LF Tunze Calcium Dispenser 5074

[psidriven]

all this talk about kalk reactors reminded me of the tunze one at the last swap. if it's still available, I'd like to grab it to use on my tank. thanks.

 

[Galoot]

That was mine. Someone scooped it up. Not sure who though

 

[derek_SR]

If you are serious about kalk reactor I would use the Avast one. I have used both, and did not think the Tunze was very good. But even after using the Avast, my conclusion was that kalk is too much of a PITA to use with a reactor in general.

 

[newfly]

If you are serious about kalk reactor I would use the Avast one. I have used both, and did not think the Tunze was very good. But even after using the Avast, my conclusion was that kalk is too much of a PITA to use with a reactor in general.

What’s the PITA about reactor? Cleaning?

 

[derek_SR]

What’s the PITA about reactor? Cleaning?

Aside from the additional plumbing, equipment to clean, lines to run, and so on - the main issue is that it does not deliver consistently saturated kalk.

If you're like me and use an Alkatronic (which you do!) to measure alk consumption twice daily you'll see that it's all over the place - making it very difficult to tune your 2-part dosing correctly or manage your PH consistently which I think is the main idea to begin with.

I found myself going in and giving it manual stirs pretty often to keep it saturated and consistent, which was really annoying.

I think the only real way to do kalk is to mix up huge batches of it and drip-dose it. But I don't have the space for that so I've decided not to use kalk and just keep a window cracked near the tank instead. Works great most of the year.

EDIT: Also note - people commonly say to use a PH probe to understand when it's no longer saturated (the Avast reactor even has a port in the top for one) but this is nonsense in my experience, as the extreme PH of the kalk causes PH probes to start drifting within just a couple days.

 

[newfly]

I see. If mixing the kalk is the issue, I’ll see how my setup will work. I can control frequency and duration to run the magnetic stirrer. I would assume 10mins stir is plenty.

My goal is to automatically mix a batch during the day for nighttime dosing. We will see.

My fear now is the kalk line clogging. But that could happen either manual or with kalk stirrer. I read someone have a neat trick to point the ato line to ‘rinse kalk tube . Pretty cleaver. We will see if it actually works .