Help setting up drip line for ALK/Cal

[bassking16]

Hi All,
Need a little advice here. I recently started adding some SPS corals to my tank, and have had pretty good success so far. I've got noticable growth on everyone of them so far.

However, I am fighting to keep my Alk level high enough. My Calcium stays between 400 and 420, and my Mag hovers at 1300, but my DKH reading is staying between 5 and 7, and I have to dose everyday to keep it up around 7. I've used two different test kits, both of which are new. I have been dosing Tech CB DKH. Before adding the SPS, I had no problem keeping my DKH at 9, but now its a struggle to keep it above 6. I get my slatwater from my LFS, and they use Instant Ocean Salt for their mix. By the way, My PH stays between 8.3 and 8.4 always

I'd like to set up a drip dose for Kalk / Pickeling Lime. It will be a simple set-up using just a jug and a drip line controlled by and I.V. style clamp to regulate the drips.

Can I set this up, and then still keep dosing the DKH in order to bring the level up, or do I need to get all three params up before starting the drip?

Can I leave the drip going 24/7 or should I only drip at night to avoid any PH fluctuation?

Once set-up, what should the drip rate be? How many drips per second / minute / hour?

If I can find Pickeling Lime, what mixture should I be shooting for? In other words, what's a good recipe?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can pass my way.

Bassking

 

[jimsplace]

It looks to me like your cal, mg and ph are fine, but your right you need to get your alk number up. I target to keep mine around 9. As your sps grow, your alk requirements will rise and as you have noticed, it gets hard to keep up. Plain old baking soda (A&H) will easily bump your alk up where you want it. Try using one of the online calculators, one is available here on RC and BRS has a good one to see how much you need to add. Kalk adds both cal and alk in equal parts and is best for stabilizing your numbers once you get them where you want them, its not the best for raising the numbers. Also, kalk will tend to increase your ph, so keep an eye on it. I use kalk for all of my topoff water (1 gallon/day), I drip mine at night. I have a high demand tank and lower ph, I still dose 2 part every day and add baking soda about 2-3 times a week to keep up with alk requirements. Hope this helps.

 

[bassking16]

Thank you!!!

Thank you!!!

Yes, it does help me out. However, I have an auto top-off gravity fed set-up, and I use a 10g tank as a RO holding tank that it feeds from. I thought about adding kalt to the 10g, but then it would drip every day, all day. I don't think that would be good for the PH. That's why I wanted to have a seperate tank for the kalk and only drip at night. If I do that, what should the drip rate be? By the way, I am running a 75g DT with a 20g sump.

I'll check out the calculator for getting my Alk up. I just don't want to raise it too much at one time for fear of a PH spike. I understand that up 1 DKH per day is considered safe. That's why I wanted to know if I should go ahead and start my kalk drip now, and still dose the Alk up each day until with only the drip everything remains stable.

Thank you again for your help.

Bassking

 

[jimsplace]

I drip about a gallon a day (at night) it is a fairly slow drip, like maybe 2 drips/sec, usually takes at least 2-3 hours. Another thought is to mix your kalk weaker at say 1 tsp/gallon and see what that does for you. There is nothing wrong with starting your kalk drip at the same time as you are upping your alk. As you noted, just take it slow and test your calc, alk and ph regularly for awhile until you get everything dialed in and then you can drop back to weekly or biweekly. My corals are growing at such a rate right now that I am trying to get a handle on the dial again and am having a challenge doing so.

 

[bassking16]

Thank You

Thank You

Thank you again Jimsplace. I really appreciate your help on this one. You've answered every question that I had about this subject. I'm going to set this drip up this coming weekend, and may need to pick your brain again later if I run into any snags. As of right now, I think I have a pretty good grasp on what I want to do, and what I need to do to accomplish it.

Thanks Again,
Bassking