Kalk reactor

[oscar89]

I have been running a kalk reactor for a month or so now and was wondering how often everyone else refills the Kalk. Mine only works for 2 to 3 days before the pH drops and I have to replenish it. Typically I add 3 TBL with each refill. Any ideas on how to lengthen the time between refills?

[miwoodar]

If you've set it up right, you can easily load it up with enough kalk powder to last you a few weeks (or more). If I had one I would put a cup or more of powder in every month or so. At the end of the month I would dump it out and do it again.

You don't need to batch it like you would if you didn't have the reactor. Piling it in will give you consistent, fully saturated kalk. Make sure your tank can take this much kalk though without running your calcium and alkalinity up over time (or spiking your pH). Check these parameters once a week for the next month or so to determine this.



---edit---
You might want to check out mhaith's recent thread about a kalkwasser overdose. It's potent stuff and shouldn't be taken lightly. That said, it's a well proven calc/alk method that has been around for quite some time.

BTW - I use a float valve on mine. It's worked great for more than 2 years. Once in a blue moon I yank the mini bulkhead and give it a vinegar soak. If I had to set it up again I would get one of the setups with the low/high limit switches that control a powerhead.

[mhaith]

The lesson learned is lots of redundant systems and think things through all the way up and down the line. ONE of my mistakes (and I seem to be making many-and their should be a forum devoted entirely to 'lessons learned') was don't let my RO filter refill my reservoir as quickly as the controller can pump it. If I would have slowed the auto-reservoir refill, it would have lessened the damage.
There a bunch of other "ifs" but I'll leave it at that.