using of kalkwasser

C

chris ray

New member
Hi guys, does anyone experience of using kalkwasser and my sps all brown out and produce slime....? help this not my first using kalkwasser as only recently having this problem.....:angryfire:!!!!

Thank
Chris
 
Hi Chris,
What are your parameters, namely phosphates and nitrates. High nutrients can cause brown out and also low light. Are you having any algae problems?
Another thing is to verify that you parameters remain stable... alkalinity and calcium are the big ones here. How are you using the Kalk, ATO, reactor, drip?
 
I'll check on ALK levels. The only problem of Kalk doser/top off is you have to monitor it closely. Otherwise it may cause snow storm in your tank and wipe out all your corals.
 
FranktheTankTx said:
Please explain... Is it safe or not? Would lesser amounts - 1 tsp per gallon be safer?? Its kind of scary to think I could be at work & my tank nuked by top off?!
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If you use a pump on a quality timer you would have less to worry about. I have mine set for something like 4 seconds every 4 minutes, never have to worry about it. It matches my evaporation rate. I worry about auto top offs. What if a few tiny snails go into where the water goes? You could have a change in salinity and too much Kalk. As opposed to my system where I always know how much freshwater and Kalk is going into the system.
 
Well Ya.... I am using Profilux, double float valve & a quality pump. Just never used kalk before. Trying to get an idea... Was thinking every hour it runs 20 - 30 seconds?? Would that be too much at once??
 
Hi dunc101,im not using auto and yes having algae problem cant get them out totally!
im not runing any skimmer for pass 3month due to pump break down,even went the skimmer is working the algae are still there! there're circle patches of algae over the rock too not hair type .but on the tank glass is round in shape and also dust looking kind of algae too, i've not test my water parameter as im still waiting for my hana orders .my lighting is one 250wat MH.for my 36 x 30x 20 inch tank no supplement of ant t5 or led .
 
FranktheTankTx said:
So... Just curious (a first time kalk user) - How do you determine how much kalk to put in your ATO???
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Not trying to hijack his tread but if u have an ato there's nothing to worry about..all my friends are using Kalkwaser..no problem..how many gallons is ur ato?lets say its 5,read the kalk instructions and it will tell u so many tbs ...etc etc so 5 gallons x let's just say 2 tbs and ur golden..let ur water settle,as u don't want cloudy water in ur tank,IMHO it really doesn't even matter a little wont hurt...I've done it many times and to be honest my corals love it...but just to be on the safe side let it settle.this will only take about 3o minutes tops.then next time u refill ur ato water with fresh ro water add another Round of kalk,this new Round and the old kalk can mix and don't worry and repeat the same process,...my friend had a 120 and his over the years his ato had like 3 inches of just Kalkwaser at the bottom...IMHO just make sure only clear water goes to ur tank that way ur safe...then u will see that it's easy as it can be,kent kalk hasn't been that great for me but I'm sure it's fine..I use brightwell aquatics Kalkwaser with success..hopefully that helps u..again this is just mho.
 
chris ray said:
and my sps all brown out and produce slime....?
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I really don't think Kalk is what's causing these problems.

xcorallusx said:
if youre dosing kalk, make sure you have a pH monitor like a controller
Click to expand...

+1 I think this is a good idea also.

I have mine connected to a controller to shut off my kalk if my PH gets to high.

acroholicreefer said:
+1. Really important. pH monitor and a float valve prevents overdosing.
Click to expand...

I hope that you really meant to say Float switch.

Float valves with kalk flowing through them eventually fail because of the precipitate that forms on them.

I personally would not use a float valve for anything except clean RO water.

DopeCantWin said:
If you use a pump on a quality timer you would have less to worry about. I have mine set for something like 4 seconds every 4 minutes, never have to worry about it. It matches my evaporation rate. I worry about auto top offs. What if a few tiny snails go into where the water goes? You could have a change in salinity and too much Kalk. As opposed to my system where I always know how much freshwater and Kalk is going into the system.
Click to expand...


I like this because your Alk would be more consistant throughout the year no matter what your evaporation rate is.

Does your PH get too high during the light hours this way? Or do you have this connected to a controller?
 
REEF SMAC said:
I really don't think Kalk is what's causing these problems.



+1 I think this is a good idea also.

I have mine connected to a controller to shut off my kalk if my PH gets to high.



I hope that you really meant to say Float switch.

Float valves with kalk flowing through them eventually fail because of the precipitate that forms on them.

I personally would not use a float valve for anything except clean RO water.




I like this because your Alk would be more consistant throughout the year no matter what your evaporation rate is.

Does your PH get too high during the light hours this way? Or do you have this connected to a controller?
Click to expand...

It ranges about .2 during the day 8.3-8.5 depending on how recently I recharged my Kalk Reactor. Once it goes down to 8.2 I recharge it. My Alkalinity ranges 7-8. I have a fresh air line going into the skimmer from outside which keeps the Ph high from lack of CO2.
 
DopeCantWin said:
It ranges about .2 during the day 8.3-8.5 depending on how recently I recharged my Kalk Reactor. Once it goes down to 8.2 I recharge it. My Alkalinity ranges 7-8. I have a fresh air line going into the skimmer from outside which keeps the Ph high from lack of CO2.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Mine PH goes to 8.5 during the daylight hours and I only dose my Kalk at night. I have my controller set up to only dose Kalk when my PH is below 8.15 (which only happens at night)

My PH is 8.5 during the day with my CA Rx running.
 
REEF SMAC said:
That's interesting. Mine PH goes to 8.5 during the daylight hours and I only dose my Kalk at night. I have my controller set up to only dose Kalk when my PH is below 8.15 (which only happens at night)

My PH is 8.5 during the day with my CA Rx running.
Click to expand...

I have a lot of CO2 in my house for some reason, if I didn't run the line from outside, my Ph would probably be depressed by around .2. Being a 90 gallon, there's less surface area at the top for oxygen exchange compared to volume.
 
I use a geo kalk reactor setup on my ato. It's on a float switch with a brs dose pump. Never have any problems. The reactor keeps the water super saturated to the max ppm. I think the ph is around 11 or so coming out of it. Keeps my ph in the tank stable and my corals happy. Been doing that for years and years.
 
chris it sounds like your topping off manualy and dumping kalk water in, sudden increase in ph and kalk it self will cause the sps to slime(made this mistake before) i currently run a geo kalk reactor on my system, timer stirs the kalk 6 times a day and ATO turns on a booster pump to top off through reactor. ph stays stable and no stress on corals
 
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