Stony corals: how does kalk work? The lazy man's way to reef.

[John_B]

If I manually top off directly into the DT daily, how much kalkwater would I be safe to add at once if I mix at 1 tsp per gallon of water?

 

[nanojg]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php#5

a good article on limewater, from the article:

" Delivering a small amount of limewater all at once. Adding 1.25% of the aquarium’s volume (1.25 gallons of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) as saturated limewater all at once raises the pH by 0.6 to 0.7 pH units. Such an increase is clearly too large. Adding a smaller portion all at once can, however, be acceptable. Adding, for example, 0.25% of the aquarium volume (0.25 gallons or 1 L of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) will raise the pH by only 0.1 to 0.2 pH units. Unless the pH is high (>8.4) before the addition, that amount is likely acceptable. The other concern with all-at-once dosing is that the local pH in the area of the addition will rise considerably higher than the values above. So dosing must be done far from living organisms, and in high flow areas that will facilitate fast mixture. In some aquaria, such restrictions make all-at-once dosing of limewater prohibitively risky to living organisms."


So if you added 0.5% of the aquarium volume at 50% saturated limewater (1 tsp per gallon) it would raise ph about .1-.2 which is safe.

 

[w16227]

Thanks for that, w16----
Kalk reactors have some drawbacks: they were not for me---I had a line come loose and spew kalk over my entire basement floor, and I broke 2 eighty-dollar lab stirrers trying to make mine work. Because I have plenty of room, it's easy for me to make up a huge amount of kalkwater (32 gallons.)t.

some stuff snipped -

There are also some very simple reactors.

When starting - I bought the Tunze Osmolator topoff - they had a kalk attachment. Pretty much a separate chamber that the topoff line (like a refrigerator water line) pushed water through. Sort of like what Sk8r has - just not directly added to the topoff bucket. This worked well with little chance of a mess (you could remove the chamber with quick connects) - but was not that useful for a larger tank as I had to refil the chamber a lot. Even with quick connects - it was just too often.

Note on stirrers - echo Sk8r - some are known to be troublesome. One of the reasons I like the PM model - in that the water is forced upward through the kalk "slurry" helping keep the saturation level - and that the stirrer is not really a stirrer at all - but a powerhead pump (Maxi-Jet 400).

The pump needs replacement every so often, but a MJ400 is cheap and I have not had to replace mine in 3 years. It has just started to rattle some, so wither needs a good vinegar soak - or the impeller might finally be shot.

 

[SKurj]

Good thread, I think I am almost there, today's readings:
Salinity 1.026
Temp 79
Alk 6.9
Mg 1370
Ca 400
Nitrate 10 (big drop this week!)

I am going to add some alk buffer each day the next few days and retest, as soon as it gets close to 9.3 I'll add some kalk to the tunze.

 

[Sk8r]

You need to add a bit of calcium after your alk gets up to level. Once you have it, your mg will lock all 3 in relationship. You might want to add a bit of freshwater to lower that salinity .001, to 1.025---gives you a little wiggleroom in both directions.

 

[kingevil]

I add ro/di to the barrel about once every couple of weeks. I unplug my topoff pump overnight, to let the kalk settle from the agitation it gets from having new water dumped in. By morning the kalkwater is ready, with my never having physically stirred it. And I just plug the topoff pump back into the wall and I'm good for another two weeks.

so, do you only stir when you add new kalk? if there is still residue on the bottom of your ato res, and you add new water, do you still have to shut the ato pump off overnight? since i've never done this, i'm not sure how much gets stirred up when you add new ro/di water.

 

[pfcreed]

thanks so much for explaining this

 

[Sk8r]

Only when you add new water. Leave the ATO off 12 or so hours the first time, which should be long enough to let the white stuff settle back to the bottom. THat filmy but clear water's what 'settled kalkwater' looks like. Now turn on your ATO. Once you know what settled kalkwater looks like (only slightly filmy) just have a look before you go to bed and just switch your ato on if it looks clear enough. If not, wait til morning. It's not going to hurt anything if it has to do a little catchup from overnight.

 

[kingevil]

if my numbers are just below where i want them, can i start adding kalk (pickling lime) now, to keep the numbers from falling further, and then add supplements to bring up those numbers?

 

[Sk8r]

Kalk itself is not good at raising numbers. Stop the kalk drip temporarily and use hand-dosing of calcium, mg, alk buffer supplements to bring it perfectly to level, then start your drip and it should hold exactly there. Always raise mg first, because that's the prop that holds the other two up. Mg first, then alk, then cal.

 

[kingevil]

thanks.

what's really frustrating is that my freshly made red sea coral pro salt mix does not produce the numbers it advertises. i use ro/di water, bring the temp up to 80 and 1.25. grrr....

 

[pfcreed]

if my MG is greater then 1300 do I need to lower it.

 

[thegrun]

1300 is fine, I try to keep mine at 1350-1400.

 

[pfcreed]

kh 7.0 ca 480 and mg is 1460 what do I need to do to get ready.

 

[danmartis]

Stony coral: any coral that has a hard skeleton. The two types are sps (small polyp [mouth] stony) and lps (large polyp stony). SPS take a bit stronger light than lps, and a good skimmer: since they mainly eat light, very clear water is a must.

The other must for any stony coral, lps or sps, is calcium supplement. Your salt mix and water changes won't be enough. These corals sop up an amazing amount of calcium, and a smallish feeding hammer coral can suck the calcium out of your salt water literally overnight.

Kalk is literally calcium powder. The good thing is, a) it's real cheap and b) it self-measures. You dump a cup into your 5 gallon topoff reservoir---and stir it once. Water can only 'carry' so much of it, ie---only the 'right' amount WILL dissolve. The rest will form a white paste at the bottom. You have highly calciumed water, now, feeding into your tank. And if you have a tank that's in the 75 gallon range, this is all the calcium your corals can want. [Big reefs have to get aggressive and FORCE water to carry more, using a calcium reactor---but little reefs are just fine forever with kalk in a LIDDED topoff bucket. [Air makes a film on the kalk in the bucket].]

There's only one catch: you have to start with your salt water in good shape. 3 minerals have to be in balance to make this work. You test your tank's magnesium level first. Get it to 1300, first, and remember---you don't 'instantly' dose up to a level---wait several hours to retest, and if not enough, add more, wait several hours, retest---you get the picture. The next step, probably the next day: test alkalinity. Get it to 9.3 by stages. The third step, again, test your calcium. [never add calcium supplement and alkalinity buffer together: you get a snowstorm.] You want it at 420.

Once your tank is at these readings, put the kalk in your topoff bucket, be SURE your topoff pump is sitting on something to keep it out of the white paste at the bottom; also lid it (cut a notch for your pump cord and output hose: use foam rubber for a gasket) and let 'er rip. Check your water level in the bucket and always refill before the water runs out. When there's no more white paste in the bottom, add another lot of kalk. Test your magnesium level in your tank at least every 2 weeks, but don't worry about your alk and cal. Those CANNOT fall so long as you don't let that bucket run out of water and kalk--- And as long as your tank doesn't run below 1200 on magnesium. That's your 'safe' zone for magnesium---1300 to 1200.

When you finally goof and let your tank-magnesium run out or let your bucket run out of water, you have to test your tank water and get it back in shape, then re-set-up your topoff/kalk system and then go merrily back to your lazy occasional-testing, no-dosing ways.

I have a 32 gallon trashcan as my topoff bucket. I can leave town for a month and know that my corals are going to eat just fine, if my tank sitter just pours 3 buckets more ro/di water into the trashcan in the second week and drops food cubes into my tank for the fish.

Hello.I would like to add some Mrs wages to my top off.here are my parameters
CA 440
Mg 1400
Alk 8.3
Used salifert test kits.
could I go ahead? Thank you

 

[devildog999]

Sk8r-

For my 55g with no sump, can I use a 5g jug with an 1/4 line in it to syphon out kalk water into a 1g container to pour into my tank twice a day? I know you should use an ATO but don't have one yet or an ability for it to work with my system ATM. I don't have a whole lot of corals in the tank.... a frag frogspawn, frag candy cane, frag kenya tree, frag palmtree coral, goniopora, flowerpot frag.....think that's about it. So far my water changes have kept calcium pretty good but know that sometime soon, more is going to start being used. Will what I described work? If not, what other ideaa whould you have for someone with a tank like mine?

Thank you much

Mark

 

[emedock]

Great info! I always rinse out the bottom layer of white paste in the bottom of my auto top off. I never realized I could just remix more rodi water with it until it all dissolved.

 

[lacybiker2000]

This is an absolutely great thread. Up till now I've only had small tanks, 5-30 gal...so frequent water changes pretty much keep me in line. However, I'm in the process of setting up a 75 and this is just what I needed.

 

[CindyK]

Thank you Sk8r