Another Kalk Dosing thread

[Anthrax15]

Right now I'm using 10ml of 2part every other day to supplement my tank. But I hate manually dosing and don't want to drop the money for a doser just yet. I've used Kalk before but want to make sure I'm saturating my 5g ATO correctly.

Do I add 1 TEASPOON per gallon or 1 TABLESPOON per gallon? I keep reading different measurements in different threads.

Is there anything else I need to keep an eye on besides Ca, KH, and Ph levels?

Will the Kalk be enough to maintain my Ca and KH levels? It's a mixed reef leaning more towards LPS

 

[MondoBongo]

I believe it is teaspoon, but ultimately it doesn't matter that much because water has a saturation point for kalk at about 2tsp/gal. The rest will not dissolve and will just come to rest as a solid on the bottom of your resovoir.

You will want to elevate your pump above this sludge, as you don't want to dose to slurry to your tank.

 

[Anthrax15]

I understand it will only become so saturated but I'd rather have an exact amount so I don't waste any. It's another cost factor

 

[degibson84]

I understand it will only become so saturated but I'd rather have an exact amount so I don't waste any. It's another cost factor

It wouldn't really be wasting. once you add more freshwater to the container it wil dissolve into the new freshwater

 

[Anthrax15]

I usually clean out my containers when they are dry. Otherwise, it builds up gunk.

 

[MondoBongo]

The biggest thing is to measure your personal consumption. It will vary based on your uptake rate, so we won't really be able to ballpark it for you.

It will also change based on how much evap you have per day.

I actually went with a dedicated resovoir for mine in the form of an old 5 gallon tank that fit nicely in my stand. Then I got a BRS 1.1ml/hr peristaltic dosing pump that runs on a reverse cycle from my lights.

I started with 1tsp/gal and dosed for 4 hours overnight, measuring my alkalinity every day and increasing the amount of time I was dosing accordingly until I matched my alk uptake rate, which is currently about 9 hours at 1.1ml/hr of 1tsp/gal saturated solution.

Your milage may vary, so start low and test often until you dial it in.

 

[Anthrax15]

Okie dokie, Im going to start with 1tsp/gallon and see where that gets me.

Thanks