Options going beyond dosing ?

[tmz]

Well you're right on the skimmer to take out the bacteria and provide aeration.

The vinegar,however, will not mold over in the kalk wasser up to 48ml per gallon with 2.72 tsps per gallon kalk.
It will in plain water like someone using a kalk reactor and a fresh water ato reservoir might employ.In that case the preservative power of the low ph for the 5% acetic acid solution(vinegar) is lost to dilution. On an opposite note of the same chord , the high ph of the kalk wasser keeps the bacteria and other organisms at bay.

To be clear it's just another option but the organic carbon dosing that comes with it is another story in terms of culturing the right level of bacteria vis a vie nitrate and phosphate levels.I dose vodka an vinegar but prefer bolus dosing to slow dosing via kalk additions.
I think increased surface area might help. You'll also be increasing the water volume and with it the overall pool of carbonate available to calcifying organisms.

Yes, slow dosing bicarbonate or carbonate as an additional supplement could work. Monitoring calcium at least every few days when you start seems prudent if you do.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Thanks for the correction regarding the mold issue.Come to think of it,
Iwas using a kalkreactor when I posed the question to one of the chem wizard kids and can see now why I got the answer I got.I just assumed adding it to my limewater reservior would likely have the same outcome with mold.

Is there any particular reason you prefer manual dosing verses adding it in bulk to a still reservior?

 

[tmz]

I like to bolus dose it in the am and pm. This adds more at once ,theorectically causing a burst of facutative heterotrophic bacterial growth which encourages more anaerobic activity as they use up the free oxygen and thus greater denitrification. This is also why I use mostly vodka ,since bolus dosing large amounts of vinegar can cause more drastic short term ph , because of the CO2 it brings in, than vodka can. Both reduce ph over the long haul but vinegar does it more prcipitously when dosed in high volume.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Ok,thanks for sticking with me on this.I think Ive got a plan now and I'll get some pics up once I get going.

-Steve

 

[Gravesj1s]

Everyone has their own approach to these sorts of things, but if I were in your shoes, I would probably do the following:

1) Put a fan on the sump or DT. It can make a big difference in evap, letting you get more kalk in as topoff.

I'm not sure if this alone made such a noticable improvement as I also removed most of the monticaps and raised my temperture about 5 degrees.

Though I got to say for the past week my alk seemed to stabilize at 9dkh by adding the fan into the mix.
Tested once every morning for the past 8 days and its gone from a low starting point of 8dkh whitch I suspect would have continued to drop lower, to a solid 9dkh.
Still plan to add a 40 breeder or something close to it and plumb it inline to my 72 gal dt.But this has definately helped take the pressure off getting it done right away.

-Steve

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

With winter coming and humidity dropping it'll be interesting to see if your evap goes up enough that you're fine (until next summer at least) with no other changes.