Dosing saturated kalkwasser

[ClownMan727]

Why don't I see more people dosing saturated kalk with a doser instead of using it in their ato? I plan to use kalk only in a small lps tank and I'm going dose kalk like I do with my two part. I'll adjust with 2part once a week if needed.

 

[bertoni]

People do both. If the evaporation rate on your tank is predictable enough, ATO usually works well, but others need to use a doser to prevent alkalinity and calcium swings or buildup.

 

[hbrochs]

Dosing Kalk

Dosing Kalk

I think its safer not to have Kalk in your ATO, so that you are less likely to have an Alk spike if too much ATO water goes to your tank. You can use a doser, but the Kalk has to be stirred occasionally to keep it in solution. There are some Kalkstirrers on the market that have a motor move a plastic device that keeps it in solution. There are also models that have some internal or external pump that periodically cycles to keep it saturated. If the pump is internal, it will have a short life cause the Kalc will foul it over time. I just dissolve a teaspoon and a half in a gallon of RO water. Mix it up well. Let it sit a couple of hours, then I have an airtube an inch off the bottom that drips it in slowly at night.

I also dose Alk and Ca with a dosing pump, but I try to set the pump so that I still need a little more at night. I like the pH raising effect of kalk.

 

[bertoni]

Kalkwasser doesn't need to be stirred, and stirring it will introduce carbon dioxide into the water if the container isn't covered fairly well. The carbon dioxide will combine with the alkalinity and calcium to form aragonite, effectively fine sand, which is not available to corals for growth.

A Kalk stirrer can be used to mix more Kalkwasser automatically when filling a container directly from an RO/DI filter, though, which is handy for some setups.