DIY Kalk Reactor and Sump

[BCOrchidGuy]

Pics are on the pic board, input??

Doug

[Jack]

How are you mixing the kalk?

How do your flanges work?

[BCOrchidGuy]

Kalk is mixed by the water coming in through the bottom it makes a tiny cloud of kalk the kalk seems to sit pretty lose. I thought it may pack down but it hasn't packed down yet and I've had it like that for a month or more..

Flanges?... what are flanges?

Doug

[Jack]

You may want to tweak your kalk reactor design a bit more.

What are the bio-balls in the sump for?

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yes the Kalk reactor is just a rough idea, I wanted to see if it would work. The top is just siliconed on so when I need to open it up I'll have to cut the silicone. I'll have to come up with a better way to add kalk, next time I open it I'll put in alot smaller portion of kalk.

The Bio balls are for bacteria, typical bio ball function, it looks like they'll be underwater but they wont the thing near the sumps sump is just a small peice of acrylic to hold the kent float valve it doesn't go nearly across the thing. I'll add more bio balls before it's complete, that was just all I had.

I'm thinking I may not need them though as I'm planning on keeping my fish #'s down. I'll just have to watch things and see how it goes.

BTW, I've got a 45 gallon refugium with a plenum hooked up as well. I was planning on putting leafy seaweeds in there but now I'm thinking about adding a few sponges and not putting any light on it.

Lots of ideas running through my head.

Jack? Seriously, what are flanges?

Doug

[Jack]

Flanges hold lids on with wingnuts. You know what I mean?

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yes the um lip around the top etc?

It's just siliconed on for now I couldn't find gasket material and I didn't want to put a lot of time into it. The top off water goes in through the bottom the rigid tubing has a bend in it so the kalk stirs a bit on it's own as water moves through. It seems to work well. I'm not excited about the look but like I say it works so that's good enough for now.

Doug

[christyf5]

why can't you guys just call them plastic screws? Sheesh :rolleyes:

:razz:

[BCOrchidGuy]

cuz their NYLON.. for pete sakes and it's not the screw things it's the lip thing that the screw things go through with the wing nut thingmajigs on the other side... I think

Doug

[christyf5]

nylon schmylon, its all a form of plastic ain't it. then why can't you call them the holes the screws go thru? You guys and your big words. :wink:

[BCOrchidGuy]

I dunno, I'm the one who didn't know what a flange was. Anywho.. my tank is taking shape, still unsure what to do about lights. It's got sand and some rock in it though, salt too.

Doug

[christyf5]

oooo, pics? :cool:

[Jack]

I thought you were doing reef Doug that's why I was asking about bio-balls.

All you would have to do is drill some holes, make a gasket, and get some wingnuts and you wouldn't have to silicone your lid anymore.

[BCOrchidGuy]

I am going reef but a few fish. I've used bio balls before and rather liked them. It's hard to break the habit when things work.
I've actually got the nylon bolts and wing nuts it's the gasket material I've had trouble with. I'm thinking of now just using a large O Ring.

Doug

Christy pics to come soon.

[dick182]

O ring will work, just put it between the flanges and tighten securly.
You definitely want something to mix the kalk though have a look at his one :http://www.canreef.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=248&password=&sort=1&cat=507&page=1
Also the reactor looks a little short, you don't want the powder going through, just the clear water at the top.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Dick, Yes that's a good point, one mistake I made was adding the whole container of Kalk (figured if it was going to be closed for a while...) The O Ring Idea is a good one I was hoping to find some gasket material though but I can settle for the O ring for sure.
I'm thinking that I'll take some of Jack's advice and add some vinegar to my make up water, see how that works, Oh and I'll add the Kalk in smaller portions.

Doug

[StirCrazy]

I'm thinking that I'll take some of Jack's advice and add some vinegar to my make up water, see how that works, Oh and I'll add the Kalk in smaller portions.

Doug

um..make flanges for the top and get a way to mix it.. don;t worry about vinager or the other stuff.. large amounts is fine, you just go longer between adding but it needs to be stired a few times a day real good or you will not have a saturated mix.

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Steve, see that's what confuses me, if I bump the tower I get a cloud of kalk, it's not settling down and compacting. I suppose I could add a powerhead etc to it but that just makes for even more work. Maybe I'll just go back to adding Kalk water to my top off water.

Doug

[StirCrazy]

it isn't suposed to compact. every time you mix it shoudl fluf right up again and then slowly sellt out untill the next time. I do this 4 times a day with a mag 3 for 1 minuit.. realy mixes the hell out of it.. :rolleyes:

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Wow yeah that would mix the hell out of it. How do you keep it from putting the cloudy water into your tank though? I figure if a tank is going to have evap it should be mostly during the day right? So what about just having a power head come on for a few minutes at say 5am once a day. Wouldn't that mix it up enough?

Doug

[chwkreefer]

Wow yeah that would mix the hell out of it. How do you keep it from putting the cloudy water into your tank though? I figure if a tank is going to have evap it should be mostly during the day right? So what about just having a power head come on for a few minutes at say 5am once a day. Wouldn't that mix it up enough?

Doug

Hey Doug, I assume you have your kalkreactor tied into your system via the float valve . . . so even if some of your newly mixed (cloudy) kalk goes into the sump, it should only be a little and shouldn't be problem.

My kalkreactor dispenses through a kent float valve into my sump. The mixing powerhead is on a timer and stirs for 3 minutes every 4 hrs. So I'm sure at some point there is some freshly stirred kalk going into the system, but it has never been a problem as only a little is dispensed at a time with a float valve.
I find that the Kalk settles out rapidly. The benefit of a tall reaction chamber is that the top third of the reactor tends to clear rather quickly and if the outflow to the sump is at the top ok your reactor, you've minimized the chance of putting the cloudy kalk in the sump.

[StirCrazy]

Wow yeah that would mix the hell out of it. How do you keep it from putting the cloudy water into your tank though? I figure if a tank is going to have evap it should be mostly during the day right? So what about just having a power head come on for a few minutes at say 5am once a day. Wouldn't that mix it up enough?

Doug

it is minimal. and even such in 1/2 a hour it only at most would add 0.13 of a gal on average so when you put that into 140 gal of water you don't notice it at all. I mix at 6am, noon, 6 pm and midnight for 1 min each. I am building an addition for my reactor that will creat a saturated zone that isn't afected by the stiring but that will probably take mine from 3 foot tall to about 4 foot.

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Oh okay, well heck that sure makes things a bit easier, I was under the impression that kalk in the tank would be an issue. Now I guess I have to buy some more acrylic tube to make this right. (you guys are expensive to know).

Doug

[StirCrazy]

(you guys are expensive to know).

Doug

tell me about it :rolleyes:

Steve

[IslandReefer]

Hey Steve,
Any details on the mod. for a saturation zone?

[StirCrazy]

Hey Steve,
Any details on the mod. for a saturation zone?

um.. whats that?

Steve

[IslandReefer]

it is minimal. and even such in 1/2 a hour it only at most would add 0.13 of a gal on average so when you put that into 140 gal of water you don't notice it at all. I mix at 6am, noon, 6 pm and midnight for 1 min each. I am building an addition for my reactor that will creat a saturated zone that isn't afected by the stiring but that will probably take mine from 3 foot tall to about 4 foot.

Steve[/quote]

this mod. for a saturation zone

[StirCrazy]

Ohhhh all i am doing is adding a smaller diamiter tube ontop of my reactor to make it tall enuf that the stiring won't go all the way up. (I am going to make a baffle to help stop it also. this will make it so there is only saturated settled kalk water in this section and the lower section will be the white mixing cloud. do i know exactly how to build it yet??? no I am still trying to decide what is best.

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Steve, with the new tank I'm noticing a massive amount of evaporation, in the area of 2-3 gallons a day. I don't think I want all that water going through my kalk especially right now when I don't have a really high demand in the tank.

Doug

[StirCrazy]

Steve, with the new tank I'm noticing a massive amount of evaporation, in the area of 2-3 gallons a day. I don't think I want all that water going through my kalk especially right now when I don't have a really high demand in the tank.

Doug

I do about 5 gal per day. you have to remember the 2 or 3 gal per day at a little higher PH and ALK is not going to impact your tank much unless you have next to no Ca demand. I feel a lot of people under estimate the ACa demand of there tank.. the best way would be to not add any supplements for a time period say 3 days or 1 week if you feel the demand is low. measure your Ca at the start then again after the time period and see how much your Ca and your Alk drop.. then you can do the same thing with the kalk reactor running test ever week and see where it stabalizes.

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

Steve, good points, I haven't been monitoring it much just because there isn't much in the tank but I think I will watch it more closely.

Doug