Preparing KALK

[CoMMaNdeR]

Today I made the DIY Kalk container of 5 litres.

I added a teaspoon of Kalk and mixed it alot. The water came white like milk. People say that let it settle and drip the following day.

That is what I am going to do, but my questions are :

1/ Does the kalk water will still be looking like milk tomorow ?

2/ How much should I drip kalk to mantain a proper calcium reading in a 160gallon / 750 litres tank.

Thanks alot.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1. It will mostly settle, but may be a little cloudy still.

2. Most people replace most or all evaporated water with the limewater. Exactly how much it takes to meet the demand depends, of course, on what is in the tank. Overdosing is noticed usually by high pH, not by increasing calcium or alkalinity. Underdosing will be noticed by low alkalinity.

This article has more:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

Is it good 1 teaspoon kalk with 5 litres water or should I put 2 teaspoons ?

I am afraid to connect limewater with the evaporation water, I prefer dosing with small amounts of kalk in a small container like the 5 litres one I did.

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

How long normally to be on the safe side, should a 5 litres limewater will take time to drip ?

I mean a week , 2 etc !

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1 teaspoon /5 L is a fine place to start. You can always raise it (to twice that) or lower it as need be.

Limewater should be added slowly. If you drip in 1% of the tank volume, that should take on the order of 10-24 h.

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

I was planning to do a big container, not a 5 litres one, lets say a 20 gallon container, put kalk in and water. My plan is for less maintenance, I mean if I do this it will keep dripping alone for about a month right ?

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

bump>

 

[baotchi]

Limewater deteriorates on contact with air. You'll benefit from mixing it as you need it...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I deliver limewater from an 88 gallon reservoir for several weeks. It is fine for that period, as long as the lid is on (a typical trash can lid).

I discuss that in this article:

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.htm

 

[MIKE NY]

Just to give you an idea of how much you would need take for example my system. I replace all of my topoff, about 4-5 gals daily, with limewater and two spoonfuls per gal. I get a PH of 12.1 and it only brings my overall tanks PH to 7.9 at night and 8.1 during the day. I have a total water volumn of about 180 gals.

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys I cannot figure out how is the best thing to drip kalk.
I mean I cannot prepare each day kalk so I would plan a bigger set up, and prepare kalk lets say at least for a month and let it drip alone.

Can some one help me and give me some hints, maybe there are people here that do this kind of thing ?

Thanks alot

 

[pwfirst]

I use a 5-6 gal salt pail and have a float valve in my sump that keep the water at the correct level and it replace the water that evapoates each day. I have a secound float valve on the top of the saltpail hooked up to my water supply. I add one Tbs of lime everyday to every other day, the water fills automatically. Watch for sediment on the bottom of the pail. It adds about 1 1/2 to three gal a day to the tank. pwf

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

some one help me and give me some hints, maybe there are people here that do this kind of thing ?

Sure. Many of us do. I deliver it using a Reef Filler pump, a float switch in my sump, and an 88 gallon reservoir made from 2 x 44 gallon Rubbermaid Brute trash cans plumbed together.

The grandmother article linked above discusses delivery options.

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

Thanks guys.

PWFIRST can you post a picture or design a diagram of your kalk set up, I am curious to see your set up.

Thanks

 

[PsychoKnight]

My limewater autofeed is pretty simple.

I placed a 3 gal trashcan in a 10 gal tank.

The top of the 10g sits at the same level as the top of my refugium. The 10g is connected to the fuge by a clear vinyl hose and to get the siphon started I keep one end of it attached to a powerhead in the 10g, but its always left off and only used to get the siphon to the fuge started.

The 10g has an electronic level controller electrode assembly and shuts off the ro/di when it reached the top.

The ro/di feed goes into the 3g trashcan where I load kalk poweder every other weekend. I keep a super small rio50 pump in there on a switch to agitate when I add kalk, and for a minute or so midweek and on weekends on a dig timer. A clear siphon tube I took from a powerfilter (aquaclear 110) allows overly saturated water from the trashcan to flow into the 10g tank (trashcan sits inside the trashcan) where the water has a chance to settle down and become more clear before it is siphoned into the fuge. Its a two-stage. If I didn't do this, all the solids which have formed in my 10g would probably be in my system by now. Might not need a 2nd stage if I didn't keep it so saturated with kalk, but this way I only add kalk every 3-4 weeks. PH testing shows that both the first and second first stage limewater stays at max saturation at all times.

Seems pretty efficient to me. I pour a scoops of kalk and flip a switch for a minute. Repeart monthly.

 

[baotchi]

PsychoKnight, got a picture of that setup? Looks interesting.

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

Yes indeedn very interesting. It will be much easier for us to understand if you post a pic or a diagram/design

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

?!