Kalk in auto top off water

[jennmac415]

Hey all, I have a very simple gravity fed auto top off system that works great for me. No worries about pumps and such. I have just recently decided that instead of dripping kalk at night I would add it to my auto top of RO/DI water. My question is, do I need to keep this stirred up with the addition of a small powerhead on my wave timer, or is it ok to just drip the water with the kalk settled in the bottom. The outgoing bulkhead is set about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom so it will not drip the stuff settled at the bottom.

Thanks,
Jenni

[jennmac415]

anyone?

[tdwyatt]

This is how I do my prop system supplementation.


So long as the solution is saturated to start with, this will work fine. Keep in mind, however, that you MUST MAKE SURE that the maintenance for your top off system is kept up to date, as you'll have to deal with a major disaster if all your kalkwasser top-off is dumped into the tank at once. Check your float valve every few days, and place it so that none of the critters in the sump will have access to the float for the float valve. Also make sure that the solution drips into an area where there is a high rate of flow and good mixing with a large volume of water prior to being returned to the tank. This will assure good interaction with atmospheric CO2 and dilution to prevent sudden increases in pH and potential tissue irritation should a bolus of undiluted kalkwasser be released to the sump (and then be returned to the tank ) I should add that this method should be reserved for larger volume systems, minimally 100 gallons US total volume, as smaller volume systems may not be able to adequately dilute the volumes of kalk that could be potentially released at one time. If you don't do regular maintenance, I would not recommend this method of kalk administration.


HTH

[jennmac415]

Thanks Tom. I have about 115+ gallons of total water volume. What I am wondering is if the top off water should be stirred periodically in the container if you add kalk to your top off water??? Or should you just allow the kalk to settle and let the remaining water drip into the sump as the float valve releases it.

Jenni

[tdwyatt]

So long as the water comes from the clear part of the solution, you will not need to stir the solution unless you are adding fresh water to try and dissolve the precipitate on the bottom. Kalkwasser reactors need a stirrer in order to react the precipitated kalk on the bottom of the reactor with the new incoming water that is added each time the reactor is called on to top off a system demand.

[jennmac415]

Thanks thats what I thought,was just making sure. We really want the kalk to settle and just use the clear solution right? I go through about 10 gallons of top off about every 3/4 days. Can I just add new kalk every time I fill the container with fresh ro/di water and only clean the entire thing out every few times?

thanks as always,
Jenni

[Loverotties]

10 gallons in 3/4 days!Wow you mean 10 gallons in 3 - 4 days right?

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by jennmac415

Thanks thats what I thought,was just making sure. We really want the kalk to settle and just use the clear solution right? I go through about 10 gallons of top off about every 3/4 days. Can I just add new kalk every time I fill the container with fresh ro/di water and only clean the entire thing out every few times?

yes on the settling, yes on the clean out every 4 or so times, the sediment will gradually change to a brownish tint when you need to remove the sludge. I add a tablespoonful of Ball's pickling lime to a gallon of RO/DI water, shake well and pour it into the topoff reservoir for the prop system ( but I do 5 to 7 gallons at a time). That way, I only add kalk every other filling of the reservoir, in between kalk additions I fill the reservoir with just RO/DI and let it dissolve the excesses in the bottom of the container. The idea is to have a saturated solution and leave the junk (like calcium carbonate and mud/silts from the origin rock) behind.


BTW, my local Wal-Mart had Ball's pickling lime in stock for $1.92 a pound. I say "had" because I bought everything on the shelf...

[jennmac415]

Sorry, yes 3-4 days not 3/4 days... lol

thanks, Tom for the advice. That is exactly what I will be doing.

Jenni