DIY Kalk drip

mapster · 05-25-2002, 02:16 AM

This may not be to impressive, but Im proud of it. Seeing as I was intimidated by kalk a few weeks ago.

I used an empty water bottle and some spare parts from a maxijet powerhead. Took 10 minutes and cost me nothing. Works perfectly too. I left the hole a half inch from the bottom so the muck wouldn't wind up in the tank.

MontanaRocknReefer · 05-25-2002, 06:35 AM

Hey mapster! Great DIY project! Does the line have a valve to control the drip? Can you give more of a description on how it was done? This is for others as well as myself who want more details to do it ourselves! Johnny

cyberchef · 05-25-2002, 12:52 PM

I have one question about it, other than the ones johnny already asked...

I was under the impression that Kalk mixture/makeup water was not supposed to be exposed to the air, hence they suggest using a IV bag. Is this correct or is exposing it to the air ok?

Stang69 · 05-25-2002, 01:09 PM

I use the plastic Moz. Cheese containers for mine as you did with the milk jug but one advantage is you can keep the lid on it just in case it would get knocked over. I also mix it in a different container and pour off the clear from the top into the smaller container. I also use a IV dripper to regulate the drip.

Jeff

mapster · 05-25-2002, 03:23 PM

MRR, Not sure if you can tell by the pic, but Ive tied a knot in the tube, The tighter the knot the slower the drip. Better desc to come (my fiance will kill me if Im on the computer too long and not mowing the lawn).

Cyberchef, I've never heard that but it could definitely be true. Anyone know the answer? If so Ill find a way to cover it up, thanks.

Stang69, I mix mine in a seperate bucket, then pour into a jug (old britta jug), then pour that into the milk jug. After all that I still get a small amount of gunk on the bottom of the milk jug.

tdwyatt · 05-26-2002, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mapster
Cyberchef, I've never heard that but it could definitely be true. Anyone know the answer? If so Ill find a way to cover it up...

The problem with the solution being exposed to the atmosphere is that the concentrated solution of Calcium Hydroxide/oxide can convert relatively quickly to suspended calcium carbonate as CO2 from the atmosphere dissolves in the solution. As the solubility of Ca(OH)2 is much higher than that of CaCO3, the Calcium that we want to go into the tank ends up on the bottom of the dispensing jug (65 PPM max for CaCO3 in the presence of alkali hydroxides Vs 1163 PPM for Calcium oxide/hydroxide in RO water, VERY low for the carbonate). The idea is to drip in the dose as quickly as is safe for the system without exposing it to an excess of carbon dioxide. One method of doing this is to use a collapsing (flexible) container. Another method would be to line the rigid container with a plastic bag and fill the plastic bag with Kalkwasser. Fix a vent between the bag and the rigid container (a piece of flexible tubing from the outside too the "bottom" of the rigid container would do, as would drilling a small vent hole in the base of the container) such that the plastic bag can collapse as the solution drains out, but will not pull a vacuum on the rigid container. Disposable baby bottles work on the same premise. I am sure that there are some types of bags out there that can be fitted to a rigid container of some sort to accomplish this. I would make sure to pull the lip of the bag over the lip of your rigid container prior to affixing the lid and seal to avoid air leaks. If you have a small enough system and/or your evaporative losses are small, you may be able to drip in your replacements in a short enough period of time so that this would be moot. Keep in mind that relative to the amount of CaO and Ca(OH)2 in the solution, atmospheric CO2 is relatively small, but over time can accumulate. If you can do your replacements in less than two or three hours, I doubt that there would be significant conversion to truly affect your calcium dosing.

Hope this helps!

mapster · 05-27-2002, 12:26 AM

tdwyatt, I keep the mixed solution in a covered bucket and transfer that into my drip container about 3/4 of a gallon at a time. That takes about 4 hrs to drip in the tank. Do you think this is alright? Should I cover the opening of the drip container with plastic wrap?

tdwyatt · 05-27-2002, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mapster
tdwyatt, I keep the mixed solution in a covered bucket and transfer that into my drip container about 3/4 of a gallon at a time. That takes about 4 hrs to drip in the tank. Do you think this is alright? Should I cover the opening of the drip container with plastic wrap?

That is probably not necessary for the drip container, but the bucket that you store the remainder of your unused solution in needs to be tightly closed with as little air in it as possible (a collapsable bucket with a closure would be good). After a week, any that is left will prolly be more Ca Carbonate precipitate than anything else, best to mix a new patch of a weeks worth once a week.

frostbite · 05-27-2002, 11:39 AM

I had a similar set up for a few month, I bought a doser from kent that basically do the same thing, the only problem is having to mix the kalsawasser in a seperate container and pump it into the dripper, another problem is as the water level drop in the container, the pressure also decrese and the dripper would slow down, the solution also like to crystalize at the drip tip, thus clogging the whole thing. I just bought a float switch and are switch over to using a small pump, as I am getting tire of messing with it and coming home finding my pump running dry because my dripper is clog again. I have heard people building kal reactor with a large pvc tube, but I don't have too much info on this?