2. I have this idea in my head that kalk keeps things stable even if dosed inconsistently (i.e. ATO). Can someone tell me how wrong or right I am?
thanks
That depends on how much top off your ato set up adds at once. Spreading the kalk and top off over the longest period of time practicable affords the most stability in alkalinity, calcium and specific gravity levels. Dosing more than 1/4 tsp of kalk, ie 16 ozs of fully saturated kalk water per 50 gallons of water volume in any given hour can spike ph and lead to precipitation of calcium carbonate which is anything but stable.
Kalk is calcium hydroxide. They disassociate in water. The oxide joins CO2 to make CO3, carbonate. Some of the CO3 becomes HCO3 bicarbonate. This pulls H out of the water making it less acidic, ie higher in ph. The calcium and bicarbonate are taken up by calcifying organisms and through biological processes the y are joined to form calcim carbonate. CaCO3( argonite/coral sketon, etc). When the ph in the tank water goes to 8.6 or so the calcium and carbonate simply join up a bioticly ,depleting each and leaving CaCO3 precipitant ,basically sand behind .
thanks
That depends on how much top off your ato set up adds at once. Spreading the kalk and top off over the longest period of time practicable affords the most stability in alkalinity, calcium and specific gravity levels. Dosing more than 1/4 tsp of kalk, ie 16 ozs of fully saturated kalk water per 50 gallons of water volume in any given hour can spike ph and lead to precipitation of calcium carbonate which is anything but stable.
Kalk is calcium hydroxide. They disassociate in water. The oxide joins CO2 to make CO3, carbonate. Some of the CO3 becomes HCO3 bicarbonate. This pulls H out of the water making it less acidic, ie higher in ph. The calcium and bicarbonate are taken up by calcifying organisms and through biological processes the y are joined to form calcim carbonate. CaCO3( argonite/coral sketon, etc). When the ph in the tank water goes to 8.6 or so the calcium and carbonate simply join up a bioticly ,depleting each and leaving CaCO3 precipitant ,basically sand behind .