?

That's what I do in both my 240 and my 58. I use 2-part in my 33-gallon frag tank. I also make sure there's never more than about 1/2-3/4 cup of kalk in my reactor; I fill it up about once a week, or when I notice the pH dropping.

 

bob

[Pat_13]

I dose Kalk using a Litermeter connected to my AC controller. I have an ATO that takes care of evap and the Litermeter is controlled like this:

on < 8.1 pH

on 1 minute every 12 minutes 8.1-8.3 pH

off > 8.3

 

I have a 1 G reservoir of Kalk to prevent any overdoses. This has been working great for over a year now.

[Origami]

David, my top-off runs through my kalk stirrer and is delivered using that peristaltic pump that I got from you a while back. the pump delivers a liter an hour and I run it, this time of year, about 12 hours a day.

[dschflier]

Flowerseller I would consider that topping off but more importantly I am writing this to see what various people do when adding Kalk. A short while ago a thread was out about ease of use and it became apparent that one of the issues people rightfully have with Kalk s the possibility of a Kalk OD.

 

I dont have the experience with all the various other 2 and 3 parts, and even though I have a calcium reactor I still have not attached my C02 so I would say I dont have experience with that either. I have had a tremendous amount of success just using the simple Kalk reactor. Kalk, I believe is clearly the least expensive way and in my opinion the easiest way to maintain a balanced Calcium and Alkalinity. It is helpfull to see ways people have added protection from the possibility of an over dose.

 

 

Pat13 I like that idea for eliminating the possibility of a Kalk overdose. How often do you have to refill the gallon of Kalk.

 

Tom What type of redundancy does your system have so it doesn't have an accidential overdose? I also thought you weren't using Kalkwasser?

[Pat_13]

I have to refill the jug about every 3-5 days but it can be sized to any tank. You could use a 2G or 5G bucket also.

[flowerseller]

David,

 

There have been several threads over the course of the past couple years that involved kalk OD's

One of them was mine, but quite different than previous threads.

 

I have a personal theory to that and when it happened to me for the first time in about 20 years of use, mine was possibly the first or mabe the only one with any kind of a happy ending.

I have included a link HERE to my OD thread with post #11 describing how a happy ending was possible.

 

I think the best thing any user of kalk should understand is kalk itself and what it can and won't do.

 

Several years ago there was an influx of new era kalk users and it was mentioned that several cups of kalk could be safefly placed in this reactor and off you went with no attention needed as it had all the kalk it needed.

Fine and it was possible to add that much and have the reactor work except that also coincides with all the threads involving kalk OD. Reason is, and this includes any delivery method, if water keeps coming, it keeps mixing with kalk.

 

I believe after my possible disaster and the number of PM's I got and still get, you will see it used again more carefully based upon weekly usage estimates as opposed to how much a reactor can hold and still work.

 

It's all about learning and no one person is going to have the only way it can be done.

 

I evaporate a minimum 20-25+ g's a week so for me, a one gallon reservoir would never work.

I still believe all replacement water should go through kalk.

Yes, I do use a Ca reactor, but I have the gas turned on and controlled via ACIII. My target pH is 6.84-6.89 in the reactor itself with a slight stream of effluent as opposed to a drip. I add kalk 24/7 as water evaporates via float.

[Highland Reefer]

IMO, the safest way would be to use a float switch connected to a dosing pump. The dosing pump would be set to just a little more than the evaporation rate of your system. This way if the float sticks on, then just a little more than your evap. demand would be applied. The problem with this kind of dosing pump is that they can be expensive.

[Almon]

I like to keep it simple. I only add 1/2 cup or less at a time. That prevents a kalk overdose.

[lanman]

IMO, the safest way would be to use a float switch connected to a dosing pump. The dosing pump would be set to just a little more than the evaporation rate of your system. This way if the float sticks on, then just a little more than your evap. demand would be applied. The problem with this kind of dosing pump is that they can be expensive.

 

I tried a smaller pump on my 240, thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, my ATO will only run for about 60 seconds, and then it decides there is a problem and it shuts off. So I had to put a big enough pump on my topoff system to fill the sump back up to the float 'off' position in 60 seconds. I didn't want to override the ATO's safety mechanism in order to implement a different one. I wanted it ALL. So - I ended up with a 10-gallon topoff reservoir, only a one-week supply of kalk in the reactor at a time, and I have to add fresh topoff water at least every other day.

 

bob

[Origami]

Tom What type of redundancy does your system have so it doesn't have an accidential overdose? I also thought you weren't using Kalkwasser?

 

I've only got enough water in my reservoir for about 3 days worth of top-off (about 10 gallons on a 300 gallon system). That's the hard limit. In addition, the peristaltic pump can only deliver 1 liter per hour, or about 6 gallons per day. If it were to get stuck, it would deliver, at most, 10 gallons over 1-1/2 days. And, like Chip, I only put about 1-2 weeks of kalk powder in my reactor at any time.

 

I'm also running a calcium reactor, yes. But I also run kalkwasser to keep my pH running higher (since a calcium reactor can drive pH down). Right now, kalkwasser is dosed at night but I'm tracking my pH swing with my newly set up ACIII to determine if this is the right approach or not (since I also run a reverse photoperiod refugium).

Edited January 26, 2009 by Origami2547