DIY Kalk Reactor

[supremo]

Hi peeps.

Just wanted to show my DIY Kalk Reactor.

It's made using mostly of transparent PVC, but it's not very transparent like I thought it would be but I guess if you look closely you could still see how much stirring is going on inside.

here it is without the stirring plate, just checking for leaks....

[supremo]

here's a close up of the top part of the reactor...

[supremo]

although i've tested the stirrer inside the PVC, I took a picture of it while testing it on a clearer container. see the whirlpool inside the container?

[supremo]

I decided to separate the stirrer plate and the controller because i'm placing the reactor in the sump area, didn;t want to let too much moisture to enter the control area so placed a wire so that I could keep it outside the cabinet.

i'll probably have to replace the casing of the stirrer when the Acrylic shops open, but for the meantime I just built with some wood and scrap PVC.

here's what's under the stirrer, on the other side you'll find 2 magnets glued on the other side of the propeller.

[supremo]

In case you're wondering what's in the controller, I just added LM317 Regulator to allow me to control the speed. The diagram I attached below (Note: I just got this from the net and I will not be responsible if somebody tries to make one and it doesn't work or worse cause any injury )

I needed to control the speed because I think my magnet not strong enough so if very fast, the stir bar gets left behind by the magnet which causes rattling sound.

[supremo]

by the way, does anybody know where I could buy REALLLLY STROOONG magnets? Prefer the Cyclinder type cause it'll fit nicer in my DIY.

[charlie]

Hi Bro,

BTW wat is the purpose of dosing kalk? And wat is the necessary requirement to dose kalk? Finally, wat is the caution points to take notes. Thanks

Charlie

[ervine]

by the way, does anybody know where I could buy REALLLLY STROOONG magnets? Prefer the Cyclinder type cause it'll fit nicer in my DIY.

Hm.. won't really strong magenets screw up your propeller?

Pretty neat DIY bro.. love the use an existing fan idea...

Also if you using a magenetic stirrer, make sure ur stirrer bar is as smooth as possible if not it'll start grinding your PVC down... or get some teflon and glue it to the bottom of your reactor..

[supremo]

word of caution? hmmm... are you referring to the chemistry of it?

i think there's a lot in the net the explains the purpose of Kalk, from http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/17.htm it states that:

Benefits of adding Kalkwasser:

You may be interested in why it is so important to add Kalkwasser. Some of the benefits are:

It adds calcium that is needed by most of the creatures in the reef.

It encourages the growth of pink and purple coralline algae.

It keeps the pH elevated. By adding Kalkwasser on a regular basis (make-up water) and doing water changes every 2 to 3 weeks, I have found my pH to be consistently between 8.2 and 8.4. Keeping the pH at this level makes it less likely that micro-algae will become a problem.

The reef just seems to love Kalkwasser.

There are many more scientific and chemical reactions that are beneficial. Take my word for it: adding Kalkwasser on a regular basis is one of the most beneficial procedures for maintaining a healthy reef and desirable water chemistry.

as for the electronics...please note that although you're running it at short moments at a time, bear in mind that a fan would draw more amperes if it's not supplied with the optimum voltage because torque is lessened. So be sure to get an adaptor with enough amperes in it. The fan I used is 480milliamperes but the adaptor I used is 1000milliamperes.

I glued a piece of round glass at the bottom. As for the stirrer, I got it from ACEZ at Sim Lim Tower. Their the only shop I found which sells it by piece instead of a pack of 10 pieces. It's teflon coated already cause that piece is not DIY

[hotlemond]

bro, salute to you for being able to come out with a DIY unit. I researched into it too, print out wat i tot was the most simple and easy to understand design, read it for a while over a coffee break..., catch no ball and abandon the idea. My job seems less complicated than it by comparison

[ervine]

was considering this too when I was doing my DIY KR, in the end decided to go with a circulatory pump instead...

[supremo]

actually, i thought about using the circulatory pump, but a bro told me that the pump spoils easily because of the kalk. plus the new thing nowadays is the magnetic stirrer thing. i started with buying a used 12vdc motor with gear, but when I was trying to figure out how to attach the magnet I though of attaching a propeller and glue on to it. but then i realized why not use something with the motor and propeller together already saves me a whole lot of gluing. of course we'll need to see if the motor doesn't spoil easily because of the magnet. do good thing is, the design makes the stirrer plate easily replaceable

[RockyBoy]

You can buy super strong magnets from one shop at ubi. Can't remember which shop. Damn strong....quite difficult to seperate once attached.

[supremo]

hi bro, may I know what type of shop is the one selling the magnets?

[firestream]

may I know how much you pay for the magnets stirrer ?

[supremo]

you're referring to the magnetic stirrer bar right? paid $10 each

[reefer guy]

well done!!!!

maybe next time i give you a blue print of calcium reactor and beckett skimmer and see how you can make it up

[supremo]

hehehe bro, i think making a KR and making a CR is so different that your bluprint would probably stay as a blue print.

updates:

been running for 24 hours and no leaks.

will now be adding the kalk and test the output for Ph, Kh and Calcium tonight

[firestream]

you're referring to the magnetic stirrer bar right? paid $10 each

yup ... ok .. $10 .. thank !

[boyt]

Good job, bro!

Do update us on your testing results. Thanks.

[AhLoon]

hi bro, may I know what type of shop is the one selling the magnets?

Actually if you can get your hands on some spoilt harddisk, you can recycle the magnets in them.

They are damn POWER!

[supremo]

hi bros,

I was suddenly stumped because I didn't know how much kalk I should put inside. i read in a thread they put 6 teaspoons so I did but then i realized my reactor smaller than theirs cause mine only got 3.6liters of water inside well, hope it turns out okey.

anyway, i then run the stirrer for 15minutes, although my setting is already very low the kalk reached all the way to the top after the 15minutes of stirring, i waited for another 15minutes before i got some sample water to test, the results are:

Ph 8.6 (too bad my tester ony go until 8.6, probably higher)

Kh - 36

Calcium 550ppm

does the above measurements make sense? i'll probably adding about 2 liters of this at night when my auto-topup is on. that on the average is my make up water rate.

any comments?

*spoiled hard disk ah....in fact I do have cause my hard disk just crashed making me lose a lot of data

[ervine]

I was suddenly stumped because I didn't know how much kalk I should put inside.

Same problem here man... I asked around but no one seemed to know also...

So i the end I just anyhow hantam...

But for me not so much worry, my KR is abt 1.5m tall.. hehe...

[supremo]

updates:

weakness in the design, as you can see in the previous pics, the fan is enclosed in a box, and because the fan is pointing downwards it is affecting the efficiency of the fan because it tries to draw air when there's not much air under the black acrylic. need to do some tweaking on that aspect.

[supremo]

some people asking me where to buy the "clear" PVC....I got it from Hai Cheong. At first 2ft cost $50 but because this was old stock and not too clear they gave me at a lower price I only used 18 inches cause it'll be too tall for my cabinet so I still have 6 inches for whatever next DIY