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mlmoore

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I am planning to make an automatic top-up system for my reef tank and wanted to get some opinions on the proposed set up below. Are there any serious potential problems with this set up? What benefit would a peristaltic pump have over the small power head?

- 260 gal reef with 40 gal LifeReef LF-200 Berlin sump.
- 5 gal evaporation loss per day.
- Top-up with calcium hydroxide in RO.
- 25 gal Rubbermaid top-up prep tank (fill line in prep tank higher than fill line in sump, but both sit at the same level).
- Kent Marine RO outlet tapped into top-up prep tank with Kent Marine RO shut off float to keep top-up prep tank full.
- In-sump LifeReef float switch controlling MaxiJet 400 power head in top-up prep tank.
- Power head output split: 95 gal/hr to recirculate in top-up prep tank, 5 gal/hr runs to sump (split ratio controlled with ball valve on sump tubing) to provide slow top-up addition.
 

aakks

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Well I just typed a long reply that got lost in space... sigh... This will be the short version.
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You probably don't want the powerhead churning around the kalk that much. You want to minimize contact with air. Consider getting a timer for the powerhead that can be set to 5 minutes mixes several times a day.

If it were me I'd slow down the speed at which you add kalk to the tank. 5 gal/hr is a lot when you only need 5 gal/day. You could slow it down to a trickle and still keep topped off.

Otherwise the setup sounds ok.

Have you looked into a kalk (nilsen) reactor? It might be a nice addition to your setup. Check out:

http://www.theplague.net/reef/kalk.htm

There is also a good kalk article in the ozreef site's diy section http://ozreef.org/diy but the bbs won't let me post the exact URL because it has a parenthesis in it. Go figure.
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Peter
 

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