Kalk system

I would like to try a kalk system in my tank, but space is very limited in my stand.  I have room for a 5" PVC fence post that could be 36" tall.  I would like to top this tower off from the RO unit with a float valve near the top.  I can put the gravity drip system near the top (maybe 8" down from the fresh water coming in) to get nice clear "effluent"  I would make some kind of bracket to hold a normal powerhead about a foot off the bottom with a straight tube pointing at the bottom.  I would also extend the intake on the powerhead to take in clearer water from near the top, hopefully making it easier on the powerhead to use pickling lime rather than the expensive stuff.  The cord would just come out the open top, and to recharge I could just dump in some more lime.  It would buffer all of my make up water and add Kalk at the same time.  See any pitfalls or problems with this idea?

Thanks,
Fax

Can I put too much pickling lime in here?  I would like to not have to recharge it very often.  The stirring pump and the line to the sump are both up high (2' above the bottom), so the worst I can imagine happening is that I have a bunch of Ca carbonate accumulating on the bottom, but it will get stirred around with the excess lime when the pump runs.  This should get installed on Monday, so any suggestions made today would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Fax

If I put more kalk in the reservoir, will the pH go above 12.5?  I always thought the idea was to have a saturated solution (at 12-12.5 pH), and so if I put more kalk in it would just not dissolve until some fresh water was added.

Fax

I got it put together tonight and added the Kalk (pickling lime from Macey's for $.99/lb).  I put in 3 lbs so it should be good for awhile.  I added a total of 4 fans to increase evap.

View looking down from the top.  You can see the fence post used as a reservoir, on the top left is an emergency overflow to send float valve mishaps down the drain.  The red is a neat little contraption that makes an annoying sound when the water level gets too high (see float valve mishaps above), and the float valve from the RO is on the right.  Below the red you can see the exit for the Kalk solution to go down to the sump, just below that (not seen here) is a powerhead on a 2' piece of PVC on the end to stir the solution.  The powerhead will be on a timer to mix the solution about 3x/day.

Fax

I will be around today, but I won't be in until after 1:00.  Let me know what time you want to come by.  Cell # below.

Fax

Edit: It holds about 3 gallons, but all the action takes place in about 2 quarts of fluid.  The bottom 2 gallons is just to hold Kalk and Ca Carbonate that will accumulate.


Edited by fj40fax

Just thought I would add that just in the short time I have been using this (about a week) that the small amount of hair algae that I had is now dead or dying.  I think I read somewhere that the Kalk binds to phos and precipitates it out.  Can someone back me up on that one?

Fax