Kalk..
- Thread starter aaronlp
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boosted chemist
New member
this is a good site to calculate for dosing, not sure about kalk
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
they mention saturated lime water, so there you go.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
they mention saturated lime water, so there you go.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
jmo
jmo
IME/IMO use kalkwasser as makeup water for evap.
Monitor Ca/alk/pH levels. If any of those levels get too high (very unlikely using kalk alone IME) use RO for makeup water until those levels drop.
I've never ever used a calculator to figure out how much kalkwasser to add.
jmo
IME/IMO use kalkwasser as makeup water for evap.
Monitor Ca/alk/pH levels. If any of those levels get too high (very unlikely using kalk alone IME) use RO for makeup water until those levels drop.
I've never ever used a calculator to figure out how much kalkwasser to add.
Well my problem is im using a gravity fed doser for the kalk wasse its about 2 gallons and i hate it i want to get either a calcium reactor or a liter meter 3.but my waters keeps evaporating so quick outta of the tank for some reason so ive been adding r/o as my top off but the kalk i tested it this morning and it was pretty low around 7 or so. Im worried if use kalk water as a top off it will spike up to high and kill everything but being where it is now so low some stuff is showing signs of bleaching.
Dre59
Z&P Addict from IL
IMO its better if you use it with your ATO and start slow to see any negative results. I use 6 teaspoonfuls for 5gal ro/di water. Testing is going to be your main key to find the sweet spot. :thumbsup: I started with 2 teaspoonfuls the 1st week..
Look for the following in YouTube.. They will help
"Dosing Kalk using Toms AquaLifter and the ReefKeeper Lite"
"How To Use the King of All Saltwater Additives Safely and Effectively"
Keep in mind also if you have a PH probe with your RKL.. You can turn off the Aqualifter if the PH reaches after a level provided as a safe guard.
Look for the following in YouTube.. They will help
"Dosing Kalk using Toms AquaLifter and the ReefKeeper Lite"
"How To Use the King of All Saltwater Additives Safely and Effectively"
Keep in mind also if you have a PH probe with your RKL.. You can turn off the Aqualifter if the PH reaches after a level provided as a safe guard.
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so would an ATO connected to a bucket of kalk water be good for using top off for the evaporate water. WHen it gets low it will just pump the kalk water into the tank?
oneradtek202
Pitcher Hill Reef Society
yea it will top off with your kalk.....start with a small amount and measure every day until you get it where u need it. add or remove the amount of kalk to the ro/di until it settles where u want it
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
re: kalk dosing
re: kalk dosing
I've always kept it very simple.
In my 75 I used an empty clean plastic gallon milk jug with a small hole poked into it's side 1" above the bottom of the jug to drip in kalk. I'd let it drip into the overflow box and it would go down into the sump to get diluted before reaching the display.
Nowadays I simply grab a gallon of kalk out of my 30 gallon Brute with a gallon pitcher and pour it into my sump... but keep in mind I have a 220+ gallon system.
Clear plain saturated kalkwasser isn't very likely going to kill a reef aquarium and you can most certainly drip a gallon of kalk into a 75 over the course of 10 minutes or so without killing anything. Keep it simple.
re: kalk dosing
I've always kept it very simple.
In my 75 I used an empty clean plastic gallon milk jug with a small hole poked into it's side 1" above the bottom of the jug to drip in kalk. I'd let it drip into the overflow box and it would go down into the sump to get diluted before reaching the display.
Nowadays I simply grab a gallon of kalk out of my 30 gallon Brute with a gallon pitcher and pour it into my sump... but keep in mind I have a 220+ gallon system.
Clear plain saturated kalkwasser isn't very likely going to kill a reef aquarium and you can most certainly drip a gallon of kalk into a 75 over the course of 10 minutes or so without killing anything. Keep it simple.
I prefer to treat topoff and supplementing the tank as two independent items.
topoff - ideally run this automatically based on water level on return section of the sump. aqualifter is a good pump for this at 3.5 GPH.
supplementation:
please don't fully topoff the tank with kalk, you will nuke your tank. The best bet is to get a pump that dispenses a known quantity/minute (i.1. dosing pump like brs 50ml/min, litermeter - NOT an aqualifter)
(1) determine how much the tank drops in kh by measuring at the same time every day for a few days. you should notice a trend.
(2) go to the calculator (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator) and enter your tank size. go to the alkalinity section, enter the current value and in the next field enter the current value + what you loose/day. MAKE SURE to properly select dkh/meql based on your test kit!!!!), then select the supplement limewater
(3) set your dosing pump to run a total per day for the amount spread out over the course of a day
(4) adjust as needed over the week
BTW - IMHO do not get a caclium reactor for your system. a kalkwasser reactor might be useful though.
topoff - ideally run this automatically based on water level on return section of the sump. aqualifter is a good pump for this at 3.5 GPH.
supplementation:
please don't fully topoff the tank with kalk, you will nuke your tank. The best bet is to get a pump that dispenses a known quantity/minute (i.1. dosing pump like brs 50ml/min, litermeter - NOT an aqualifter)
(1) determine how much the tank drops in kh by measuring at the same time every day for a few days. you should notice a trend.
(2) go to the calculator (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/reef-calculator) and enter your tank size. go to the alkalinity section, enter the current value and in the next field enter the current value + what you loose/day. MAKE SURE to properly select dkh/meql based on your test kit!!!!), then select the supplement limewater
(3) set your dosing pump to run a total per day for the amount spread out over the course of a day
(4) adjust as needed over the week
BTW - IMHO do not get a caclium reactor for your system. a kalkwasser reactor might be useful though.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
I'm sorry pascal but this is simply not true. I'm sure Tom will be able to provide the recommended max kalk dose rate but in reality and after many years of personally using fully saturated limewater exclusively as makeup for evap I can assure you that fully topping off a tank with kalk will not nuke anything.
In fact, for years many people have made the claim that kalkwasser alone can't keep up with Ca/alk demand. This is another popular belief that's not always entirely true. It all depends on many factors.
In any case, you should never dose the kalk sludge. Only dose the clear limewater.
toddmh
New member
This is what I do pretty much..I use a http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store...ories/brs-2-part-doser-1-1-ml-per-minute.html to do the dosing with a timer,I know exactly how much kalk I'm dosing per hour/night ..
Hopefully Tom will chime in and confirm your thoughts. I thought that kalkwassers hydroxide reacted with dissolved CO2 to create carbonate and bicarbonate. In my simple mind that means as long as there is enough CO2 dissolved your alkalinity will continue to increase (not desirable), and if you exhaust the CO2 then the remaining hydroxide will spike the PH (not desirable)
Somehow I vaguely remember reading that this can lead to precipitation of calcium carbonate (snow storm) - though I don't remember how
I'm obviously way over my head so i will be quiet now
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
the laws of physics and chemistry are true for everybody but I've been a limewater "abuser" all my life and I've never seen it cause a precip snowstorm. Calcifying organisms (corals, coralline alga etc.) consume alkalinity and calcium. "Normal" aquarium evaporation rates won't allow for enough limewater to be added (as makeup water) to cause a snowstorm IME. If anything, Ca and alkalinity will slowly slide downwards if you're just using kalk as a Ca/alk supplement (alone).
Now if you're supplementing with something other than just kalk and/or organisms in your aquarium aren't somewhat rapidly depleting Ca/alk you MIGHT see a "snowstorm" event using kalk.... but this rarely the case IME.
Kalkwasser as makeup for evap and regular partial water changes are what I used for many years to grow large (huge!) stony corals- including a massive "red planet" table.
Now if you're supplementing with something other than just kalk and/or organisms in your aquarium aren't somewhat rapidly depleting Ca/alk you MIGHT see a "snowstorm" event using kalk.... but this rarely the case IME.
Kalkwasser as makeup for evap and regular partial water changes are what I used for many years to grow large (huge!) stony corals- including a massive "red planet" table.
yeah i was looking at the leter meter 3 for dosing very in depth
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
I think it's fair at this point to emphasize the fact that all systems are different. Gary and other people are able to dose kalk at a high rate, matching evaporation - but Gary has a TON of calcifying organisms in his tank, and they're all healthy and fast growing, using up calcium and carbonate at a rapid rate. Someone with only a handful of corals could easily "over dose" their tank and either kill things or at least cause important parameters to get way out of whack by using full strength kalk for 100% of their topoff. I can attest to this personally at this very moment in time - my temporary tank evaporates a little more than half a gallon a day. But it's so lightly stocked that I only need to dose a gallon of kalk per week (I do this in small increments dripped daily). Any more kalk than that, and calcium and alkalinity are off the charts, things precipitate, and I'm in a mess.
Another pertinent factor - if your home's environmental conditions change drastically through the seasons (i.e. the humidity drops in the winter), you may find that your tank's evaporation rate changes significantly. If you're simply dosing kalk to match evap, this can introduce variability.
IMHO, the real message needs to be: keep an eye on your system, learn how it behaves, and don't do anything brash when you're trying new methods.
Another pertinent factor - if your home's environmental conditions change drastically through the seasons (i.e. the humidity drops in the winter), you may find that your tank's evaporation rate changes significantly. If you're simply dosing kalk to match evap, this can introduce variability.
IMHO, the real message needs to be: keep an eye on your system, learn how it behaves, and don't do anything brash when you're trying new methods.
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obviously start slow, test frequently, and watch your tank, but most people with well stocked reef tanks end up dosing full-strength kalk for topoff and still need to supplement.
my experience is the same as Gary's. I've definitely been reckless, poured it in all at once, never cleaned the container, used cloudy kalk for topoff water (not advisable!) - the only effects were the corals grew like crazy.
my experience is the same as Gary's. I've definitely been reckless, poured it in all at once, never cleaned the container, used cloudy kalk for topoff water (not advisable!) - the only effects were the corals grew like crazy.
obviously start slow, test frequently, and watch your tank, but most people with well stocked reef tanks end up dosing full-strength kalk for topoff and still need to supplement.
my experience is the same as Gary's. I've definitely been reckless, poured it in all at once, never cleaned the container, used cloudy kalk for topoff water (not advisable!) - the only effects were the corals grew like crazy.
my experience is the same as Gary's. I've definitely been reckless, poured it in all at once, never cleaned the container, used cloudy kalk for topoff water (not advisable!) - the only effects were the corals grew like crazy.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
thanks for sharing your real life experience, Fritz! (How r u doin?)
I never clean the bottom of the Brute. Since freshwater can only dissolve a limited amount of calcium hydroxide I always go heavy on the powder and there's always precip on the bottom when it settles. I use the clear limewater down to the bottom of the Brute and then I refill it while stirring in some more powder. Very easy.
