What is kalk?

tmplge

tmplge

Premium Member
So guys, tell me, what exactly is kalk, and what is the best way to incorporate it into our tanks? Thanks.
 
Kalk is the German word for lime. Kalkwasser is the translation of.....limewater.

Lime is calcium hydroxide.
 
Ok, sincet his is a related topic, I'm going to be hijacking this thread! sorry :) But what's the difference between adding Kalk to your top off water and adding calcium and pH buffer to your top off water?
 
Kalk vs Calcium addition or both?!

Kalk vs Calcium addition or both?!

Hi all,

Taking a recent plunge into SPS corals as historically I have focussed on softies. With this, I now believe I need to look at my Ca levels in the aquarium and have become more concerned in having a buffer for Ph.

My question is this. What's the diff with dosing calcium Vs dosing Kalkwasser? My initial thoughts were to have a simple peristaltic pump dripping in a calcium mix throughout the day.

I have got an ATO but I don't use it as its not needed (all water surfaces are covered).

Any recommendations.

Ps, it's 100G system. It's not ram jammed full of hard corals but I'd like more and seeing as now I dose vodka, I'm less likely to get calcium from the regular water changes I currently do.
 
Shotter said:
Hi all,

Taking a recent plunge into SPS corals as historically I have focussed on softies. With this, I now believe I need to look at my Ca levels in the aquarium and have become more concerned in having a buffer for Ph.

My question is this. What's the diff with dosing calcium Vs dosing Kalkwasser? My initial thoughts were to have a simple peristaltic pump dripping in a calcium mix throughout the day.

I have got an ATO but I don't use it as its not needed (all water surfaces are covered).

Any recommendations.

Ps, it's 100G system. It's not ram jammed full of hard corals but I'd like more and seeing as now I dose vodka, I'm less likely to get calcium from the regular water changes I currently do.
Click to expand...

Kalk replaces Ca and carbonate, as apposed to just dosing Ca.

First step will be to test your alk and Ca regularly over a week or so, to get a baseline and to see how much of each are used. Alk will be used quicker than Ca.
 
Kalk is powdered calcium---ground up limestone, I guess. I use Mrs Wages' Pickling Lime tossed pretty cavalierly into a 32 gallon ATO reservoir: I don't measure anywhere near accurately, since only 2 tsp per gallon WILL dissolve in ro/di water, and if any falls to the bottom undissolved, a new add of ro/di will dissolve that. Kind of self-measuring in that regard. It can't RAISE your calcium on its own, but if you set your parameters to 8.3 alk, 420 calcium, and 1350 magnesium, the ATO feed will MAINTAIN all those parameters at once---except the mg, which depletes real slowly. Once the mg dips below 1200, the alk will fall, which then causes the cal to fall---so if you just test your mg once a week and add more if it's trending down---you can maintain those parameters steady as a rock for weeks on end. I've dosed up my mg a shade high and left town, with instructions only for the reefsitter to add more ro/di from a second barrel after 2 weeks, and came back after a month's absence to a perfectly-parametered reef---in fact, everything had grown nicely.
 
Sk8r said:
Kalk is powdered calcium---ground up limestone, I guess.
Click to expand...

Limewater is calcium hydroxide. When added to your saltwater, you get the Ca obviously. The OH then combines with CO2 in the water, giving you the carbonate part (alkalinity as carbonate hardness).

Good advice otherwise, as always sk8r
 
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