How Much Kalkwasser Do You Add?

[sanjosereefer]

I'm starting to drip kalkwasser into my tank now. In the past, just added liquid CA and used SuperBuffer-dkH, but figure try this "miracle" stuff that is all the rave.

My question is how much do you guys/gals add to your tank. I know this stuff has a very high PH...12 something I think, so I plan to only add at night. But how much should be added in a day/week?

I've heard enough to top off the evaporation daily. Is that a good rule of thumb, or is there something I should be measure so I can gauge what's a good drip rate for my system. For example, should I watch for a drip rate to keep a steady CA level of XXXppm or a steady dKH value or maintain a certain pH value?

The last thing I want to do is bring the system to a pH shock stage.

 

[Conky]

I have dripped as much as 20 gallons a day (day AND nite) into a 4000 gallon system. pH effects swings are significantly less than when using 1000 mL ESV pt 1 or SuperBufffer-dKH. Effects of the latter two are noticed almost immediately, while the response to kalk is much slower and more muted. I have also experienced problems with substrate clumping with the ESV, but not with kalk...at least not kalk alone.

 

[Billybeau1]

Many people replace all evaporated water with limewater. The trick is to figure out how much lime to mix per gallon. 2 tsp per gallon is called saturation. Many people start out about 1 tsp per gallon and adjust from there depending on cal/alk consumption of the tank.

You figure out what your evaporation rate is per day and adjust your limewater to MAINTAIN your cal/alk.

Once you get it down, I'm sure you'll be very pleased with the results.

 

[sanjosereefer]

Billybeau1,

I see, so it's in the concentration of kalkwasser in the water to be able to "top off" each day, not exactly the amount of fluid that is dripped. Gotcha.

It sounds like you target your CA and alk as what you want to maintain. That was part of my question.

Conky,

In your case, I wouldn't consider it "dripping" to maintain a 4000gallon tank. That's more like slow pouring. I can't imagine managing a tank that big. My 55g used to look big, now it's gettting small...looking at 100 or 125, but definitely staying in the 3 digits for tank size.

Thanks for the input.

Thanks

 

[vtrieu88]

Hi Billybeau1,

Which lime did you have best result with? Thanks.

 

[Billybeau1]

Well I dont know about best results. I've only used one brand. I use Seachems Reef Kalkwasser. I bought a 22 lb jar in November and its not quite half gone. I'm pretty happy with it. So far