Kalk Wasser

[gandolf8]

I was topping off with Kalk w/Litermeter 3 it was 5 liters and the rest with R/O water . After a few days I notices coral closing up . So I when and checked the kalk it had this bad smell to it so I shut it down. Can Kalk go bad ?

 

[blanden.adam]

No, Kalk cannot go bad in that sense. It can take up water from the environment and become a solid, glumpy mess, but it's still good calcium hydroxide. In solution, it can also take up too much CO2 form the atmosphere and precipitate as calcium carbonate, in which case it is no longer good as kalk, but still not "spoiled."

That said, something ELSE might have gotten in your kalk and ruined it. Do you mean it got into your bucket of soluble top off water? Or do you mean you checked your bag of solid calcium hydroxide and it smelled bad? Either way, it's incredibly strange, as kalk usually inhibits any microbial growth because of it's very high pH.

Is it possible that something inorganic got into your kalk? Or even organics, can you think of any contaminants that might have gotten in there. Also, what brand kalk are you using?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Bad smell like a dead mouse or ?
I mean... calcium hydroxide doesn't ever smell GOOD when it's pure.
Are you dosing it directly into a high flow area of a sump or ?

 

[gandolf8]

I have a 30 gal plastic water tank that i use for kalk smells like roten eggs

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

welll

welll

I wouldn't use it.

 

[blanden.adam]

Definitely not.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Just curious, do you cover it?

 

[tmz]

No, rotten eggs is likely hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas . There's something organic in the stagnant water and very little clacium hydroxide , otherwise the high bascity would forestall that kind of sulfate reducing bacterial activity and any other bacterial activity.. Don't use that water.
I'm not exactly clear on what amounts you are dosing but if you over dilute it or agitate it it will precipitate out and lose strength to precipitation leaving the stagnant water overtime at an acidic level prone to fouling if any organic material is there.

Putting a lid on a still reservoir of kalk is a good idea too.

 

[blanden.adam]

That's a good point, if you keep the container covered, the kalk will last > 21 days. If not, it continually pulls in CO2 from the atmosphere and precipitates out. Thank you Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[gandolf8]

Here is what I use. I dose 5 liters per day = to 11/2 gal of kalk per day.

 

[blanden.adam]

That looks fine. If I were you, I'd just discard everything, wash it out with hot tap water and maybe a splash of bleach, rinse it with RO/DI water, and just mix up another batch, and leave your pump off for a few days to see if the same thing happens.

And just to be clear, that reservoir has in it saturated kalk (2 tsp/gallon), you dose 5 liters per day, and you also have a separate RO/DI top off that handles the rest of your tanks volume needs?

 

[Willistein]

I would also discard the foul smelling water - kalk is cheap! Sorry to hijack, but how necessary is it to cover your kalk container?

Edit: to answer my own question, yes. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php

 

[tmz]

It's importatn for a number of reasons. Even ifit's not sealedfrom the air it will likely limit gas exchange and CO2 entring teh kalk. It will also protect the solutio from airborne polluutants, obviously.

 

[Willistein]

Funny, I never really gave it a thought. It's easy enough to do though.

 

[gandolf8]

Well clean water container made new patch of kalk no smell at all .Nothing like the other . Will see what will happens.

 

[blanden.adam]

Good news! Keep us in the loop! Kalk is my favorite way to dose, so it makes me sad when it doesn't work :/