Dosing Kalk w/auto top off?

[Blazer88]

Does anyone dose Kalk w/their ATO? I know many people drip it but I would rather have a few powerheads on timers to keep it mixed up in my ATO and let me MJ400 deliver it to the talk with the top-off water. I thought about getting a Kalk reactor but thought I would explore this option first. Thanks for any help.

 

[bklynmet]

I add kalk with the ATO. I topoff with a peristalic pump (sp?) that is controlled with my AC Jr to come on/off every 8 minutues (this varies depending on time of year and evaporation) for one minute at a time so pH isn't driven up too high to fast. This equates to about 1.5 ounces each minute the pump is on.

There is also a float switch in the sump if the water reaches the high point.

The resevoir is only a 15g rubbermaid with lid that I have a hole drilled in to receive the airline tube to go to the pump. This hold's a week's worth of topoff. Consequently I do not mix the kalk mix within it since it'll be used up within a week (won't get a chance to sufficeintly degrade in the time verus storing it for a month). If you constantly agitate it, make sure air doesn't get in the container as the will cause precipitation to occur and weaken the solution. I have a caked layer on top that acts an additional barrier from air getting to the kalk solution.

The problem of adding with top-off with a pump is that you run the risk of adding too much kalk solution at one time - which drives up pH, precipate issues, etc. You just need to be careful with how much can be introduced at any one time.

 

[pfish]

I add kalk from a reactor that is controlled by a solenoid controlled by an acjr that only comes on when the pH drops below 8.00. Between the solenoid and the reactor is a needle valve that I use to control the flow. the water comes from a ro unit.

 

[Sherman]

I dose kalk through a reactor for 100% of my top off. It's gravity fed from a reservoir, and controlled with a Kent float valve.

 

[roblou]

Hi Blazer88: I dose kalkwasser using an ATO. I use a 5g bucket to hold premixed kalkwasser and an aqualifter pump connected to an ATO (from autotopoff.com) to dose. The ATO uses a float switch, so whenever the water level in my sump drops about 1/4" the ATO turns on the aqualifter until the float switch raises back to the original level.

I've been using this setup for a couple of months now without any problems. The amount of kalkwasser dosed at one time is small, so I haven't seen any issues with pH spikes, etc.

I will be increasing to a larger kalkwasser reservoir soon, as 5g runs out pretty quickly.

hth,
rob

 

[Blazer88]

From everything I read, it's ok to mix up the Kalk at once and let a pump dose it into the tank while not stirring it up. I guess the Kalk will form some sort of hard layer at the top or something and the Kalk should be fine for a few weeks that way. I'm going to mix up about 15 gallons to fill up my ATO which should last a few weeks and add about a tablespoon of Kalk per gallon. I have been adding KH buffer to my current top-off water but my Calcium/Alk/PH is all out of wack. I'm hoping the Kalk will help even everything out. I'll just make sure the MJ400 takes the water an inch or two from the bottom so it doesn't suck in the crud.

 

[Elmo18]

From everything I read, it's ok to mix up the Kalk at once and let a pump dose it into the tank while not stirring it up. I guess the Kalk will form some sort of hard layer at the top or something and the Kalk should be fine for a few weeks that way.

Hi Rick.

This is the precipitate that forms. When you first mix any type of kalk powder (name brands, or just for canning, etc) with RO water, you will get precipitate at the bottom. This is why you want to wait and let it settle, rather than dose as a flurry. If you want, you can decant the solution and go from there.

I would make sure you have redundancies. I'd hate for tanks going haywire from a malfunctioning Kalk doser, or way of dosing.

Best,
Ilham

 

[Ugla]

I run all my top off water through a diy kalk reactor. Ro water goes in 30 gal tank. Dosing pump pumps a gallon in about 4 hours every morning thru the reactor. I add a cup of kalk every 60-90 days to the reactor. Totally maintenance free. Been working for 5 years keeps water level up, PH at 8.3 and calcium up too. I have mix pump and dose pump on timers. Works awesome. Al this is in the garage, pumps through the floor to tank upstairs.

 

[zenn]

doesn't the kalk in the reactor dilute over time?

 

[Sherman]

Zenn, yes. It has to be replaced periodically. I put about 2 cups of kalk powder in mine, and evaporate just over a gallon per day. I change mine out every 3-4 months.

 

[Blazer88]

I seem to be going through about 1-2 teaspoons of kalk per week. I'm going to DIY a reactor next week so I don't have to pre-mix the kalk with RO water, I can just add some each week and not worry about it. It seems much easier with a reactor but still worth it if I had to use my ATO.

 

[Ugla]

I add kalk when the reactor looks empty or when the ph begins to drop. I can add 1/4 pound at a time and it will go for 3-4 months.