using KALK in Auto Top Off

[rabadanmarco]

ive been told that i should drip Kalk which is what ive been doing and it works pretty good. as a a matter of my tank has been doing better ever since i started. Some people tell me that they use kalk in their auto top off system rather than dripping. But what i was told by other users and other online forums is that once the kalk is mixed it immediately starts losing its effectiveness and what you make needs to be used within 1-2 days. is this 1-2 day thing a true. because my reservoir is 5 gallons and that lasts about 3 days. i dont want to be dumping kalk in my system if its going to be uneffective.


or should i just suck it up and keep driping it

[rabadanmarco]

anyone

[allan]

lol, I'm waiting for a response too. :)

My understanding is that if it's mixed and NOT exposed to air (oxygen?) then you don't lose effectiveness. I plan on pushing RODI water into a sealed five gallon bucket via an aqualift pump, with a route of escape to the sump for the solution. So in a sense the five gallon bucket will become more diluted over time until I replace the Kalk after a week or so.

[corruption]

Once the water is saturated with lime, it will stay that way more or less indefinitely -- I've known many people that use a large container for mixing all their kalk.. super saturate the water, let the precipitate/unabsorbed kalk settle at the bottom, and stir up about 10-15 mins before use... The excess kalk will keep your lime water fully saturated, and won't go bad.

As far as running kalk in an ATO system -- if you're not using a controller to meter how much is added at any given time, you could send your tank on a pH/alkalinity/calcium rollercoaster ride... be careful :) I would just keep dripping if it were me :)

-Justin

[rabadanmarco]

i was also afraid of the rollercoaster ride so i guess ill keep dripping. unless anyone can convince me

[sharkboy]

how do kalk reactors work?

[OrionN]

If you can keep the kalk container air tight, it will stay fresh forever. Reasonably tight it will stay fresh for weeks. It will react with CO2 in the air to for CaCO3 and precipitate out of solution. I top off through the kalk reactor. All my top off water is saturated kalk. I use a top-off pump to pump into my kalk reactor and overflow it to the tank.

Sharkboy,
Kalk reactor is a chamber where RO water are mixed continuously with Kalk resulting in a saturated solution of kalk. RO wanter go in and displaced kalk saturated solution to the tank. You can mix the kalk with a magnetized stirrer or a small pump that circulate the water in the chamber.

[Paul28]

Mine is also on my ato works great just need to know how many times to mix it a day and half to balence it with my cal reactor if i had to type it all out again i think i would lose my mind :) i maintain perfect lvls with it on my ato

ph 8.0 to 8.4
Dkh 9-11
mag 1260 becuse my silinity is at 1.023
cal 440 to 450

[Europhyllia]

mag 1260 because my salinity is at 1.023

Can you explain that? How is it affected by salinity?

[ErikH]

Reactors should be run by PH. You can easily OD your tank with a reactor if you shoot your PH too high with a KWR.