How to dose kalk?

[MetroKat]

My dosing reservoirs are a gallon each for Alk, Cal and KALK. I'm certainly not using 3 gallons of product! How long can the mix sit before I have to make a fresh batch?

 

[kissman]

i use about a gallon of top off water everyday. How long can it last I have no idea, I do have a lid on my trashcan

 

[bertoni]

The supplement will last forever as long as the water doesn't evaporate.

 

[kissman]

I got side tracked last night and didn't test Mag i did test alk and it was 8.7dkh. Tonight i do my second 5g water change before i do it i will post the mag levels

 

[kissman]

What are your magnesium levels at now that your alk is "low"?

Alk tonight is 8.6dkh and magnesium is still 1500

 

[kissman]

Is it ok that I dose my kalk at night through ATO? Or is it better to do it through out the day? I have been adding 1 gallon starting at 9pm every hour till 3am so that the PH does not climb high. Does it really matter? I see no problems the way I am doing it but, I do want to do whats best for my tank!

 

[bertoni]

I always dosed ATO throughout the day, with or without Kalk, in order to keep the SG more stable. All organisms can control their internal pH well, but many cannot regular their internal SG. I don't know that the SG change in most tanks would be very important, though.

 

[potterjon]

Hey Kissman,
Update?

 

[kissman]

My tank has been more balanced than when I was dosing 2-part. I do have more Coraline growth since using Kalk, but not a lot. When I was dosing 2 part I got a spot of coraline here and there. Since I switched to Kalk, my powerheads have been covered, the inside of my skimmer and skimmer chamber but not anywhere else. I do like Kalk better than 2-part its a lot easier.

 

[potterjon]

So kalk alone can keep up with your demand for cal and alk? I have been using kalk and getting to add two part in addition to it because kalk will not keep pup with it.

 

[kissman]

So far it keeps up, I am at the max though with 2tsp per gallon

 

[barjam]

I would advise against using an auto topoff device to replace evaporated water with kalk. I did that for some time, but then one day a snail got caught in my overflow and caused the water to back up in the tank. The water level in the sump dropped and several gallons of kalk got dumped into my tank. I lost almost all my corals, a sea cucumber and other inverts, and a fish or two. Never again. I still use the ATO for topoff water but now use a liter meter for dosing kalk. This also obviates the problem with different amounts of kalk being dosed at different times of the month/year due to different evaporation rates. I am currently dosing 2.6 liters of kalk/day in my 65 gallon system. I have a 5 gallon container for kalk that I fill weekly which is connected to the liter meter. The dosing pump was expensive but cheaper than all the livestock I lost to the kalk overdose.

I agree 100% with you on this.

I recently set kalk back up with two float valves *and* a reef controller that limits the run time of the ATO. It doesn't address the measured dose issue but I don't expect that to be a problem as Randy mentioned kalk seems to self regulate to some extent.