Kalk Doser Idea

[ltkenbo]

So I thought of a good idea for a DIY kalk doser rather than using the stupid 2 liter bottle I have right now especially since I'm battling dino's. Anyways, the idea is to take a 5 gallon bucket and hook tubing from it, but instead of just going to a small gate valve, it would go through a small solenoid valve which would only be on when the sump was on, that way it would not cause the aquarium to overflow. What do you think?

 

[Brian_G]

well when do you run your sump? (maybe a misunderstanding, but you dont have it on all the time?)

anyway, kalk is a slow drip, maybe 1-2 teaspoons per 100 gal dripped daily. but it should stay dripping all day. this method works best with a float valve for your top offs. when the water gets to high then it simply shuts off.

some people run all their top off water through kalk. this may or may not work for you. the trick is finding out how much kalk you need to put in your top off water not to make your ph skyrocket.

when dripping kalk your ph will shoot up very fast and will be out of a desirable range before your alk or cal will get to high. at least this is what i have been told.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah why would the sump ever be off?

 

[ltkenbo]

Like when I feed the fish, or what if the power were to go off, that would be bad, my sump is very small. Yes the problem is that the container I have now is way to small to drip all day and with a large container I would want a precaution.

 

[Brian_G]

just dont put as much in the container or hook it to a float valve so you cant overflow it.