Poor boy Kalkwasser reactor, with magnetic stirrer. (1 Viewer)

[R-BallJunkie]

I take pride in being thrifty when needed ...... here's a DIY Kalkwasser magnetic stirrer mixing reactor that cost +- 110 bux for everything.

It's a really tight fit where the reactor was to go, only had around a 6" dia space to deal with.


$50 reactor :

T-X Secondary Media Chamber for Calcium Reactors

As time goes on and our coral get bigger, their demand for essential elements that keep them growing increases with them. This can leave some smaller calcium reactor setups either lacking enough media to cover the consumption over a period of time, needing the media to be replenished more often...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

$30 USB powered magnetic stirrer:

Magnetic Stirrer, Powerful Lab Stirrers with 2000RPM, Mini Stir Plate with 3 Stir Bars, Max Liquid Stirring Capacity 2Liter: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Magnetic Stirrer, Powerful Lab Stirrers with 2000RPM, Mini Stir Plate with 3 Stir Bars, Max Liquid Stirring Capacity 2Liter: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

$25 ¼” feed solenoid:



HYDROS DC Solenoid Water Valve



$8 Bigger stir bar:



Amazon.com



You’ll have to do some DIY, remove plastic from the inside of the chamber that's meant for a sponge filter holder.

If you have access to a vertical mill or a vertical drill press, I'm sure it would be easier than this cavemen approach.


I ground down the tip of the drill bit flat with a grinding wheel to remove the plastic. Not easy but doable.

After using a long drill bit from harbor freight to reach inside the narrow chamber, needed to smooth the bottom down. I heated up the tip of the bit to get the small remaining plastic to melt smooth so the stir bar would not jump so much. I also blocked the feed inlet on the bottom with some scrap plastic and superglue to keep the magnet from falling into the recess. After some tuning with the stirrer speed, works like a charm. Also had some extra 1/4" tubing and ball valves laying around to make a quick drain to mix new Kalk powder. Easy to refill, 2-minute process. The feed line leaving the reactor jumps to 3/8" immediately to keep the clogging down.

For the logic, the controller does the following.

Stirrer runs 10 seconds every 10 minutes

Doses only when ph below 8.3, cuts off at 8.5
Doses when kh below 8.7, cuts off at 8.9

Only run when sump low level is dry
Do not run when sump level is high
Do not run unless return pump is on

10 second run time, max run time is 20 seconds
Alarm if run time past 20 seconds
Runs every hour.

 

[soymilk]

Very cool. I might do something similar

I don’t know if you have to mix that often. I think I would mix for 30sec - 1min every hour or 2.

so the condition for when it dose is tied in to your alk level and pH level?

so it’ll only kick on if alk is “low” and pH is low?

 

[R-BallJunkie]

Very cool. I might do something similar

I don’t know if you have to mix that often. I think I would mix for 30sec - 1min every hour or 2.

so the condition for when it dose is tied in to your alk level and pH level?

so it’ll only kick on if alk is “low” and pH is low?

Still experimenting with the intervals. Do know wanting to keep the slurry somewhat suspended but clear at the top, don't want to overwhelm the mag stirrer. It cannot mix if it settles too much. yes to the conditions. you dose too much kalk, will spike both.

 

[mnosz]

So I think I have a similar setup to you. I use an all in one tank and so a lot of the kalk reactors out there do not work for me because they rely on gravity. So I am wondering how are you pushing the water up to the tank? This looks really interesting and could work for me. I just don't understand how the water is pushed through.

 

[soymilk]

you can use a doser pump to push water from a reservoir thru the kalk reactor and into the tank

 

[mnosz]

you can use a doser pump to push water from a reservoir thru the kalk reactor and into the tank

but normally the outlet of these reactors doesn't have much pressure and feed into the sump. Which ones would work with the doser and have enough pressure to feed all the way up to top of the tank?

 

[soymilk]

kalk stirrers rely on gravity to "overflow" into an exit tube. They are out of vogue but a "kalk reactor" would more what you're looking for.

also consider just making saturated kalkwasser and dosing that just as a liquid supplement with a doser

 

[decimal]

I push Kalk through a Rx with a dosing pump. No big deal. Also, i was under impression that stirring is to be kept at a minimum. So I do 30 or 60 seconds every 4-5 hours.

 

[mnosz]

I push Kalk through a Rx with a dosing pump. No big deal. Also, i was under impression that stirring is to be kept at a minimum. So I do 30 or 60 seconds every 4-5 hours.

Any chance I can talk you into posting links to the products you use and some pics of your kalk setup?

 

[decimal]

Sure.. nothing special. Just GHL doser. Feed is top off water and that line runs to the dosing unit. from there It goes to the Kalk reactor and from the Kalk reactor to the tank. I will see if I can take pic in a few mins.

Edit:
A lot of folks just run the top off water through the reactor but I’m ocd and did not want Kalk tied to fluctuating evaporation requirements. In retrospect, the top off method works for everyone and it’s simple. I would set it up like that if I had to do it again.

 

[mnosz]

Sure.. nothing special. Just GHL doser. Feed is top off water and that line runs to the dosing unit. from there It goes to the Kalk reactor and from the Kalk reactor to the tank. I will see if I can take pic in a few mins.

Edit:
A lot of folks just run the top off water through the reactor but I’m ocd and did not want Kalk tied to fluctuating evaporation requirements. In retrospect, the top off method works for everyone and it’s simple. I would set it up like that if I had to do it again.

I kind of thought the same I really do not like the thought of using the ATO for the same reason. How often is your GHL doser running? I was thinking about purchasing a Kamoer X1 PRO 2 Micropump
but wasn't sure if it would be too much work for it ( I have no idea what to expect for consumption ) also you said you run it through an RX? What is an RX?

 

[decimal]

Reactor. Like i said, if I had to on it again, I would just run it through the ATO

 

[MurseJB]

I kind of thought the same I really do not like the thought of using the ATO for the same reason. How often is your GHL doser running? I was thinking about purchasing a Kamoer X1 PRO 2 Micropump
but wasn't sure if it would be too much work for it ( I have no idea what to expect for consumption ) also you said you run it through an RX? What is an RX?

If you are going to do the Kalk reactor, I would upgrade and use this one X1 PRO T Stepper Pump - Kamoer instead of the micropump. It will last longer and a bit more reliable and If you ever wanted to do continuous feeding of Kalk, it has the capability for continuous dosing.

 

[decimal]

This thread went a little sideways. I apologize. The Kalk stirrer very cool. As far as stirring frequency goes, first off, it is not really relevant as long as you are only using the clear part. my understanding is that the water becomes saturated (40 meq/L) and anything beyond that is irrelevant since it is not absorbed anyways. The ph will be around 11.9 to 12. Adding more Kalk will not increase the ph since the water is already saturated.
You never want to dose slurry since it is not as predictable as fully saturated water. The efficacy of the Kalk wanes over time however and it is necessary to refresh you reactor periodically to maintain effectiveness. So, you can stir 24/7, once per hour or 4-5 times per day and still have the same effectiveness.