Anyone drip Kalkwasser?

Pacific Reefs

Pacific Reefs

New member
For those of you who do, what do you use to control ALK? And if you used to drip Kalkwasser why did you stop?

I am thinking of starting to drip kalk since I have to add top off water anyway. I am currently dosing 2 part.
 
I dose two part via dosing system & currently drip kalk at night to keep PH up & top off the tank. I have been using an aqua lifter pump and airline valve to drip kalk but the airline valve gets clogged with the kalk.

I am now setting up a ph controller to turn the kalk on anytime the PH drops below 8.0 which tyically will only be a night anyway. My two part system is more than able to handle my tank but I like the PH control benifits of kalk.
 
I do something very similar to CHAM. I use an aqualifter to drip kalk whenever my PH dips below 8.20 which is only late night/early morning.

I use 2-part (DIY) for the CA/ALK and the kalk addition isn't a large enough volume of kalk to overshoot my CA/ALK.

I've thought about running all of my topoff water through a DIY kalk reactor but I just haven't been motivated to set it up. Right now I just have an aqualifter that pumps from a 5g bucket full of limewater.
 
I drip kalkwasser top off at night and run a calcium reactor24/7. They balance each other off nicely.
 
I have a kalk reactor: they can be DIYed for much cheaper. Basically your topoff runs through a reactor that has no moving parts, and picks up dissolved kalk at the same rate water evaporates from your tank.

It works because ro/di will dissolve a predictible amount of kalk and the mix and the reaction as it hits your tank supplies both calcium and alkalinity. It additionally causes the precipitation of phosphates, a side bennie, and if you put your skimmer intake right under the drip, you stand a chance it will uptake the precip.

The only moving part is a stirrer [Hanna] that sits under the base of the tower.

The thing runs for about a month on half a pound of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime, which costs 2.50.

If your alk and cal will not stay up, it's the magnesium again: it may cause mg to precip out. It uses it faster.

A kalkreactor can't raise calcium. Set your levels by hand dosing. It can maintain them quite adequately for a 54g tank like mine. I haven't had to dose in over a month.

A kalkreactor has to be cleaned about once a month: you take it to the tub or the backyard hose and rinse it out, or the stirrer rod will bog down in muck and stop stirring.

The benefits: steady 24 hr alk/cal balance. Less work, except once a month emptying and refilling, which is a morning's job, just about, if you rely on the locline connection and want to stay and watch. Otherwise, just do other jobs in the area, like your water change, while it fills.

The drawbacks: a kalkreactor is not small. You need an adjacent cabinet or to set it behind the stand.
Kalk is the messiest stuff known to man and at least once you will get it all over you. If your locline falls out, it will cause a white precip everywhere the water gets to. Bummer.

But I have lived the life of no-dosing and I will not go back to being kalkless!
 
So it seems that you guys are only dripping Kalk to control the PH changes when the lights go off. No one is solely dripping Kalk to maintain CA levels? Does in not provide enough CA if you up the mixing ratio?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10485491#post10485491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pacific Reefs
So it seems that you guys are only dripping Kalk to control the PH changes when the lights go off. No one is solely dripping Kalk to maintain CA levels without any other methods? Does in not provide enough CA if you up the mixing ratio?
Click to expand...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10485491#post10485491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pacific Reefs
So it seems that you guys are only dripping Kalk to control the PH changes when the lights go off. No one is solely dripping Kalk to maintain CA levels? Does in not provide enough CA if you up the mixing ratio?
Click to expand...

I use the highest mix ratio of 2 tsp per gallon & it used to support my tank. But once your growth takes off it will have a hard time keeping up.
 
i just add Mrs Wages pickling lime to my top off water container. About 1-2 tspn per gallon and i have a small power head in the bucket to keep it mixed up. This adds continuously (as water evaporates). But from what i read, to only use kalk would require a large amount of evaporation. Plus it should be added slowly.

I am just using it to use less of the reactor and 2-part (to adjust as needed).

cham - what controller are you using that will turn on when the level is low. Mine only comes on when the level is high.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10485823#post10485823 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ben&bobbi


cham - what controller are you using that will turn on when the level is low. Mine only comes on when the level is high.
Click to expand...


Aqua Controller II, but IIRC the AC Jr & pinpoint controller will do this as well. I bought a Milwaukee meter not too long ago and found the same problem.
 
I drip kalk 24/7 via my top-off water. I use a kent float valve in the sump. I add kalk to the refill bucket ro/di water.

I also use the 2 part system to make adjustments.

I"ve been doing it this way since my first tank. The problem I'm having now is that as I add more stonies the kalk usage rate is going up. My tank evaps about 2 gallons a day. It's a constant monitor and add kalk to the top off bucket so I need to find another way.

I'm interested in the do-it-yourself method Sk8r mentioned as it seems very reasonable and would ave a lot of time.
 
I use it on my top off 24/7, mine is hooked to a double switch top off system connected to a mag 2. I did use it with an aqualifter but it's very unreliable, clogged all the time. I use it at a rate of 2 tsp per gallon. I still have to use a 2 part additive (Randy's formula) kalk is not enough too keep up with CAL/ALK.
 
Mine is supplying both cal and alk. I evaporate about a gallon or more a day.

surfjeep, you can diy one with some locline, a hard tube, locline connectors, and a container you can seal with a lid. I'm not good on producing diagrams, but I can describe pretty well.

Tall thin container: a spaghetti cooker/container might do. That magic spaghetti cooker plastic thing that didn't work would be ideal, because it had a tight lid.

some sort of base, wood with a hole in it for the container, plus two strips for 'legs' to prop it up just off a 50.00 Hanna stirrer. That's your one moving part.

bore a hole in the top, insert locline connector with a hard tube going down within a few inches of the bottom. [That's your 'fill' hose].

Bore another hole in the top, insert locline connector for outflow, no hard tube. That will suck kalkwater directly off the top of your container.

install locline with a locline checkvalve [this is all 1/4 inch locline] to your topoff pump in the ro/di reservoir. This runs to the 'fill' locline connector.

insert a locline hose to the other [out] connector that will run to your tank---this should be downhill to your tank, as it cannot push water uphill.

Insert the stirrer rod [comes with the Hanna] into your bottom of container. Add a little ro/di. Turn on the stirrer.

Add a little kalk [Mrs. Wages] to the water, and allow to fill. The stirrer should keep the kalt white and suspended up to about 1/3 of the column. You don't want the really white kalk going into your tank. The kalkwasser should be filmy white, that's the stuff on top near the 'out' line. You let the topoff pump drive it, you keep the stirrer stirring, and you've got it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10487212#post10487212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Mine is supplying both cal and alk. I evaporate about a gallon or more a day.

surfjeep, you can diy one with some locline, a hard tube, locline connectors, and a container you can seal with a lid. I'm not good on producing diagrams, but I can describe pretty well.

Tall thin container: a spaghetti cooker/container might do. That magic spaghetti cooker plastic thing that didn't work would be ideal, because it had a tight lid.

some sort of base, wood with a hole in it for the container, plus two strips for 'legs' to prop it up just off a 50.00 Hanna stirrer. That's your one moving part.

bore a hole in the top, insert locline connector with a hard tube going down within a few inches of the bottom. [That's your 'fill' hose].

Bore another hole in the top, insert locline connector for outflow, no hard tube. That will suck kalkwater directly off the top of your container.

install locline with a locline checkvalve [this is all 1/4 inch locline] to your topoff pump in the ro/di reservoir. This runs to the 'fill' locline connector.

insert a locline hose to the other [out] connector that will run to your tank---this should be downhill to your tank, as it cannot push water uphill.

Insert the stirrer rod [comes with the Hanna] into your bottom of container. Add a little ro/di. Turn on the stirrer.

Add a little kalk [Mrs. Wages] to the water, and allow to fill. The stirrer should keep the kalt white and suspended up to about 1/3 of the column. You don't want the really white kalk going into your tank. The kalkwasser should be filmy white, that's the stuff on top near the 'out' line. You let the topoff pump drive it, you keep the stirrer stirring, and you've got it.
Click to expand...

Good ideas iam going to look into doing this.
 
skr8, Thanks for the walk though on the diy kalk reactor.Sounds very doable, where did you get the stirrer?
Pacific reefs, The reason I use a calcium reactor and kalk water(calcium hydroxide) drip is because I have a high demand system. I also supplement about once a week with some two part(calcium chloride and buffer).Unlike calcium chloride which can be put in solution in copius amounts, you can only dose as much kalk water as you have top off and 1 gallon of water will only hold 2 teaspoons of it max in solution; any more drops out. To dose more you would have to draw off system water and dump it to replace it with kalkwater and then refigure your salinity and add salt. You also
can't dose too much of it in a given time period without raising your ph to a point where the calcium in your tank begins to fall out of solution as a snowstorm of chaulk. The ph of kalk water is 12.
Tom
 
My 2-cents:

If your Ca/Alk needs are high enough, dose kalk for all of your make up water (use a timer and a float switch so it adds at night) and then use an other means to suppliment further (2-part, CO2 reactor, etc.).

Kalk is as good as it gets for a simple, balanced additive. If you have a reasonable calcification in your reef, dose slowly, and have good aeration there are only positive benefits and none of the downsides of 2-part or the complications of CO2 reactors. The calcification in your tank will keep the calcium and alkalinity from rising too high. Dosing slowly with good aeration will keep the pH from rising too high.

Here is an excellent article by Randy Holmes-Farley about choosing a calcium and alkalinity supplimentation method: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

I run both kalk and CO2 reactors.

Paul
 
Last edited:
My stirrer is an ordinary Hanna Instruments laboratory item, which I got from my lfs---google Hanna on the web, or search. My search came up with:
http://www.eseasongear.com/watemehain.html
SHould cost about 50.00.
Or my lfs might sell it mailorder...I don't know; but there'd be shipping. 50.00 is their store price.
 
Sk8r,

Thanks for the description. It took me a couple times but I got it. The Hanna stirrer is magnetic so that helped with how the kalk is stirred.

The only thing is, I don't use a top-off pump or solenoid for scheduling the top-off. I like the way my float valve continuously drips in kalk. Simple and effective as long as it's cleaned every few months.

Currently I have a bucket in the stand that is supplied with Ro/di water and is kept full via a float valve. I mix kalk in this bucket which in turn drains to my sump and is regulated via another float valve. I have a back-up float valve set a tad lower than the kalk float valve which is hooked up directly to the ro/di locline. This is in the event the kalk float became clogged. It has yet to happen but I like redundant systems. (see my profession)

As my tank has grown with the addition of hard corals and the growth of existing corals, the addition of kalk to the bucket is becoming much more frequent. Although it's a 3 gallon bucket I think I'll go in a similar direction and use one of your ideas.

I'm going to place a cabinet next to the aquarium and install a much larger bucket (7 gallon) I'll incorporate the stirrer rather than a pump and continue to gravity feed the sump top-off water controlled by the same float valve method I'm currently using.

This will give me a longer period between kalk mixings and free up space in the stand for a larger sump.

Thanks for the help.
 
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