Kalk drip

[aquarius77]

I was wondering where in my system i should drip the Kalkwasser solution into?

I am thinking i want to drip it into my sump before the bubble trap where the water comes down the overflow pipe.

What is best and why?

 

[bertoni]

In my opinion, the safest approach is to drip it into the highest-volume region of the system, assuming good flow. The goal is to avoid spiking the pH in a small body of water. Such a spike could cause precipitation. If the flow through the sump is reasonable, that's probably more than safe enough, though. Sometimes I worry too much.

 

[Big Amish]

I agree with bertoni. I dose where I have the highest flow, to avoid a pH spike. In my case, however, that's in the display tank.

 

[aquarius77]

I have too much flow thro my sump, I made the mistake of thinking i could use the return pump as flow in the display. I ran as much pipe as i could with as many elbows and t's as i could work into the plan(trying to get more headloss) and then dispensed the return into 4 exits. I am pleased with the flow result in the display, but i battle some microbubbles because of the flow in my sump.
I chose to put the Kalk drip in the section of my sump where the overflow drains into because it is very turbulent there. I also figured this would give the Kalk, even tho a slow drip, a chance to disperse and mix in very well before it ever made it close to my corals.
I have about 900 gph of flow in my 20h between the return and 2 powerheads. I am still worried that the Kalk drip might be too concentrated, too close to my corals. My display has over 40 pounds of rock in it stacked in the fruit basket(?) style and is jammed with corals, its just not enough time for it to disperse is my concern.

Is there any drawback to dripping it into my sump?

It is dripping into the same chamber as my junk skimmer, even tho im dripping it pretty far away from the pump for the skimmer, is this a problem?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Your plan sounds fine to me. I add mine into my sump (which is pretty large) into the stream of water where my skimmer dumps in,so there is a lot of turbulence around to mix it in well.

 

[aquarius77]

One more thing.

Since i started the drip i noticed one patch of GSP in my tank is closed up tight, while another patch is doing well. All other corals (sps,lps,softies) are doing very well. Should i be concerend?
I tested my ph last night (dripping 24/7) and it was still low. My testing method is the 5 in 1 strips you can buy at walmart so i dont know if that is even anywhere close to what my ph really is. I have these strips for my cichlid tanks but they say they work on saltwater as well. I know i need to get a proper kit for this but for now this is what i have.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the pH is below 8.5, the GSP did not likely respond to limewater dosing.

 

[aquarius77]

I kinda figured not, seeing as how the other plantation of it is expanded.

I had a crazy shroom hitchhike in on a frag i bought awhile back and i had to move it one day for some reason and i sat it up on top of my rock stack, it is only connected to a very small chip of live rock. Anyways i set it up on my Stylophora rock (plateau) just for the time being while i was in the tank..... and forgot it there. Needless to say the hermies and snails knocked it down and it was resting on a branch of Hydnophora wich melted it into a gooey paste, i then put it back down on the bottom of the tank in some hopes that it might come back. Now it is sitting very close to the GSP plantation in question, do you think that could be the cause of the GSP being closed?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, a nearby coral or even a crab walking over GSP can make them close up.

 

[aquarius77]

It has been closed up for days since i started dripping, nothing else has changed. I guess ill go remove the gooey shroom.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sounds like a good plan.