kalk reactor?

[ste6168]

alright the search is down and i am really wanting to learn how to make a kalk reactor and also how exactly they work, i havent really looked into them that much, but how do they work?

[Holyreefer]

This is a past article on a quick diy kalk reactor

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.php

[kakan]

Here a few threads that should give you some ideas.

www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=747221&highlight=diy+kalk+reactor

www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=712987&highlight=diy+kalk+reactor

www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=699473&highlight=diy+kalk+reactor

HTH
Kakan

[ste6168]

alright so i read those through and i am still not sure exactly how they work? in the first one does it just run until it is out of water? How does the kalk powder get mixed in, i do not want to mix it myself all the time. also is there any that can run for a week without filling them up again? if someone could please take the time and explain all this kalk reactor stuff to me that would be great... Thanks, Mike

[Holyreefer]

Pretty much you want to slow drip kalk into your tank to help out with the lowering of your PH

Yes after the current kalk mix you have you will need to resupply it with another mix. The kalk will get mixed in as you drop the reccommended dosing into your mixed up water. (The water you have set aside for you next water change) You could use a powerhead for the mixing heres another great article that helps explain in more detail

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

[npaden]

Most kalk stirrers are setup to work with an auto topoff system.

The kalk reactor or stirrer keeps the kalk stirred up and saturated and then as your auto topoff system feeds water to the tank it flows through the kalk reactor and puts saturated kalk water into the tank.

FWIW, Nathan

[Vincerama2]

This is how mine works;

- it's basically a sealed tube, with a pump plumbed in. Therer are two valves, one at the TOP of the "reactor" and one midway up
- I add kalk powder (random amount) to the reactor and it settles at the bottom of the tube
- Every 6 hours or so, the pump turns on and mixes up the kalk powder into the water. The pump is plumbed to take water half way up the tube and pumps it into the bottom of the tube, thus making sure the powder is nicely mixed.
- I have a medical perestaltic pump (basically a slow pump that I can control the flow rate of, say 100 ml/hour) which pumps RO water from a container into the valve at the middle of the tube. The way perestaltic pumps work is by basically squeezing the water from input to output. As a result water DOES NOT flow back into the pump from the tube.
- As RO water is pumped into the tube (that slow pump is always running) it forces water from the top of the tube to get squeezed out into a tube that then drips into my tank

What we call "kalkwasser" is a SATURATED solution of "kalkwasser powder" (Calcium Hydroxide, I believe) so basically, you can shove as much powder into the reactor as you want, since it will only dissolve up until the water is saturated, so the water that is forced from the tube is saturated "kalkwasser".

My reactor is like 4 feet tall (4 inch diameter tube) and I shove like 10 tablespoons of kalk powder into it. I replenish it when I don't see any more powder, or cloudy water at the bottom (It's made of PVC and clear acrylic). The top of my reactor is a simple rubber cap that is clamped on.

Make sense?

Basically a kalk "reactor" is nothing more than something that mixes kalkwasser powder into water and then feeds it to your tank. Now some people claim that exposure to CO2 in the air makes the kalkwasser less effective. I have no idea if that is true. That's why many reactors are airtight.

I used a plan similar to that of Bill Esposito's plans.

http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/nilsen.html

Hope that helps!

V