Kalk Reactor Users - What is your maintenance schedule?

[princer7]

I took the MRC Dual Nano Calcium Reactor off. It ended up being too big for my current tank (until the tank upgrade :D).

I added a Geo Kalk reactor today to try out instead. Hoping to get some better results.

What are your maintenance routines as far as dosing and additives, etc?

[Fish4life]

I add 1lb ESV (maybe ESB) kalk to my reactor bimonthly. I set the circulation pump to come on for 1/2 hour every 3 hours. I have a 5 gallon bucket of ro/di water that i use to gravity feed the reactor. i drip at probably 10-15 drops per minute. I clean the reactor and circulation pump every time I add new kalk (every other month).


Cheers,

Kurt

[matt]

You really just have to add kalk powder whenever it seems low, and clean it occasionally. There is some thought that some of the kalk powder left a long time in a kalk reactor will react with CO2 in the feed water and form calcium carbonate. If you look in a kalk reactor that has had kalk powder in it a long time you'll notice that some of the powder sitting on the bottom of the reactor looks a little different, kind of "fluffy." I think there may be some truth to that; you can periodically check the reactor ph to see if it's above 12. That "might" be an indication of KW strength, but there is another thought by a pretty well known reef chemist that says that KW ph is not necessarily an accurate measure of it's strength, and that you need to measure conductivity to test for strength.

So, ideally, if you need to be totally sure that your KW is full strength, I'd only add enough kalk powder for a few days' use at a time. If you know how much you're dosing, you can calculate how much powder is needed to saturate that quantity of water at about 1 teaspoon/gallon. It's not much.

Personally I'm too lazy for that and dump in several heaping spoonfuls at a time, and about once a month I add some more.

I've cleaned my kalk reactor stirring pump once in a couple of years, but it's a pan world so I'm not too worried about it. The one time I did so it looked perfect; no calcification on the impeller shaft.