I had an acrylic top off tank custom made. It's a 11 l x 12 w x 16 h receptacle that is automatically replenished with RO water via a liquid level controller. I keep it about Ã"šÃ‚½ full so the level is always at about 4 Ã"šÃ‚½ to 5 gallons. (The level drops about an inch, RO turns on, fills it and turns off again.) That water is then dripped into my fuge to replenish evaporated water in the system.
I also run a calcium reactor. While that keeps my alk (3.88 meq/L - 10.8 dKH) and ca (425) up there very nicely, it does depress the pH to a range from morning to night of 7.9 - 8.0 - approximately. Not really awful at all, and as the Reefkeeping.com article suggests (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php) as long as alk is up there, this lower pH should be acceptable. Still, I'd rather see it up closer to an average of 8.2 or so. With my Kent 5 gal doser, I started dosing kalk, but since I'm already replenishing evap with the automated system, this is a really slow drip and it's not doing much. Plus, this was the whole point of automating the top-off so that I wouldn't have to fill a jug every week.
So, here's my question: Can I add a kalkwasser slurry for a 5 gal batch (say 10 teaspoons) to my automated top-off and then once every day or couple of days add another couple of teaspoons in a slurry to keep the solution mixture about the same. My system evaporates about 3 quarts a day. It wouldn't be completely fresh all the time, but is that freshness about potency or would it be detrimental?
Or, door number 2, since everyone in the tank seems to be happy, should I leave it alone and be grateful for a high alkalinity and an average pH?
Thank you!
I also run a calcium reactor. While that keeps my alk (3.88 meq/L - 10.8 dKH) and ca (425) up there very nicely, it does depress the pH to a range from morning to night of 7.9 - 8.0 - approximately. Not really awful at all, and as the Reefkeeping.com article suggests (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php) as long as alk is up there, this lower pH should be acceptable. Still, I'd rather see it up closer to an average of 8.2 or so. With my Kent 5 gal doser, I started dosing kalk, but since I'm already replenishing evap with the automated system, this is a really slow drip and it's not doing much. Plus, this was the whole point of automating the top-off so that I wouldn't have to fill a jug every week.
So, here's my question: Can I add a kalkwasser slurry for a 5 gal batch (say 10 teaspoons) to my automated top-off and then once every day or couple of days add another couple of teaspoons in a slurry to keep the solution mixture about the same. My system evaporates about 3 quarts a day. It wouldn't be completely fresh all the time, but is that freshness about potency or would it be detrimental?
Or, door number 2, since everyone in the tank seems to be happy, should I leave it alone and be grateful for a high alkalinity and an average pH?
Thank you!
