Anyone tried dosing Kalk as supplement to CR? (not as an ATO)

[m0nkie]

Hi. I want to try Kalkwasser as a supplement to the calcium reactor. want to boost the PH a bit. But never used Kalk before. want to run the idea through first.

I have the normal night time dip on PH.

Calcium Reactor currently at 2nd lowest setting:
Alk 8.5
Calc 430

I'd like to avoid using kalk with ATO.

I'm thinking about adding a K1 Kalk stirrer and connect it to a pump and a tube in ATO. Set the pump to turn on at night only. maybe run it a few minutes every hour.

think this idea works?

any idea how much Kalk to add into the reactor for first time?

thanks

 

[ycnibrc]

Tony Use this command for your kalk reactor. Hook up a single paralastic pump to Apex
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:30/028:30 Then ON
If pHtank > 8.50 Then OFF

This will add 1.5. Minute of kalk every 30min then u adjust your Cal reactor co2 down until your alk at your desire setting

 

[m0nkie]

tank's doing good overall. numbers are all stable. corals growing. it's the boring stage of watching SPS grow.. sooo i'm chasing some numbers a bit to see if there' any improvements..

Kalk supplement to raise PH
Ozone supplement to raise ORP

 

[ycnibrc]

Put in like 1.5 inch of kalk to your reactor and just let it stir 24/7. With a tight lid the kalk will not losing much. As long as the pH probe in the kalk reactor show 12 u don't have to replenish.

 

[ycnibrc]

Wow much different than the last time I was there looking good

 

[m0nkie]

Tony Use this command for your kalk reactor. Hook up a single paralastic pump to Apex
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:30/028:30 Then ON
If pHtank > 8.50 Then OFF

This will add 1.5. Minute of kalk every 30min then u adjust your Cal reactor co2 down until your alk at your desire setting

sweet command I'll try it out.

 

[m0nkie]

Wow much different than the last time I was there looking good

lol ya.. went from 0 fish to 60 real quick

 

[pga7602]

Tony Use this command for your kalk reactor. Hook up a single paralastic pump to Apex
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:30/028:30 Then ON
If pHtank > 8.50 Then OFF

This will add 1.5. Minute of kalk every 30min then u adjust your Cal reactor co2 down until your alk at your desire setting

This is a smart guy talking.. good program there to follow.

I just have one thing to add... Before you start.. put a piece of tape and mark off your ATO water level. Wait exactly 24 hours and start pouring water back in to fill up your ATO with a container you know the voume of (example 1 gallon jug). This will help you figure out your total evaporation per day. You can use this to make sure you don't over top off with kalk and overflow your tank.

 

[ycnibrc]

His ATO still control the evaporated water it just turn on less since the kalk add water to the tank. He has a big volume so his evaporation is much more than the kalk solution adding in. But it's a good idea to keep an eye on the salinity once a week. Tri make a good point but remember you dealing with a 600g system

 

[m0nkie]

This is a smart guy talking.. good program there to follow.

I just have one thing to add... Before you start.. put a piece of tape and mark off your ATO water level. Wait exactly 24 hours and start pouring water back in to fill up your ATO with a container you know the voume of (example 1 gallon jug). This will help you figure out your total evaporation per day. You can use this to make sure you don't over top off with kalk and overflow your tank.

Thanks. I'll measure it out to have those numbers. My system should be safe with the huge sump. it can handle the entire 50gal ATO without flooding.

 

[ycnibrc]

Which Cal reactor do u have tony?

 

[m0nkie]

Which Cal reactor do u have tony?

Dastaco Extrema A2.

 

[pga7602]

His ATO still control the evaporated water it just turn on less since the kalk add water to the tank. He has a big volume so his evaporation is much more than the kalk solution adding in. But it's a good idea to keep an eye on the salinity once a week. Tri make a good point but remember you dealing with a 600g system

Should have guest that you didn't miss anything. Carry on!

 

[ycnibrc]

Should have guest that you didn't miss anything. Carry on!

Lol he got the mother of all Cal reactor too this will be so easy to dial in

 

[pga7602]

Lol he got the mother of all Cal reactor too this will be so easy to dial in

You guys always make me feel like a small potatoes with my home build Avast kalk reactor. :beer:

 

[ycnibrc]

Hahaha but we don't have a cool second half like you do.

 

[five.five-six]

First thing tony, your tank looks 1000% better without the frag racks on the front glass

2nd thing is that the problem is that there is more evaporation with the lights off than with the lights off so yu will tend to have a salinity dip in the evening.

I am doing a similar thing and what I do (when my tank is healthy) is let the sump level go down a bit in the day and slowly bring it up over the evening. It’s a balancing act and I am constantly messing with the pH setpoints


Kalk program
Fallback OFF
If pH_Tan > 8.22 Then OFF
If pH_Tan < 8.18 Then ON
If Float OPEN Then OFF
Defer 000:03 Then ON

Calcium reactor program
Fallback OFF
If pH_Tan > 7.95 Then ON
If pH_Tan < 7.75 Then OFF
If pHreac < 6.60 Then OFF
Defer 001:00 Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then OFF

 

[coralreefjunkie]

I just feel like a complete moron after reading this. My background is biochemistry but your discussion went into programming, which is engineering. Need to hire someone to set up my Apex and program it like you guys suggested.

I have a geo kalk reactor and i am buying a geo calcium reactor. Just lurking in the background trying to learn from you guys.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[ycnibrc]

I just feel like a complete moron after reading this. My background is biochemistry but your discussion went into programming, which is engineering. Need to hire someone to set up my Apex and program it like you guys suggested.

I have a geo kalk reactor and i am buying a geo calcium reactor. Just lurking in the background trying to learn from you guys.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

It's not that hard to set up. Your Cal reactor is always the main one. Example your Alkalinity set up is 9dkh when u get your Cal reactor u will set it up so it maintain 9dkh everyday. When u see it's stable then u can add the kalk reactor however the kalk reactor will raise dkh therefore you need to reduce your Cal reactor so u still maintain 9 dkh. Your goal is both Cal and kalk reactor together maintain 9 dkh for your tank. This is a basic scenario to run. The programming part is to fail safe if over dose. When u are ready to set up just post a thread and we can all join in and discuss.

 

[coralreefjunkie]

It's not that hard to set up. Your Cal reactor is always the main one. Example your Alkalinity set up is 9dkh when u get your Cal reactor u will set it up so it maintain 9dkh everyday. When u see it's stable then u can add the kalk reactor however the kalk reactor will raise dkh therefore you need to reduce your Cal reactor so u still maintain 9 dkh. Your goal is both Cal and kalk reactor together maintain 9 dkh for your tank. This is a basic scenario to run. The programming part is to fail safe if over dose. When u are ready to set up just post a thread and we can all join in and discuss.

Thank you, ycnibrc! I am waiting for the geo calc reactor to arrive. Then the fun begins....

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