DIY Kalk Dripper?

[SuperXdude]

Anyone have plans/pix for a DIY Kalk dripper?

I've heard of various methods, even seen one person's pictures, but I want to see other designs first.


Thanks


SuperX

[StephenA]

I took a 1 Gallon Milk Jug, drilled a whole about 2" from the bottom. Hot glued a Lee's Valve (http://www.leesaqpet.com/PICCAT/14103.htm). I mix up Gallon of RO/DI water, 2 TSP of Lime Mix, and a Tblspoon of Vinager. It drips all night. Works like a champ.

Or you can buy one of those Kent Aquadose (http://www.kentmarine.com/html/ad.html) containers for about $20.

[prof]

Some people dose with a 2.5 gallon water jug. Just pull the tap out far enough to start a drip.

[matt]

Josh's idea is better. Trying to directly control the drip of the KW is impossible for any length of time because the KW will clog the output of the dripper. His way, you use a two holed stopper; one has a long pipe to the bottom of the jug, which is the KW output. The other has a short pipe, which is the air inlet. You use the the airline valve to control the amount of air that can leak in, determining the rate of drip out the jug. A modification of that is to connect the air input to a plastic cylinder attached to the inside of your sum so that it's at water level. When the sump level evaporates a bit, air gets in, letting the KW flow, until it fills up the sump enough to seal off the air, stopping the flow. I ran my 45 breeder and 10 gal nano on this system for years.

Hey Josh, if I was wrong about your idea and mistakenly gave you credit, give it back!

Matt

[::pete::]

Something like this .... ?

[PeeJ]

When you does Kalk, what do you need to be testing for too keep your system in check? I currently do not test of anything. Just keep up with water changes.

[PeeJ]

Ok...cool.. Thanks. Now what are the advantages of dosing it?

[matt]

Yep, Pete, that's it.

[SuperXdude]

Posted: Feb 14, 2004 - 09:11 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I took a 1 Gallon Milk Jug, drilled a whole about 2" from the bottom. Hot glued a Lee's Valve. I mix up Gallon of RO/DI water, 2 TSP of Lime Mix, and a Tblspoon of Vinager. It drips all night. Works like a champ.

I picked up powdered pickling lime from HEB....


Same stuff?



SuperX

[matt]

Yes, it's the same stuff. Make sure it says 100% hydrated lime or calcium hydroxide.

[GeoB]

I’ve been using a dosing system like the one prafferty posted a diagram of for about a month now, and so far so good. For something so simple, it took me forever to piece it together. For what it’s worth, here are some things I learned by research and trial and error:

* The container should be rigid. I use a six-gallon carboy I bought at a local home brewing supply for about $20.

* Two-hole stoppers can be found at Analytical Scientific.

* I use rigid plastic tubing I got at Petco to go through the stopper into the container. I originally used glass tubing, but it is hard to keep it from slamming against the side of the container when removing the stopper to refill, which was unnerving, and I eventually broke it by stepping on it while refilling.

* For the siphon stop (the B and C part of the diagram), I use 2” PVC and an endcap with a hole drilled through it just big enough to squeeze in the air-line tubing connects it to the container. Then I siliconed around the tubing to make it air-tight.

* Make sure the siphon stop is large enough to stop the siphon. I’m using 2-inch PVC that extends about 10 inches above the sump water surface, and I still get water in the line which messes things up. I did a quick fix for this by removing the sag in this line so it drains.

* For a long time I couldn’t figure out how to mount the siphon stop in the sump. Finally I figured I could just make it long enough so the open end of it could rest on the bottom of the sump and have a hole drilled into the side of it where I want the water level to be. It is not secured at all; it just rests on the bottom and leans on the side of the sump. Seems kind of lackadaisical, but it works and I don’t know how it could fail. I guess the drilled hole could clog, but you can make the hole as big as you want.

* Keep the outlet (part that drips) above the water or it will clog, but close to the sump water surface to reduce air contact.

[Bigreefer]

If you've never tried this before... please give it a try before knocking it!!!!

Buy one of those 2.5 gallon jugs with the pull spout 1/2 " from the bottom (I use the wal-mart generic brand $3.00).
After emptying it cut a hole so that you can add fresh R.O water.

these jugs DON'T clog and they are surprisingly precise. I can get it to drip as slow as 1 drip per second for 24 hour WITHOUT clogging.

for $3.00 it's worth a shot right?

[drehere]

A couple more "for what its worth" comments to add to GeoB.

I use what was a brand new plastic gasoline jug (5 gal I think). I use a solid rubber stopper from my homebrew stash. I put the in/out tubes in hole drilled in the top of the jug and siliconed in place.

The long tube in the jug can be just short of the bottom to allow some settling to remain.

A question: Not that I was real concerned, it's been in use for a few years, but should I have been concerned with the use of such a "gasoline" container? Obviously it was never used for such a liquid. At the time, it was cheaper than a "water" jug.

[StephenA]

The new Oceanic 90Gal Salt Jugs are a nice size.

[Ram_Puppy]

the jugs the oceanic salt mix comes in are pretty thin, I don't think the are rigid enough for the method prafferty diagrammed, the vacuum will cause the jug to crumple slightly and posisbly overdoes... I think it was said before when using this method, you need to be using a very rigid container... I have about 4 small plastic gas jugs that have never been used... I think they might be perfect.