Kalk Stirrer

[Zen Reef]

I'm going to build one. Has anyone ever done one and can pass some tips my way? I'm going to use a 27" x 5" x 5" box for the body, 3/8 acrylic rod for the shaft and a 12v dc motor that runs at 30rpm with 8kg/in torque. Will be fed from the ato reservoir by a maxi1200 with 3/8" inlet and 1/2" outlet. How would i seal the part of the shaft that extends out of the top and attaches to the motor? Does it need to be completely air tight? I know people use kalk directly in their ato which usually isn't air tight so I'm wondering if there is a need for a kalk stirrer to be sealed.

[rrasco]

I have thrown some design ideas around myself.

I don't think it needs to be air tight, short of where you are going to be forcing water through, for obvious reasons. I'm also not convinced a kalk reactor needs a stirring mechanism, there is some debate for both sides out there.

[Zen Reef]

Koo, thanks for the input. I'm currently using a rig up with an overflow principle. It works fine and I probably don't actually need a stirrer but I don't think it would hurt to try to maximize the saturation. I think with a tall body and a low enough rpm motor, i can eliminate the worry of kicking the kalk up too much and getting powder in the tank. I plan on getting it to where I can just leave it to stir all the time. The motor I'm using will allow me to lower the rpm as it scales to the voltage on the power supply. I think I can make this thing for under $50 so figured why not.

[Europhyllia]

my tip: don't stir it. Stir it when you mix it and then let the gunk settle so you only have the good stuff in the solution. ;)

[rrasco]

Let me know what you figure out. I'm ready to switch to kalk, I just don't know how I want to run it yet.

[Big_Pun]

ive tried all diferent ways and the best way is a kalk reactor!for me as i forget things, its nice to just load it up and wait till i need to add more. the cheapest one i found that seemed promising is the two lil fishies one. other than that i wouldnt chance dumping something as dangerous as kalk in my system.

[rrasco]

ive tried all diferent ways and the best way is a kalk reactor!for me as i forget things, its nice to just load it up and wait till i need to add more. the cheapest one i found that seemed promising is the two lil fishies one. other than that i wouldnt chance dumping something as dangerous as kalk in my system.

Is yours inline with your ATO? What kind of ATO do you run? I'm trying to figure out how quick the kalk gets added to your system.

[Big_Pun]

not trying to high jack but give you and others options and ideas..

mine actually sits in my resevoir(10g tank) it has a maxi jet that turns on 6 times a day to stir mixture. my RKE controls my ATO so pump just pumps into reactor and over flows into sump. it very similar to GEO kalk reactor

[Europhyllia]

Here is a good article that explains the impurities in kalkwasser. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php#5
Some excerpts:

2. Dosing milky limewater, to get more lime into the aquarium than is available in clear, settled limewater. A drawback is the delivery of impurities in or on the solid particles, and the possibility that some solids may interact with organisms before they dissolve.
(this is in essence what you achieve with a stirrer)


This purification is also seen in practice by many aquarists who have noticed the solids on the bottom of their limewater containers discolor, often to a bluish/green color suggesting copper. For these reasons, I recommend that lime solids not be dosed to aquaria when it is possible to avoid it. Letting the limewater settle for a few hours to overnight will permit most of the large particles to settle out, and whether it looks clear at that point or not, it is likely fine to use.

I had my kalkwasser made up in a container with a lid and it was hooked up to rigid airline tubing and a Tom's aqualifter. I am running all systems on RKL's the kalkwasser pump would only come on when the pH measured below a certain level (usually at night in the early AM hours) so it also had the added benefit of stabilizing the pH.
So you get cleaner kalkwasser and spend less money!
Anyway read the article and it will make more sense. ;)

[Big_Pun]

Karin that article seems to be based on off the grocery shelf pickling products...... i use brightwells kalk product and im pretty sure they would be careful on what if any impuraties are in there mix. with my reactor when the water is mixed only 3/4's of the chamber get cloudy(basically to intake pipe to pump) the fresh water is pumped in to a rigid tube that almost at the bottom of the reactor. now when ato pumps kicks on, only water from top of reactor is pushed into my tank. my ph has improved and my coral are growing so much faster, i have growth tips that are 1/4 inch on some sps.

[rrasco]

The most common methods of application consist of mixing the KW in RODI and allowing it to settle before adding to the tank either via ATO, Reactor, or drip. The reason you don't want the particulate in your tank is not because of impurities but because the particulate is undissolved KW. KW can only saturate water up to 2 teaspoons per gallon without the addition of a carbon source, because of this, anything over the saturation level of KW will stay in a solid form, if this solid KW is introduced to your system it could wreak havoc on your pH because it will begin saturating your tank water. You only want to ever dose saturated KW.

This is why when you see KW being dosed via ATO the pump is normally suspended towards the middle of the reservoir, to avoid pulling any particulate from the bottom of the ATO res. At this point, the ATO becomes one large kalk reactor. Although, I want to avoid this method as constantly adding new RODI would cause the slurry to stir up and would need to be allowed to settle down for several hours prior to turning the ATO back on. Reactors handle this by keeping enough KW on hand that the water on top stays saturated and free of particulate allowing it to be dosed into your tank.

[Zen Reef]

I use the same method as Karin for regulating my kalk. And I use Kalk+2 as well. As far as the vessel, I can't see the point of mixing kalk into the ATO reservoir as I'm sure my tank's evaporation rate doesn't match my kalk demand. To me a reactor makes more sense. Saturated limewater is very hard on the lines and pump as well. I rather use more maintenance free methods. The reactor I am I am building will incorporate the benefits of both a stirrer powered by a motor as well as the overflow method powered by a pump. I will have a maxijet feeding the unit with RODI from my ATO reservoir and pushing the water up through the kalk slurry when it is turned on by the RKE --when the PH dips below 8.15. (I use this value because after monitoring it for about a month, I've found that my Ph will only rise to 8.3 max at the end of the light cycle if it starts the light cycle at 8.15.) The rest of the time the stirrer will be constantly on to keep the slurry from completely settling. My goal is to keep the bottom half filled with suspended kalk slurry while the top half is filled with clear and completely saturated limewater which overflows into the sump as needed. The motorized stirrer should be able to keep the kalk from settling. I've gone with this "design"(for lack of a better word as I'm sure I'm just copying ideas from various reactors) so only the discharge line is exposed to limewater while the feed pump and inlet lines will only see RODI. Excited now and will start building it after work.

[Zen Reef]

All done. So far so good.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/01/ydura5as.jpg With the stirrer constantly on, the bottom half stays pretty suspended and the top is clear.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/11/01/3uzevesy.jpg

[rrasco]

You work fast Tuan. Looks good. I'm interested to know more details. Are you running it on your tank yet?

[Zen Reef]

Thanks..gonna wait till tomorrow to let it get fully saturated. Was a pretty simple build really. I took more time thinking about it then it took to make it..lol. Let me know what details you want, I'd be happy to help.

[Big_Pun]

looks good!!

[Zen Reef]

Thanks. Been running a few hours and I'm satisfied. It does exactly what I hoped.

[Zen Reef]

http://youtu.be/5bKZ038ci00