Kalkwasser ........... what's safe?

[JCnflies]

A while back I had some great results mixing kalk. But naturally I found that to be a pain in the butt and took t he lazy way out and tried to add a slurry. I did not get either the results I expected (in how the tank looked) or calcium level. Now I am back to mixing.

I read that dosing too much kalk at once can cause serious damage, so I started dosing a half a cup or so with no reaction from the fish and no cloudiness in the water. My corals loved it ........... they are bursting open! But my calcium level is still too low even with the kalk I have added today. I am adding about 1.5 cups of the mix every hour or two. Can I add at a faster rate and still be safe? I would love a kalk dosing device, but don;t know where to buy them and don't know if they are even cheap.

My tank is a 75 gallon with a 25 gallon fuge.

 

[jnfallon]

Corals bursting open doesnt sound like always a great thing.

Stability stability stability.

Time for you to start hanging out in the reef chemistry forum. All the answers you could ever want are there, and its really interesting stuff.

 

[JCnflies]

I agree Bursting might be pushing it a bit, but they look really healthy! I used to ask lots of annoying questions and when I did pretty much as instructed, my tank looked great! Unfortunately, family obligations were so overwhelming that I couldn't do what I should have done from Christmas till about July 1st............ now I am in catch up mode ................ and asking lots and lots of questions

Seriously, though, I have had corals open beautifully over t he last 24 - 48 hours (and solowly over the previous week or so) since my phosphates went to negligible, my nitrates are now around 10 and I have been using some stuff put out my Mark Weiss (recommended by SCFR.) I literally have zoos that I did not know even existed anymore nad could not see for he longest time open and coloring up beautifully - if my calcium was at 420, I could not be happier

 

[JCnflies]

Regardingb the calc at 420, I didn't want to push the calc number in a hurry, so when I put an order in at reefscience, I only ordered corals I knew from experience would prosper in a tank not quite up to snuff ............... frilly mushrooms, blastos, acans, zoos, frogspawn achalice (this one I took a chance on but man did it look awesome in the pic!) and a fungia........... nothing too outlandish. Being a nice guy, Chad substituted (unbeknownst to me) an acro for hte fungia............... so now I am trying to make the acro happy a little sooner than I expected to have one! THe acro is extending his polyps some, but not too far.

 

[teen]

im pretty sure most people use a 2 part additive to get the calcium and alkalinity where they want it, then dose the kalk to maintain it. if your calcium level is just low, try some type of additive to get it where it needs to be first.

 

[jgiordano]

If you ca is not going up try testing for mg.

 

[JCnflies]

THx teen and jg. I went to SCFR to get a Mg test kit . they had none nad none are coming in. I bought some mg and will add slowly so as not to overdue it. I bought the 2 part additive, too.

Thx guys. I'll test tonight and let you know the results

 

[teen]

adding it blindly may not be the best idea.

 

[DgenR8]

The reason you're not supposed to dump Kalk into your system, is that it has a very high PH, around 12. Adding it too fast will drive the PH of your tank up.
If you have a reliable PH monitor, you can add Kalk while closely watching your PH.
Kalk also will not raise your Ca, it will help to maintain it, once you get it to where you want it.
I personally wouldn't even blow my nose in any Mark Weiss product.

 

[jgiordano]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10405117#post10405117 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCnflies
THx teen and jg. I went to SCFR to get a Mg test kit . they had none nad none are coming in. I bought some mg and will add slowly so as not to overdue it. I bought the 2 part additive, too.

Thx guys. I'll test tonight and let you know the results

Test; don't add unless you test.

 

[sleezyp1]

An easy way to dose kalk is a 5 gallon kent aqua doser and a aqua lifter pump. It is adjustable from a slow drip to 30 liters a day. A doseing pump would be best but it is more expensive. You can also run a timmer to the aqua lifter to come on at night when the lights go off.