What to do?

[Lakeside518]

I'm pretty annoyed with my lame Kalk setup Its very basic! A 5 gal salt bucked i have to refill every 3 days and add 5 to 10 teaspoons of kalk and stir. Arrrr it blows.

I thought about adding another rubbermaid to my RO/DI setup with a float valve. I don't want to dilute my kalk mix. How would i know if its to lean or to rich.

Whats a good simple method of making and storing kalk mix?

I do not have room for a kalk reactor upstairs next to or under my tank Whats a guy to do? lol Put a kalk reactor downstairs in the basement? Plumb it how?

Thanks for any ideas

Kris

 

[kpcollins31]

Tagging along as I have the same general question.

Kevin

 

[Dave ESPI]

.....be sure to label

 

[Rainer Feyer]

Kris,

your question is actually a very good one.

First, Kalk mixes should not be exposed to the air during storage (due to the interaction with CO2), so, ESPI's garbage bag does meet that requirement (though I use a 5g water jug with a lid - the jugs used for water dispensers - BJ's sells the jug with spring weater for $4.+)

Second, the amount of kalk needed is very specific to yur tank - depends how many SPS you have and what their growth rate is.

So, in my 75g setup with the 55g refugium, I use the Kalkwasser for my top off, nothing else. I place 40ml vinegar with 5tbsp of kalk into a 1/5g container, mix well, let settle overnight. I then add this to the 5g jug and fill up with RO/DI.

If you want to calkulate how much Kalk you need, check your Alkalinity and Calcium before and after doing this routine, then adjust your kalk or your additives pending a rise or fall in your values.

Hope this helps,

 

[Ken668]

Rainer, why do you add the vinegar to the kalkwasser? I haven't heard of this being done before.

 

[TA]

Kalk solution should be saturated. Never hurts to put in more than needed (just assures saturation). If you have a kalk reactor, then you know what I mean.

The vinegar simply allows you to achieve a higher concentration of dissolved calcium hydroxide (more mg/ml).

Calcium reactor works by a similar principle...injected CO2 acidifies the water recirculating through the reactor (reducing the pH 8.3 down to around 6.7-7.0; similar effect is acheived by addition of vinegar to kalk; just as cleaning your pump parts with vinegar dissolves the calcium carbonate build up) which dissolves the reactor media increasing the concentration of dissolved calcium and alkalinity.

Of course there are a number of advantages of using a reactor over kalk in that you get the benefits of all the other goodies (trace elements) locked inside the reactor media that are not found in kalk. Then again, reactors tend to lower your pH while kalk tends to increase the pH...thats one of the reasons why I like to use the two together.

HTH

 

[Ken668]

Thanks for the info Tony. But if you are using this with your ATO, wouldn't having much higher levels cause your CA to be on the very high side (maybe too high)? That and the fact you'll be going through Kalkwasser much faster? Sorry....trying to weigh the real benefits here.

 

[TA]

When you say "this", I assume you mean vinegar (?).....I don't use vinegar.

When I used kalk alone (no reactor), I could NEVER get calcium levels up to 400....always around 350-380...even with 1-2 gal top-off per day for my ~90-100 gal system. Also, I believe that most people (at least that I've read here on RC) use kalk soln. for all their top-off needs.

I NEVER had problems with alkalinity being too low....if anything, too high (even when I stopped using kalk for a while, I still had somewhat elevated levels - like 12dKH - and I never really understood why)

With my reactor, calcium levels are stable around 420...but you're right, I can easliy get them through the roof if I'm not careful, but I attribute that mainly to my reactor "out-of-tune"... NOT the use of kalk.

I was simply trying to explain the "Why" people use vinegar to dissolve kalk.


You and I don't really don't even need it!
Like I said, I use it mainly as a "pH adjuster" to even out the effect produced by the reactor.

 

[vmiller]

Kris,

Do you have a calcium reactor? If so, try going without dosing kalk for a while and keep an eye on your parameters. As long as you're not keeping picky species like some of the difficult Acropora, you should be able to get away with it. For what it's worth, I've dosed very little kalk over the last year or two, and while my acros have not done well (probably for other reasons though), everything else has been fine. However, I have a calcium reactor and a large volume of water.

 

[Lakeside518]

I would like to invest in a calcium reactor and run it off my new AC Jr. possibly? Pretty simple to setup? Tony i may have to ask a favor in the future, if i decide to get a calcium reactor if possibly you could stop by and help me set things up?

Thats another large investment. I like the Korallin C-1502 package. Plus it comes with an eheim pump I trust that i could run that along side my stand with little worry of leaks?

Kalk is great i like how it boosts PH and my calcium levels are always above 400 lucky there. Mostly LPS corals and 1 Milli

I am going to try a couple monti coral frags from LiveAquaria some plating and digitata.

Thanks for the input so far. Keep it coming. Back to work I'll check back later.

 

[vmiller]

If you want to save some money on a calcium reactor, check out myreefcreations.com. I think Dan has one that he's selling.

 

[Ken668]

Thanks again Tony. I think I'll refrain from using the vinegar solution.

Kris, another route is to try the two-part solutions (B-Ionic, Kent, etc.) . If you wanted to make it more automated, you can pick up a dual tube dosing setup for relatively cheap online.

 

[Lakeside518]

You would think a calcium reactor would pay for itself pretty quick not having to buy 2 part additives like ESV. The media isn't that much & you don't have to replace it that often?

 

[Ken668]

It might be more economical in the long run to go with a reactor. I was just thinking you didn't really have the room for a reactor from what you posted above.

 

[Lakeside518]

Yeah at this time it would be a very tight fit. It would be surrounded with wires as i like to keep all my timers and wires on the left side of the stand hidden in the corner.

I hope to be moving within the next couple months. I should try and plan ahead. I have no plans of buying a reactor for awhile I'm sure tho. Maybe with tax refund check. lol

 

[jaze36]

Kris very shortly I will be setting up my kalk reactor, that will be controlled by my auto top off set up and feed through the tank with a aqua medic dosing pump. If you want when it is set up and going I can let you know how it is working. If your interested or curious enough to make the trip to gloversville you could check it out.