Next DIY Projects: 1.Kalk Doser 2.Top-Off

[flyingarmy]

My next 2 projects are in the works. Thanks to sammy33's post about his Kalk doser I am itching to get mine project going. I recently bought an Aquadyne Octopus 3000 from Big D (he regrets letting it go) and I wanting to incorporate it's capabilities with a top-off system and kalk doser. I wanted to do a top-off and kalk doser seperate due to the amount of evaporation I have on my tank. I think it would be more beneficial to my system to have each seperate and seperately controlled. Big D has suggested using the PH controller probe to trigger the kalk doser and I have to do some more research on that option but it seems fairly simple. The top-off should be pretty easy since the Octopus 3000 included a float switch. I bought a Water System pre-filter at Lowes today with all the required plumbing for a kalk doser. Just need to buy some Mrs. Wedges Pickling Lime and I should be in business. I am setting up the Octopus 3000 tonight with several X10 modules to control temp, randum surge pumps and lights. One thing nice about the Octo 3000 is that is can control light for both my tanks and some of additional pumps for waves/current without too much trouble. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress!

 

[sprayin70]

Sounds good. I may have to try the Kalk doser my self!

 

[flyingarmy]

Here are some initial pictures of my Kalk Doser DIY project.

I bought a Whirlpool "Whole House Prefilter" from Lowes for $20, the fittings and tubing. I had to modify the prefilter with a tube going down to the bottom so the RO water would mix the kalk as it is pumped from the holding tank. As you can see I used several pieces of hard/soft tubing (leftovers from other projects) but I suggest having one piece of hard tubing all the way to the bottom of the prefilter. I am using a 80PGH fountain pump located in my RO container to dose the kalk. I drilled small holes in the tube so the RO water would pump into the prefilter chamber, mixing the kalk. The clear mixed kalk RO water will be pumped out from the top of the prefilter and dripped into my sump. I bought Mrs. Wedges Lime yesterday and tonight hopefully I will get a chance to test out the system. I will have to fine tune the Aquadyne Octopus 3000 to trigger the dosing pump based upon PH settings. Here as a few build pictures of the kalk doser:
http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Kalk2.JPG" alt="" />
[IMG]http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Kalk4.JPG" alt="" />
[IMG]http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Kalk5.JPG" alt="" />
[IMG]http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Kalk8.JPG" alt="" />

 

[vettesarebest]

Looks good!!

 

[sprayin70]

Good job! I think I will build mine this weekend.

 

[mojo]

Are you sure you want to use those brass fittings for water going directly in your tank?

 

[flyingarmy]

mojo wrote: Are you sure you want to use those brass fittings for water going directly in your tank?

Mojo...thanks for the advice. After thinking about the corrosion etc of the brass fittings I changed them out to plastic fittings. Here is the finished product hooked up to my Octopus 3000. It is dosed every night when the ph is low.

http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Doser.JPG" alt="" />

I did some modifications to my wet/dry also. I put a glass panel making it a sump, more water volume and LR/LS for the 20GAL Reef. I have to work on the micro bubbles with some sort of water diffuser coming out of the fisrt chamber since bubbles are being suspended on the LR in the main chamber, but are not being pumped back into the main tank. Here is a picture:
[IMG]http://www.flyingarmy.com/Temp/Reef Sump.JPG" alt="" />

 

[mojo]

Looks awesome!

 

[kevin]

That is great! I think that will be my next DIY

 

[glxtrix]

lookin good. I also made one of those kalk reactors, turned out pretty nice, and its pumpin into another container which has carbon in it. I'll post some pics when I bring my camera to work.

 

[flyingarmy]

glxtrix wrote: lookin good. I also made one of those kalk reactors, turned out pretty nice, and its pumpin into another container which has carbon in it. I'll post some pics when I bring my camera to work.

Just a quick question: Why do you pump it into another container with carbon? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[glxtrix]

no specific reason. I do it that way cuz I only have a 15g tank with limited space to run carbon, so thats my "extra space" to run carbon, or what ever.

 

[flyingarmy]

Cool...just wondering! :thumbs:

 

[glxtrix]

no worries man, askin questions is what this forum is all about! I'm glad I can help. Yeah its not necessary at all, but i figured it couldnt hurt. I run a small powerhead thu everything, its only about 80gph, maybe a tad under powered, but it gets the job done.

 

[rhomer]

I've been looking into doing something like this, I have a couple of questions.
What is your effluent PH?
How do you get the Kalk to mix?

Rob

 

[glxtrix]

the kalk is mixed thu a pump that pumps in pure RO or RODI water. Your basically using the water fuilter in reverse, water goes in the "OUT" side so it can run down the tube, water then is forced up thu the kalk mixing it. That saturated water is then forced out the "IN" section going to your tank. The whole system is ran by a float switch, I think sammy has a video on here about the setup so you can see it. And the drip rate is controlled my a sinple valve that lets the water drip into the tank. Gawgdude, i have this lil contraption on my 15g tank, its pretty much all relative to how much calcium and alk demand you have in your tank. I ahve a lot of SPS and clams, so the demand is high. I really need to get a PH monitor cuz I really have no clue what exactly my PH is at, I have test kits and it says around 8.4, but an exact number would be nice.

 

[rhomer]

That is what I was concerned about. If the PH of the effluent is that low then there really isn't any mixing going on in the chamber (at least this is my understanding). From what I've read the PH effluent of a kalk reactor should be 12.5 which I beleive is a crude way of measure Kalk saturation. There are others here that have kalk reactors that I'm sure have more info about this.

This isn't any kind of attack, I just didn't see how the effluent could be a saturated mix without a mixing pump or stirrer. I loved the clean design and was sitting here wondering if I could stop by Lowes tonight to pick one up.

I'm more than open for someone to correct me if I'm wrong, if so I will be building one of these tonight.

Rob

 

[glxtrix]

oh crud, I read that wrong, sorry, yeah the kalk coming out will be very high, around 12 or so. I cant test that high so I dont know the exact number, I just ran a test and the color in the bottle was of no color range on my sheets, lol. Its def high, hence why you add it to a sump or a place of high flow.

 

[mufret]

I recently retired my DIY reactor and if you aren't the DIY sort, Tunze makes a piece of equipment with a very similar design and function (Calcium Dispenser - 5074.000). It's designed for their Osmolator but can be used with any topoff setup that uses 1/4 tubing. It's a bit more than the DIY so certainly see if you can find a used one, which would make the cost pretty close to the cost of the DIY reactor.

I'm going to test my effluent this evening but I don't think the effluent you will get out of any of these "static" reactor will be fully saturated. It is, however, going to much better than just adding RO/DI water back to your system. So for a relatively small investment, you will be able to provide a constant source of calcium to our calcium loving friend and at the same time help maintain the PH in your system.

 

[rhomer]

Thanks guys for the advice. I currently have a calcium reactor on the system and my PH sits at about 8.0 during the day and 7.8 at night and my alk tends to be on the low range 3 - 4 mg /l. I was looking to add a kalk reactor to correct this more then dose calcium.

Unfortunatly used ones almost never come up and usually go for nearly full price. So I've been poking around to building my own.

Another thread hijacked.

Rob