ball valve at bottom of kalk reactor?

[Chin_Lee]

I'm just building my kalk reactor and i'm wondering if it would be convenient or desirable to have a 1/2" ball valve at or near the bottom of the reactor for the purpose of flushing out the old kalk? My kalk reactor will be placed just slightly higher than the sink in the fish room and i'm thinking it would be handy to be able to open the ball valve and drain out the old kalk before filling it up with new kalk.
Your thoughts or input from people who are using a kalk reactor would be greatly appreciated. thanks
chin

[StirCrazy]

um, why don't you just run it till the kalk is almost gone then just add. Kalk doesn't go bad.. but yet the ball valve would be handy for draining the reactor down

Steve

[Delphinus]

I think it depends on the grade of kalk you use though. I've had stuff that discoloured to grey after a week or two and others that would turn yellow and wouldn't dissolve any further. For that stuff it may be handy to have a drain valve, maybe a little John Guest style thing tapped into the bottom would work nicely.

Only thing is I would rinse my whole reactor out with vinegar every time I cleaned mine out so I was basically taking the whole thing apart anyhow.

But I don't see any downside other than potential clogging which could be cleared up easily anyhow.