Kalk dispenser potency?

[in2deep]

This may be an impossible question to answer accurately but can you guesstimate what the saturation level of kalk is as it enters the aquarium when using an Osmolator and Tunze kalk dispenser?
Basically it's maxed out for my load as my setup does not evaporate much and I need to add supplemental cal/alk and if the unit runs near saturation then I won't bother stepping up to a Geo type reactor to try to boost kalk saturation percentages but if the Tunze set-up is under say 50% kalk saturation it may be worth it to me to upgrade as I guess that type of reactor would work near 100% saturation.

Thanks.

 

[rvitko]

It is 100% saturation, that is what saturation means, as much as water can dissolve. The only way to add more is a supersaturation or a slurry. You can achieve a supersaturation only by adding kalk to boiling water and letting it cool, but it is extremely unstable and one single particle will cause the super saturate to precipitate, this is what is called a "seed of precipitation". A slurry requires a unit with a mixer, like a Geo, Deltec or PM unit that has a stirrer. In general, it is not feasible to meet all of your calcium demand with kalkwasser. It is a dilute calcium supplement and it raises the pH to the point that little can dissolve. I would recommend if anything getting a calcium reactor and keeping your existing kalkwasser dosing as is for the sake of binding excess CO2 and phosphate.

 

[in2deep]

Rodger as usual thanks for the great explanation and customer service.

 

[sohal1025]

If I am currently using a calc. reactor, do I even have a need to run a kalk. additive with my top off?

 

[Jonathan76]

I am running the calcium dispenser in my 26 gallon and I love it! Especially with the newer check valve (the white one). My Ph was 7.95 with alk = 8.0 and calc = 420 and mag = 1350 before the calcium dispenser while doing 2-part exclusively (Randy's recipe 1).

NOW, I'm using NO 2 part at all for the last 3 weeks and the numbers are Ph = 8.40 with lights on, and Ph = 8.20 with lights off. Alk = 9.0 calc = 460 and mag unchanged.

Tested the #'s quite a bit in the beginning, when I got the dispenser online and had good stability. If your #'s get too high, simply add 1 tsp instead of 2 tsp of kalc to the dispenser the following week and you'll see the #'s come down.

By the way, THANKS Roger for the new check valve - it works way better than the old one and is more reliable.

Jon

 

[rvitko]

The main reason to use kalk is to bind free CO2 that with will be in the effluent of the calcium reactor. If you run your reactor of a pH controller they complement each other well and a very stable pH can be achieved. For example if you set the pH controller to add CO2 to the reactor when the tank pH is above 8.10, the kalk will drive up the pH and turn on the reactor and they kalk and reactor stabilize a pH between 8.1 and 8.2

 

[sohal1025]

My PH is stable @8.2/8.3 of the display tank but my calc. reactor is set about 6.5 and turns on and off near that level of PH. Will dosing with lime defeat that purpose?(not helping at all)
The C02 is out of the system through the sump by the time it gets to the main tank.

 

[rvitko]

Then it probably won't help that much. It just depends on how you set up the reactor. Since you are using a reactor that is controlled by the internal pH it is a different system.