Nilsen Reactor

[SPC]

Posted by Bowfront:

When I set this thing up I add all the kalk first then I put in the bar.

-Are you saying that you pour the kalk in, then the water? Do you place the bar on the dry kalk or place the bar after the water?

I get it centered and spinning the way I want it to before I put the top on.

-You have no problem with unmixed kalk around the perimeter of the reactor tube? In other words, if the speed is set at a rate to insure that no kalk powder enters the sump, then you still are able to mix all of the kalk on the bottom, no kalk clumps around the perimeter?
Steve

 

[bowfront]

-Are you saying that you pour the kalk in, then the water? Do you place the bar on the dry kalk or place the bar after the water?

No I fill the tube half way with water then I dump the kalk in all in one shot. After that I mix it up a little by hand using a plastic stick. This is brief and just to get a good solution. I tried the way Andy mentioins in his instructions (adding half and then firing up the stirrer and adding the other half slowly) and didn't find it worth it. The important thing IMO is to get the kalk in and get it mixed up with water so there isn't any preliminary clumping. Next I add the bar by hand to the center of the bottom over the already centered (by eyeball) Hanna. The unit will grab the bar by magnetism but if its not centered it may throw it to the side on startup. The problem here is that you can't see anything. The tube might as well be full of milk so you have to either use your hand (best with glove on) or a stick to feel where the bar is and move it if needed. Anyway then I add more water almost filling the tube. I then turn on the unit and see what happens. So far its never fired up correctly on the first try. This means repositioning the bar using the stick and trying again until you get it spinning properly. Then I adjust the speed (by sound), close up the top and leave it alone until the next kalk change. Dunno but this has worked so far for 3 months and the bar starts up every time - unit comes on 4 times/day for 1/2 hour each time.

-You have no problem with unmixed kalk around the perimeter of the reactor tube? In other words, if the speed is set at a rate to insure that no kalk powder enters the sump, then you still are able to mix all of the kalk on the bottom, no kalk clumps around the perimeter?
Steve

I do have a constant outer perimeter of kalk powder visible on the bottom of the tube even during mixing. When the kalk has been recently added this bottom powder actually revolves when the stirrer is on but does not mix with the water column. This really doesn't concern me because I keep the stirrer set so that when its on the tube is about 2/3" milky kalk solution. There seems to be plenty of kalk mixing each time that the stirrer comes on to maintain this regardless of whether the entire bottom is mixing.

Honestly due to the weight of calcium hydroxide powder you are probably not going to get a complete mix at the bottom with a stir bar unless you had a bar nearly as wide as the tube or set on warp speed. Personally I think its irrelevant as long as you are getting the proper calcium input into your tank. As far as clumps the perimeter sludge has not yet ever interfered with startup. It doesn't look to be clumped anyway just powder sitting there. When I break the reactor down for a new batch of kalk I don't see any clumped kalk at all - just powder. As I mentioned to you already for whatever reason the residual kalk seems to become lighter with age or something because after a certain point with start up the reactor turns milky from top to botom regardless of how slow I try to adjust the stirrer. This is when I break it down and start over.

 

[SPC]

Thanks for the lengthy and detailed response Bowfront . The one thing I will say about your system is that if it comes down to me having to stick my arm down into cloudy lime water in order to make the reactor work, then I will find another way to add kalk to my tank . Another thing is that your mix times are 30 minutes where as mine are 5 minutes 6 times a day. Maybe I will try to mix longer but this still brings up the problem of the kalk powder rising higher in the unit as the kalk powder is used up. I also wanted to point out that my unit works well with 1 cup of kalk powder but anything over this seems to stop the mixing after a day or two, or if the stirrer is moved. The main thing that I am doing wrong is moving the stirrer a bit after a few days in order to try and get the kalk around the permiter to mix, this probably isn't necessary. Once the stirrer is moved the bar doesn't want to spin properly after that. I thought I would write out how I go about the initial mix FWIW:
1. With the unit clean and dry, place stir bar in center of ware plate and stirrer under bar.
2. Fill reactor 2/3 full of water and take reactor outside (don't want to breath kalk powder).
3. Turn on mixer and and let run for a minute or so.
4. Add kalk powder very slowly, takes about 10 minutes to add 1 cup of kalk.
5. Bring unit back inside and fill with water to top of unit.
6. Position and secure top of unit, hook up hose from doser, and run doser untill lime water begins to come out of output hose.
7. Turn doser off and wait for powder to settle, usually 5 or 6 hours.

Now as you can see all of this moving around I do with the unit, the mixer could easily move and not be in the exact position as when I originally set it up. Maybe I need to fix the unit where it is in a more permanent positon and yet can be removed when washing the reactor out.? As I stated earlier, once the initial mixing is done, I am not going to be reaching my arm down in the unit, spilling lime water all over the carpet etc... Once the top is secure, I expect not to have to fool with the reactor again until the kalk needs to be replaced.
Steve

 

[Osama]

I followed Steve's procedures but without taking the unit outside and I place 1-1/2 cup of kalk slowly ( 1-2 minutes max) while the bar is rotating. Unot is placed on a level surface. After the kalk is half exhausted I turn my hanna power down a notch so the kalk remains in the bottom third of the unit. I believe that a Nielsen reactor; takes some practice & patience to setup AND is worth the trouble.
Osama

 

[bowfront]

Steve,

Your method of mixing the kalk at setup is probably the best and I'll try it next time but if you're in a rush mine will work. I don't advocate anyone putting their bare arm in the reactor full of kalk even though I have at least once. What I do is poke the bar around with a stick until its spinning right. The last time I broke the reactor down and set it back up it took me maybe 10 minutes total from start to finish.

As far as mixing time I would try increaasing yours as you plan. Maybe this will decrease your problems with clumping. Actually I'm going to increase my on times to 6/day 30 min. each to see what happens. Once you get the thing running properly leave it alone until you have to break it down. I tried to move the stirrer around just like you are doiing in the beginning to get the sides to mix and that's when I had troubles. As long as you have a good mix going in the tube during on time you are ok IMHO.

I don't know why you are having problems with more than 1 cup of kalk powder. I started out with 1 and a half cups first time and 2 cups last time. I use the larger stir bar that Andy sent. Maybe some of these things like the chronic kalk powder around the base perimeter are just the nature of the beast regardless of make/design.

Someone else mentioned the tube from the reactor to the sump clogging with kalk deposits. This is going to happen eventually with any kalk doser setup if you don't keep an eye on the tube and clean it as needed. Before the Nielson I dosed kalk from a reservour with the Litermeter and experienced clogged lines every so often if I forgot to check them. I always keep the line going into the sump underwater and this helps but isn't a cure all by any means.

Take care, Charlie

 

[SPC]

I was just wondering, would it be better to have the stirrer unit slide into some guides that would keep it in one position only? If we can't move the unit anyway during operation, wouldn't this insure that it stay in one place?
The stirrer unit could be loaded and unloaded from the front and could be locked into place (front and rear) in some fashion. The side slides of course would fit the unit exactly, any comments?
Steve

 

[bowfront]

I think one of the major faults of Andy's setup is the fact that the mag stirrer is not attached like the Ecotech. Maybe he could come up with something adaptable to his older models. I think this would take away some of the headaches that many have incountered. Good idea.

 

[danmhippo]

FYI, if anyone was trying contacting Andy for the last few days to weeks, you may have trouble doing so as his wife just had their second child last week. I was just learned of this as well. I do not have further details.........

 

[golfish]

FYI, if anyone was trying contacting Andy for the last few days to weeks, you may have trouble doing so as his wife just had their second child last week. I was just learned of this as well. I do not have further details.........

I know that Andy has been following this thread since Monday, he might not be up on his e-mails but he is up to date on this thread. I talked to him a few days ago.

Having the mag stir unit in the perfict center is no biggie. From my experience adding the powder before, during, after, all at once, a little at a time doesn't matter. Just have the bar spinning while your adding it or right after you add it and everything will work out. But then I'm using a different stir unit.

 

[reefphreak]

After reading the Neilson REactor thread I decided to order one to help maintain calcium/alkilinity as I like the effect Kalk has on my tank. After exchanging an email with ecotech I asked how to ored one of their units. Three emails and two weeks later I have not heard back from them. Does anyone know how to order one of their units or,given the lack of a response, should I look elswhere. Anyone else have a recommendation for a good manufacturer of a Neilson Reactor?

 

[mgk65]

The ecotech guys are still in school, so they may be busy. There reactor, however, is top notch.

www.Myreefcreations.com has a version as well, as described in this thread.

A new company on the block is www.stoneyreef.com

George Weber may again be making skimmers and reactors at www.geosreef.com

mgk