Kalk-maybe a stupid question

[Krazykarl]

I have this solenoid but it is attached to the ro system connected in line with the membran I think. It only turns on when required. Another factor to take into account is the unit is constantly being used throughout the day via the water spout on my sink. My wife uses the water all day for drinking and my daughters bottles. So regardless it's always cycling. I am def over thinking it.

I'm going to purchase a di filter and resin and connect it to my ro system after the membrane prob close to my tanks ato like you stated above. Will I still be able to drink the water if I do this? Ie: the di resin would be a foot from my tank and then hit my ato in my basement. The reservoir would be filling with ro water still correct? How many di filters should I run? I see some units with 3!!! And an in line Tds meter right after the di filter before the tank to monitor ppm entering tank.


I wish u were closer man I could really use someone's opinion first hand seeing my tank.

 

[Zakk]

I have this solenoid but it is attached to the ro system connected in line with the membran I think. It only turns on when required. Another factor to take into account is the unit is constantly being used throughout the day via the water spout on my sink. My wife uses the water all day for drinking and my daughters bottles. So regardless it's always cycling. I am def over thinking it.

I'm going to purchase a di filter and resin and connect it to my ro system after the membrane prob close to my tanks ato like you stated above. Will I still be able to drink the water if I do this? Ie: the di resin would be a foot from my tank and then hit my ato in my basement. The reservoir would be filling with ro water still correct? How many di filters should I run? I see some units with 3!!! And an in line Tds meter right after the di filter before the tank to monitor ppm entering tank.


I wish u were closer man I could really use someone's opinion first hand seeing my tank.

I put a splice in my system so that the little faucet puts out RO water, and the DI goes to a manual line.  Water from the tap goes in the fridge, and the water from the manual line goes into the tank (eventually). I think I found all the splicing parts at lowes. 

 

[Krazykarl]

Neo that is a sweet idea and I understand it completely. And very easily done IMO. I think this is the approach I will use. My reservoir is a 20 gallon jug. So now how much kalkwasser would I add to that much ro water to achieve proper solubility?

 

[Krazykarl]

Only concern with neo approach is I read kalk loses it's effectiveness immediately but gradually and must be used within a day. So considering 20 gallons would not be consumes in a day would I be wasting kalk? Or if it's air tight would it maintain effectiveness?

My plan....

Ro unit-----di resin(since I have none)----manual shut off valve----float a----20 gallon res w/ kalk mix-----manual shut off valve----float b----sump.

 

[Neopimp]

ya Air tight is the way to go.  I cant see this drippign kalk ATO being as popular as it is if you need to mix it every single day anyways....

I do not remeber if there is a certain amount of kalk you need to mix to match the tank.. or if you just do a saturated solution( saturated when no more will dissolve 

 

[shayneh]

It doesn't have to drip at exactly a prescribed rate......Make up your top off water in large batches and store it. Using a 1 gallon (daily evap) jug with 2 holes in the lid and airline run through one to the bottom for siphoning liquid add enough kalk mix for 1g of water usually a teaspoon (you can also add vinegar as well) cover the one hole with your finger and squeeze the jug to start the siphon and then by tying a granny knot in the airline adjust your drip rate to about 1 per second...thats it!

 

[phi delt reefer]

forget the kalk Karl - like darryl said, dosing via evap isnt an ideal solution especially since evap varies so the concentration will fluctate regardless of how steady you get a drip.

if anything get a kalk reactor and have a pump push a controlled amount of water through it (ie use a dosing pump) so your adding kalk at a controlled rate. hopefully at a rate that equals your consumption.

i dont think it will solve your phosphate problems. Essentially you are adding kalk to up your PH to create an enviroment the algae doesnt fair well in. You will need a reliable PH measuring tool - not a color kit if you want to do this safely - pinpoint ph monitor or similar controller. elevated pH could possibly affect other things in your tank but there is not saying for sure.

you have that frag tank attached to the display right? 90 gallons?  Fill it with chaeto - not even kidding - put some 6500k halides or 6500k t5s over it and get some nice flow moving through there. Or get some GFO and start running two cups through a couple reactors or one large one.

 

[Krazykarl]

Gonna take the gfo approach before I consider doing anything. Ordering the gfo from brs fri, gonna run 2 cups as per their calculator thru my reactor and hope for the best. Also gonna order my inline Tds meter to monitor my topoff water accurately. Once I get my phosphates down to 0 or there abouts I think I'll wait to attempt kalk. I stillsont understand it very well and I have all softies in my tank which like dirtier water. And considering sps and softies can't coincide in the same environment due to specific needs I think Sps will be a thing of the future for this guy. I thank everyone forthwith help... Gotta take it slow

 

[Blob-79]

in all honesty i wouldnt trust a float valve inside a kalk tank. It just wont be reliable

 

[pulpfiction1]

in all honesty i wouldnt trust a float valve inside a kalk tank. It just wont be reliable

ive had kalk clog up john-guest faucet valve on me

 

[pulpfiction1]

you could drip kalk into your sump first this will maintain your water level untill the drip runs out then it will run on you ATO      (water level) untill you refill your kalk drip. your ATO wont run as much but it is still there to help maintain your level.

not sure about the water having traces in it if left alone there are people out there with large holding tanks of fresh water that is left alone i am sure it would be fine. you could also cut the drip way back so the water still evaporates faster then the drip so you will still be circulating your fresh water every so often.

this os how i use kalk when i do,slow drip and top off still functions good,only thing is im a chicken and only use half the recommended dose of 1 ts per gallon and slow drip,5 gallon just lasts almost 4 days and i condidered slowing that down a bit

 

[Krazykarl]

So oddly enough my mom shows up today with 8 lbs of mrs wages pickling lime lol. I always told her if she ever saw it in the states to empty the shelf. And she did. So now this stuff is staring me in face and I'm itching to just take a chance. I'm still on neopimps idea of using my 20 gal reservoir as my top off water source rather than cycling my ro unit 24/7. And then when it's full add x amount of kalk directly to the reservoir and open the valve. Letting gravity feed my float valve in my sump as evap takes place. My evap is pretty constant in volume as my basement temp stays pretty well the same.  Confident with a low dose of kalk I wouldn't run into heavy swings, however this float valve stuck open business worries me a little. I'd rather not run a separate res for it cuz I don't have a way of regulating the drip rate accurately and that's a huge part. Ugh... I just wanna say f it and do it lol. Especially now that I have so much of it lol

 

[phi delt reefer]

sell it on here...

sure guys use kalk quite a bit

 

[teebone110]

Check out BRS's latest episode, they talk about mixing and dripping kalk. (about 5mins in)
Maybe go with 1/2 tspn per gallon to be safe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BulkReefSupplyCom#p/a/u/0/pHbriqzUF3k

 

[Neopimp]

yes there is always the chance that a float could fail but i would think the vast majority of failures comes from "salt" creep type crap that never gets cleaned off the valve seat.  Add it to you weekly check list... take a squirt bottle and blast the crap off.... Or you coudl set the valve just below the water line with the float adjusted up higher.... then the valve seat never sees air and will not crust up.
Also you can not plumb into the bottom of the kalk reservoir.... some kalk will precipitate out and settle on the bottom... thats can potentially plug up things or keep the valve from seating.  So you will need to tap off about 6inched from the bottom.

Would not hurt to have an extra float valve just in case.... and to mark a normal operating line on the sump once you have it figured out..... if the water is above that line then something is leaking by. 

If you are really concerned with it you can use a much smaller reservoir... but that means mixing it more

 

[Krazykarl]

The plumbing from the reservoir to the sump is already 6 inches off the bottom. I took sediment into account. I've spent two full days researching kalk mixing a dripping to better understand it's uses and it's effectiveness in the reef. I'm gonna start dosing very soon, I want to do a water change first, run some gfo and once phos is low enough I'm gonna test for cal and alk to see proper levels before I start dripping. My float valve in my sump already maintains optimal water level in my sump for my skimmer to be efficient. I feel confident and yes I'm gonna start small. Where my gloat sits in my reservoir is about 6" from the top so I'm actually operating with approx 18 gallons of fresh water. I evap a gal a day so I should be good for a week and a half to account for minor variations in evap. Going to start with the 1/2 tsp method first batch and if all is well slowly work up to a tsp per gal. I'll post results once I start dosing.

 

[shayneh]

Yes do some reading I'm pretty sure kalk is only at peak effectiveness for 24hours and your better to mix in small batches anyhow in the event of malfunction. It's pretty hard to screw it up but can be done.

 

[Krazykarl]

Ok so here we go with more questions lol. SO last night I filled my auto top of reservoir that feeds my sump with fresh ro water and kept the valve closed so none of the water entered my tank. It's approx 15 gallons of water. So I took a leap of faith and decided to try kalk. I mixed 1 tsp of kalk per gallon of water and bc I was chicken I actually only mixed it as if it were 13 gallons. So 13 tsp for the 15 gallons of water. Gave it a gentle stir to help dilute it and sealed the lid. That was at 8 pm last night. I woke up to go to work expecting the solution to be dissolved and some sediment in the bottom but the entire 15 gallons was still as milky as when I mixed it. What did I do wrong?

 

[Krazykarl]

I've read multiple threads on this and have read some people claiming that the milky solution will actually help raise your levels whereas the clear limewater will maintain the existing levels. I don't wanna waste the 15 gallons I have but if it's gonna cause harm using milky I will toss it

 

[pulpfiction1]

i have never seen it not start to look fairly clear after that length of time,i have seen it still cloudy but visibility to the bottom was evedent enough to see the bottom layer of sludge.kalk is cheap,especially with the pickleing lime you got.give it till days end,if is still like it was freshly mixed cloudy ,id toss it,clean the container and start all over myself,or take some out and put it in another container and delute it by equal amout and see if it clears ,maybe that stuff you got is extra potent,i would like to try it myself