Starting Kalk tonight. Any tips?

[PirateLove]

Hi RC. I am starting Kalk on my 42 gallon tonight. I have been using BRS two part and it looks like I drop 20ppm of Calcium a day and .5 of ALK.

I am starting small with half a teaspoon a gallon. Does this sound safe or is their a Kalk calculator that I am missing...

 

[Spork3245]

I don't have an answer but I'm interested as well. I'll be starting kalk in the next week or so... Just tagging this thread so I remember to check it later.

 

[Drewl117]

Why not just keep using 2 part? Just up the doses to keep things stabil.

 

[Entacmaea]

Hey Pirate - agree that you should be able to keep CA/Alk in line on a 45g with just two-part, you just need to adjust the doses (are you using dosing pumps?). CA drop of 20ppm in a day is something you would totally expect to see.

Dosing kalk is good in many situations, especially if used to raise pH slightly, but the smaller the tank, the more risky it is to use - because it does effect pH so much. For your tank, unless you are having chronically low pH for some reason, I would actually stick with 2-part.

 

[CStrickland]

I can't imagine 1/2 tsp per gallon doing any harm, but it might not be sufficient. Just keep testing, and remember that kalk is good for maintaining levels, but not raising them. So you'll want to start from a good place and calculate your usage needed to stay there, not recover if it slips below your target.

 

[PirateLove]

Thanks for all the responses.

Update**
I started last night and used 1/8 of a teaspoon per gallon and I think it is perfect. My parameters have been stable the past 24 hours. Calcium 420 and Alk 8.456.

Now i just need to find a salt that has these parameters. Maybe I will have to change my Alk levels to match the new salt? So confusing but my corals look very happy.