Another kalk options thread

[Anonymous]

I'd love to automate water changes, but I think you've hit the nail on the head with the point about space. Doubt I'll be able to go down that route. Buckets and hose for me...

Another thing is that it uses 1/4 inch tubing and it is capable of pumping or pulling up to 40 feet I think. So, it would be very easy to drill a small hole in your floor and run it to the basement.

I won't have a basement! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Run it to the apartment downstairs

 

[Anonymous]

I think this is the one area where Rich and I vehemently (yet politely) disagree.

He has a basement sump, which I would probably also find to be a serious PITA to check the level of on a regular basis. If my sump is not in a remote location I really don't mind looking at it every day to check.

FWIW I had a couple customer's reef tanks with LM3s that added kalk that I would only check in on once a week. The sump levels were of course not right on the money every time but there didn't seem to be a drastic change in the weekly evaporation rate. YMMV...

 

[Katfsh]

I am going to add kalk reactor fed by a lm3 out of my top off bucket but i plan to also leave my ato in place so i dont have to dose the exact amount of evaporation

 

[Anonymous]

I can see why people choose the LM3, but I'm not convinced it's for me. Certainly not for keeping the water level (i.e. salinity) stable anyway. Still contemplating it for the kalk dosing, but maybe in combination with the osmolator.

 

[Anonymous]

I can see why people choose the LM3, but I'm not convinced it's for me. Certainly not for keeping the water level (i.e. salinity) stable anyway. Still contemplating it for the kalk dosing, but maybe in combination with the osmolator.

Yeah I love my Osmolator. I'm not overly worried about having it put too much H2O into the tank, as the water tub I fill from is that THAT big (usually has 5 gal max). Right now I'm dosing 2 part with two Aqualifters. It isn't the most exact way to do it, but it is automated. Perhaps if I save enough money from frag sales, I will get a LM3 for two part addition. May I ask why you want to do kalk vs. 2 part?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chris. To be honest, I've never used it. Prompted by you, I just went to check it out on Marine Depot. It looks easy to use. Is it in your experience?

 

[Anonymous]

I think this is the one area where Rich and I vehemently (yet politely) disagree.

He has a basement sump, which I would probably also find to be a serious PITA to check the level of on a regular basis. If my sump is not in a remote location I really don't mind looking at it every day to check.

FWIW I had a couple customer's reef tanks with LM3s that added kalk that I would only check in on once a week. The sump levels were of course not right on the money every time but there didn't seem to be a drastic change in the weekly evaporation rate. YMMV...

The childproofed tight space under my aquarium is very inconvenient for me to get to. I'd love the open space of a basement to take care of maintenance.

 

[Anonymous]

I have an original litermeter going though my DIY kalk stirrer. I have the level switch set, and I also have the LM plugged into an outlet on my ACjr. It can only run 2 minutes every 69. So it can't really freak out and top off too much water.

My top off water is in the bench beside my tank.

B

 

[Sea Turtle]

The Escaped Ape, let me know which one you decide on when you do.

 

[Anonymous]

I think this is the one area where Rich and I vehemently (yet politely) disagree.

He has a basement sump, which I would probably also find to be a serious PITA to check the level of on a regular basis. If my sump is not in a remote location I really don't mind looking at it every day to check.

FWIW I had a couple customer's reef tanks with LM3s that added kalk that I would only check in on once a week. The sump levels were of course not right on the money every time but there didn't seem to be a drastic change in the weekly evaporation rate. YMMV...

The childproofed tight space under my aquarium is very inconvenient for me to get to. I'd love the open space of a basement to take care of maintenance.

My basement is actually a 40 inch crawl space, so its not all that fantastic to get to.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chris. To be honest, I've never used it. Prompted by you, I just went to check it out on Marine Depot. It looks easy to use. Is it in your experience?

Which thing looks too easy? The aqualifters or the 2 part? Right now I have the two aqualifters hooked up to two digital timers, each running one minute a day. The way I control the amount dosed is with an airline ball valve at the end of each line. I don't think I'm dosing the EXACT amount across both parts of the 2-part, but it is somewhat close. I also can't go super low on the dosing amount (I think I'm probably at ~20-25ml/min), so the best way to manage a lower quantity is to dilute the 2-part instead of trying to reduce the dosed volume. Obviously the advantage of the LM3 is that it continuously doses throughout the day, which would probably be best for kalk, as it avoids pH spikes then. Thus far, there haven't been any major issues with it. I would say, if you have the money and really need a "set it and forget it" doser, I would go LM3 or some other prefabed one. If you like to tinker/DIY and are somewhat strapped for cash, the aqualifters can be made to work.

 

[Anonymous]

I borrowed a couple peri pumps from work, set them up and hated them. Noisy. In the right application I think they would rock though - like pumping from a long way away. Given the cost, the throttled down MaxiJet seems to be more cost effective as well as taking up less space. BTW, I was going to use the peris with a float switch.

My TO/Kalk is now controlled by a pH controller because three bad things happened at the same time - all human error and it was bad. Now if the pH of the tank goes past 9, no more kalk can be dosed.

 

[Anonymous]

Noisy.

The volume of the pump seems to be inversely proportional to the cost.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Chris. To be honest, I've never used it. Prompted by you, I just went to check it out on Marine Depot. It looks easy to use. Is it in your experience?

Which thing looks too easy? The aqualifters or the 2 part? Right now I have the two aqualifters hooked up to two digital timers, each running one minute a day. The way I control the amount dosed is with an airline ball valve at the end of each line. I don't think I'm dosing the EXACT amount across both parts of the 2-part, but it is somewhat close. I also can't go super low on the dosing amount (I think I'm probably at ~20-25ml/min), so the best way to manage a lower quantity is to dilute the 2-part instead of trying to reduce the dosed volume. Obviously the advantage of the LM3 is that it continuously doses throughout the day, which would probably be best for kalk, as it avoids pH spikes then. Thus far, there haven't been any major issues with it. I would say, if you have the money and really need a "set it and forget it" doser, I would go LM3 or some other prefabed one. If you like to tinker/DIY and are somewhat strapped for cash, the aqualifters can be made to work.

I missed this somehow. Sorry, I didn't mean it was too easy - I said it looked easy. But I was thinking you could do it without premixing and without a dosing pump. I'm not sure now what the advantage of a 2 part solution is over kalk if it's being dosed in the same way...

 

[Anonymous]

Noisy.

The volume of the pump seems to be inversely proportional to the cost.

Figures. Until someone buys me good, quiet ones, I'll stick to the MJ and a valve.

Did you hear what happened to Terry's tank. Oy!

 

[Anonymous]

Noisy.

The volume of the pump seems to be inversely proportional to the cost.

Figures. Until someone buys me good, quiet ones, I'll stick to the MJ and a valve.

Did you hear what happened to Terry's tank. Oy!

Oy indeed!

What exactly are the downsides of using an MJ? I guess you have a "ceiling" in vertical rise, and there must be a fluctuation in flow depending on the height difference between container and tank. Do you get a clickety clack every time it starts up? How long have the longest ones been running?

I won't need that Aqualifter if you were still planning on bringing it. Covering the tank = hardly any evap at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool! I'll take the lifter home.

The longest MJ I have been using for TO has been going for like 3 or 5 years. I think I have two running that long. No clickity clack, which might be a function of it being throttled down. No flow fluctuation because the RO revisor feeds a gravity drain DIY kalk reactor so the heights are stable. The RO reservoir used to be right next to the kalk reactor, but now its about 6 feet away with no appreciable difference in flow.

The mj has 2 feet of hose that fits over the jet and then is reduced down to quarter inch. It pumps up to the top of the crawl space and then over to the RO reservoir, and there is a airline check valve in line to prevent back siphoning from the Kalk reactor.

 

[Anonymous]

I use an osmolator, run through a DIY Tunze-style kalk chamber. I'm lucky in that my evaporation rate is quite high (open-top tank) and so is Ca/KH demand, so the kalk has so far been able to keep up with Ca needs.

 

[Anonymous]

I use an osmolator, run through a DIY Tunze-style kalk chamber. I'm lucky in that my evaporation rate is quite high (open-top tank) and so is Ca/KH demand, so the kalk has so far been able to keep up with Ca needs.

That's the system I used to use (though with the expensive branded kalk chamber from Tunze, rather than a DIY version). Are you having any problems with the kalk back-siphoning into the pump/reservoir? I think that caused my pump to fail.

Also, what sort of tank do you have? I'm hesitating at the moment between the SPS, mixed and LPS/softie dominated tank options. For the latter, the Tunze osmolator based system would be fine I think, but I'm not sure it would cope with an SPS/clam system. For that, I might have to eventually invest in a Litermeter 3...