Kalk Reactors

[globaldesigns]

Hello Everyone,

I have been pondering a Kalk Reactor and researching things, but I am a bit confused overall.

Once setup, does it really keep Calcium at proper levels?
Is it easy?

It looks complicated, and I would really love to be able to come over and see one of these things going and maybe have it explained to me.

The money isn't the issue, just don't know anything about it. Currently I dose everything by hand, and it doesn't bother me, and actually I like doing it. But if this is better overall, please explain why. Is it because Calcium never changes?

Thanks in advance.

[Delphinus]

I have one I suppose I could demo to you (I just don't happen to be using it, but if you need to see how it works I could do something) when I'm back home (out of town this week).

The main thing is that all they really all is a mixer, to help keep your kalk mixture saturated. Whether kalk can keep up your levels however is dependend on your calcium draw because you cannot add more kalk to your tank than the freshwater you lose by evaporation. So usually the best you can expect with kalk is a maintaining of current levels, or at least, a reduction in the decay rate.

So what a kalk reactor allows you to do is mix up a supersaturated solution (ie., part of the powder is unable to dissolve because it has nowhere to dissolve into), and thus the kalk that you add via the reactor is as concentrated as it can possibly be. As you add more RO/DI into the reactor, part of the undissolved kalk (the supernatant or whatever it's called, it's been a while since I did chemistry classes) is then able to dissolve, so the concentration of your effluent does not waver over time (until all the kalk powder is used up).

Calcium reactors are an improvement in that instead of feeding off FW for topup, they take water from your tank. Thus, you can run them as hard as you want, independent of your topup. But, they use CO2, this is complicated and expensive to startup, and CO2 pulls down your tank pH which can give nuisance algaes such as valonia a bit of a leg up (not always, but it can happen). So each device has it's own pros and cons. A kalk reactor tends to raise, or at least buffer the pH drop (ie., make the tank resistant to pH drops), so a few years ago it was pretty common to see serious SPS tanks running both Ca reactors and kalk reactors since they nicely complement each other.

But both tend to be a little old school these days. The current en vogue thinking is to use automated dosers or take it a step further and get into Balling method.

[Oceanic]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I have one I suppose I could demo to you (I just don't happen to be using it, but if you need to see how it works I could do something) when I'm back home (out of town this week).

The main thing is that all they really all is a mixer, to help keep your kalk mixture saturated. Whether kalk can keep up your levels however is dependend on your calcium draw because you cannot add more kalk to your tank than the freshwater you lose by evaporation. So usually the best you can expect with kalk is a maintaining of current levels, or at least, a reduction in the decay rate.

So what a kalk reactor allows you to do is mix up a supersaturated solution (ie., part of the powder is unable to dissolve because it has nowhere to dissolve into), and thus the kalk that you add via the reactor is as concentrated as it can possibly be. As you add more RO/DI into the reactor, part of the undissolved kalk (the supernatant or whatever it's called, it's been a while since I did chemistry classes) is then able to dissolve, so the concentration of your effluent does not waver over time (until all the kalk powder is used up).

Calcium reactors are an improvement in that instead of feeding off FW for topup, they take water from your tank. Thus, you can run them as hard as you want, independent of your topup. But, they use CO2, this is complicated and expensive to startup, and CO2 pulls down your tank pH which can give nuisance algaes such as valonia a bit of a leg up (not always, but it can happen). So each device has it's own pros and cons. A kalk reactor tends to raise, or at least buffer the pH drop (ie., make the tank resistant to pH drops), so a few years ago it was pretty common to see serious SPS tanks running both Ca reactors and kalk reactors since they nicely complement each other.

But both tend to be a little old school these days. The current en vogue thinking is to use automated dosers or take it a step further and get into Balling method.

Nicely said!

[whatcaneyedo]

Just call me old fashioned I guess, I use both a kalk reactor and a Calcium Reactor. Plus a beckett skimmer but thats another story.

Here is my DIY Kalk Reactor. Its the same principle as a Precision Marine or GEO reactor. Freshwater from my ATO system pumps through it to mix with the kalk powder inside which is then pushed into the aquarium. The pump on the side turns on with a timer several times each day to give it a quick mix. Once every two weeks I open up the top and dump another cup of kalk into the reactor.



Here are some articles for further reading:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

The Self Purification of Limewater (Kalkwasser)
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-0...ture/index.htm

Magnesium and Strontium in Limewater
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2003/chem.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Here are some articles for further reading:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

The Self Purification of Limewater (Kalkwasser)
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-0...ture/index.htm

Magnesium and Strontium in Limewater
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2003/chem.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

Randy Holmes-Farley is the MAN!

I do a CaRx with kalk as well, but my kalk reactor is passive meaning that I don't have anything like powerhead stirring it up. It's just hooked up in my top off resevoir as part of my osmolator. I mainly use it to keep pH up as opposed to supplying the tank's Ca and Alk needs.

[Dez]

I used to use both Kalk and Calcium reactor, but after starting zeo, the main guy on the zeo forum recommended that I cease using the Kalk reactor because the Kalkwasser has binding properties for P04. I have since taken it offline and my ph sits a little lower constantly, but everything is still growing fine. I'm not sure if you're a zeovit user, but this was the info I got from the zeo forum.

[Delphinus]

Yeah they don't like you running kalk if you're doing Zeo.

Other than the interference with Zeo, there's nothing wrong with running a calcium reactor and/or kalk reactor. "Old school" doesn't mean it doesn't work, just that it's not the newest bandwagon fad.

[whatcaneyedo]

In the first article I posted Randy talks about how the addition of kalkwasser helps to reduce phosphate by several different methods. Binding to precipitated calcium carbonate or forming calcium phosphate and becoming coated with organic molecules that are skimmed out are two of them. Hardly a reason to stop using it in my opinion. What was the zeo guys rational?

[Delphinus]

Probably on account that it's competing for PO4 (zeo will pull down PO4 as well). Apparently in some cases a slight amount of PO4 (or more specifically the ratio of NO3 to PO4) is more important than the actual numbers themselves (and both are used up organically) so maybe running both simply depletes it too much perhaps. I'm just guessing. It would be a good question to ask over at zeovit.com to see what spin they will have on that. If you do happen to do that please post back here what they say.

I hope I didn't put you off by calling it old school - not my intent. Like I said, it works great, it's just an idea that's been around a while (I was running both ... in 2002. ). I don't anymore though, I use my CO2 on my FW planted tank and just dose the reef tanks (using a ghetto but automated setup). It's more economical for me this way since I run multiple reef tanks.

One nice thing about a kalk reactor is that the output can be split to different tanks so it lends itself well to the many-tank-syndrome people. Calcium reactors cannot.

[whatcaneyedo]

Thats okay I was just curious. I've only been doing this for 5 years but I buy so many things second hand that I've become old school because the old electricity sucking equipment is so cheep to buy used.