Kalkwasser woes

[djkms]

I need some help with my newly introduced kalkwasser stirrer. I recently picked up a GEO stirrer from Premier and got it hooked up last weekend. My PH has been around 7.80-8.1 for a while now. I run a CA reactor as well. The effluent to the reactor is at the top of my sump and drips to the first chamber which houses my skimmer to help dissipate the CO2.

Anyways the stirrer is hooked up with my ATO. I have a Tunze osmolator which has the pump in a little reservoir. The pump then pushes water through the stirrer which forces it to the DT. Will suggested I put the effluent right in the DT so my pumps don't clog as fast. Well stupid me, first night I had the effluent on the opposite side of my overflow so on Sunday it dumped in a TON of water after being shutoff a while. I do have a PH line of code in my apex to shutoff the ATO at 8.4 however with the probe in the sump and the effluent that furthest away possible my PH jumped to 8.95, good thing I was home to catch it when I did. So now the effluent is right next to the overflow. I also had it setup to stir for 10min 4 times a day with the ATO being shutoff for 1 hour after stir, big mistake! One hour not nearly long enough to settle after 10min stir.

So now its setup to stir 4 times a day for 3minutes per stir with the ATO being off for 2 hours after each stir. Now the kalk isnt doing dinkydo. My PH has been hovering around 7.85-8.05 like before. Every time I check the stirrer the water is cloudy but kalk is settled at the bottom. I assume its saturated to 12ph but nothing changing. I would venture to guess my evaporation rate is about 1 1/2-2 gallons a day. So I figured, lets do some evaporative cooling, maybe this will evaporate more water and put more kalk in the system. Well let me tell you, I stuck 1 small fan over my 125 and it has dropped the temp 4 degrees, WOW. Still no change in PH today though.

Here is my Apex code:

Kalkstir
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 00:01 to 00:03 Then ON
If Time 06:01 to 06:03 Then ON
If Time 12:01 to 12:03 Then ON
If Time 18:01 to 18:03 Then ON
If pH > 08.30 Then OFF

TopOff
Fallback ON
Set ON
If Outlet SumpFloat = ON Then OFF
If Time 00:00 to 02:00 Then OFF
If Time 06:00 to 08:00 Then OFF
If Time 12:00 to 14:00 Then OFF
If Time 18:00 to 20:00 Then OFF
If pH > 08.20 Then OFF

I would like for my PH to be around 8.20 - any help is appreciated, thanks!

btw - evaporitive cooling is no joke. I put a 6" fan on the back of my tank blowing across a tiny portion of my 6ft tank and look it how much that little fan dropped my temp, pretty amazing if you ask me

3 day graph, I hooked up the fan last night...

Kris

 

[djkms]

Think I will post this on RC as well since this place becomes a ghost town on the weekends...

 

[Wicked Color]

hook up an extra reservoir and dosing pump for the controller to adjust the PH via the stirrer.
some additional top off may be necessary as you are using a fan to evap cool, so keep the ATO hooked up.

 

[Wicked Color]

Think I will post this on RC as well since this place becomes a ghost town on the weekends...

only when its super nice outside.....

 

[djkms]

hook up an extra reservoir and dosing pump for the controller to adjust the PH via the stirrer.

Say wha?? If I dose it via PH and not topoff wouldn't that add too much fresh water to the system lowering the salinity since the topoff cant keep up with PH at all?

 

[Wicked Color]

Is your PH that low? There are ATO units that have a second switch to shut the stirrer down.

 

[djkms]

Ok im going to call you I dont think we are on the same page here...

 

[djkms]

Ok talked to Aaron for a brief second, I guess I need to let the kalk buildup in the system, I think thats what he said. Aaron is busy moving so any other help appreciated, thanks!

 

[SAZAMA]

would love to help but I dont have a clue

 

[premier]

Top off resevoir (R.O. water) will absorb atmospheric co2 if it is exposed to open air which will precipitate calcium hydroxide in the reactor. Sealing the top off box will keep this from happening and allow calcium to stay saturated in a high ph solution.

 

[WrasseAttack]

I have success keeping my ph stable by using a 5 gallon salt bucket super saturated with kalk hooked up to my ATO. I ran out of kalk recently and only kept adding freshwater to my resevoir and my ph took a big dip. The only time my kalk on the bottom gets stirred is when I fill up my 5 gallon bucket. Premier is spot on with keeping the container sealed and you can also add vinegar to your kalk to increase the available calcium ions.

Here's a good article on kalkwasser, how to dose and the benefits of adding white vinegar.

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/kalkwasser.html

 

[djkms]

Nice article. I cant however add vinegar to my regimen, it creates a uln environment which will out-compete my macros.

 

[WrasseAttack]

Counteract the ULNS by force feeding your corals

Seriously though, how about trying kalkwasser just through your ATO by adding it to a resevoir. Can you do that with your ATO? Fill a 5 gallon sealed bucket with RO, super saturate it with kalk(without the vinegar) and then use that as your resevoir. I would start off without the fan. Make sure ph, alk and calcium is where it should be and that your calcium reactor keeps it there.

I've had great succes with increasing my ph that way and keeping it stable according to my apex graphs. I got lazy/busy the last couple of weeks ran out of kalk and just used RO for my ATO. My ph dropped, numbers are out of whack and now I'm playing catch up.