New to Kalkwasser

[exnisstech]

You can keep using kalk to pretty much any consumption rate. Add a jebao slw powerhead to the container your kalk is in, and then add MORE kalk. You're then dosing the "slurry" solution.

Let's say you're dosing 2500ml a day of saturated kalk. You could add the powerhead, and then use a concentration of 4tsp/gallon in the container. You would then cut the dosing down to 1250ml a day because the kalk you're adding is 2x concentrated. You can then dose more as the consumption increases.

There's some out there who have gotten up to using a 1 cup / gallon slurry of kalk.

Thanks for the explanation. I've heard of people dosing kalk slurry but didn't really understand how one goes about it. Sounds simple but with some risk / precautions that Randy mentions. The system I'm dosing kalk on will be coming down in in a few months and everything moving into a larger tank. I would like to continue kalk as it just works in this tank and doesn't get much simpler. I may experiment with the slurry before the move. I'm dosing close to my evaporation rate now but I expect that rate to drop with the new tank so I'll most likely need a new method. One quick question, do you leave the powerhead on all the time when mixing the slurry?

 

[Rafaelpadro24]

You can keep using kalk to pretty much any consumption rate. Add a jebao slw powerhead to the container your kalk is in, and then add MORE kalk. You're then dosing the "slurry" solution.

Let's say you're dosing 2500ml a day of saturated kalk. You could add the powerhead, and then use a concentration of 4tsp/gallon in the container. You would then cut the dosing down to 1250ml a day because the kalk you're adding is 2x concentrated. You can then dose more as the consumption increases.

There's some out there who have gotten up to using a 1 cup / gallon slurry of kalk.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm awaiting for a 26 gallon tank and dosing pump. So far not much in hard coral but getting ready to get more. Just wanted to get setup for it. So far my evaporation is between 1.5 to 2 gallons a day my ph drops to around 8.0 in the evening and much higher during the day. Do was looking to dose more in the night and less during the day.

 

[Pntbll687]

Thanks for the explanation. I've heard of people dosing kalk slurry but didn't really understand how one goes about it. Sounds simple but with some risk / precautions that Randy mentions. The system I'm dosing kalk on will be coming down in in a few months and everything moving into a larger tank. I would like to continue kalk as it just works in this tank and doesn't get much simpler. I may experiment with the slurry before the move. I'm dosing close to my evaporation rate now but I expect that rate to drop with the new tank so I'll most likely need a new method. One quick question, do you leave the powerhead on all the time when mixing the slurry?

The powerhead stays on 24/7 to keep everything in suspension.

Jebao slw series or similar are the recommended powerheads to use. I used a similar one from the link below without issue. Now I'm only using a 2x slurry, so I don't know if this powerhead will be suitable for a more potent slurry

 

[Pntbll687]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm awaiting for a 26 gallon tank and dosing pump. So far not much in hard coral but getting ready to get more. Just wanted to get setup for it. So far my evaporation is between 1.5 to 2 gallons a day my ph drops to around 8.0 in the evening and much higher during the day. Do was looking to dose more in the night and less during the day.

You can dose whenever you want. I've dosed only at night, then 24hr, then just during the day. I couldn't tell you if that made a difference or not in coral growth. Dosing at night did seem to keep ph about .1 higher than dosing 24hr a day.

I HIGHLY recommend dosing kalkwasser according to alkalinity demand when starting out. Run away alkalinity can be a thing with kalkwasser, especially if you don't realize how much alk you are adding.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I will again reiterate that someone new to dosing kalkwasser is STRONGLY advised by me to not got down the route of dosing a slurry.

 

[Pntbll687]

I will again reiterate that someone new to dosing kalkwasser is STRONGLY advised by me to not got down the route of dosing a slurry.

AGREED 100%

 

[Damien Buckley]

I’m also interested in kalkwasser. Are there any discussions of a comparison of kalkwasser vs calcium reactors?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m also interested in kalkwasser. Are there any discussions of a comparison of kalkwasser vs calcium reactors?

The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION

There is no aspect of reef aquarium chemistry more important than calcium and alkalinity. Many of my previous articles have described various aspects of these systems in detail. In reading those articles, aquarists will note one pervasive theme: that maintaining appropriate levels of each are...

www.reefedition.com

 

[TWYOUNG]

Well, if one chooses a pump appropriate for the task and uses it correctly that is not a problem. Again, I did it for 20 years and did not have to replace the pump.

There's no reason that a dosing pump delivering kalkwasser from a settled reservoir is ANY different than an ATO delivering kalkwasser from a settled reservoir from the pump harm perspective.

Why would it be different?

Unless I'm missing something I would think it's different bc when dosing from the ATO reservoir you'll end up replacing ALL your evaporation with kalkwasser which may be too much.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Unless I'm missing something I would think it's different bc when dosing from the ATO reservoir you'll end up replacing ALL your evaporation with kalkwasser which may be too much.

The question I posed on what is the difference related to pump damage claims posted above.

That said, one can lower the amount of calcium hydroxide in the ATO water as low as you want. For years I used less than saturated limewater in my ATO because it was not needed.

 

[JVU]

Well, if one chooses a pump appropriate for the task and uses it correctly that is not a problem. Again, I did it for 20 years and did not have to replace the pump.

There's no reason that a dosing pump delivering kalkwasser from a settled reservoir is ANY different than an ATO delivering kalkwasser from a settled reservoir from the pump harm perspective.

Why would it be different?

The difference is having your pump in the CaOH2 solution with most ATO systems, vs not with a peristaltic dosing pump

 

[wranodj]

I use the supernate of kalkwasser in my ATO. Using a 5 gallon container with a spigot above the bottom. Pour off the clear saturated kalkwasser solution into ATO and let ATO pump do the work.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The difference is having your pump in the CaOH2 solution with most ATO systems, vs not with a peristaltic dosing pump

If you are dosing nearly the same amount each day, why does the pump need to be different?

My ATO pump was not in my limewater.

 

[JVU]

If you are dosing nearly the same amount each day, why does the pump need to be different?

My ATO pump was not in my limewater.

That’s fair. I was just explaining what people mean when they say that. Almost all ATO systems have a small pump that goes in the reservoir, and almost all scheduled dosing systems use peristaltic pumps where there is no pump in the reservoir. That accounts for the difference of why folks say putting Kalkwasser in your ATO reservoir can cause the pump (in the Kalkwasser) to fail whereas dosing it doesn’t.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That’s fair. I was just explaining what people mean when they say that. Almost all ATO systems have a small pump that goes in the reservoir, and almost all scheduled dosing systems use peristaltic pumps where there is no pump in the reservoir. That accounts for the difference of why folks say putting Kalkwasser in your ATO reservoir can cause the pump (in the Kalkwasser) to fail whereas dosing it doesn’t.

Ok, I understand that.

 

[Mohamed Ashfan]

Hi. Can anyone explain or foward me to a link to the difference of application of the different methods of applications of kalk.
- ACI method (dose to maintain PH)
- through ATO (mixed with topoff)
- dose to KH

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi. Can anyone explain or foward me to a link to the difference of application of the different methods of applications of kalk.
- ACI method (dose to maintain PH)
- through ATO (mixed with topoff)
- dose to KH

IMO, there's never a scenario where dosing to maintain alk is not optimal.

Through an ATO can work after you figure out how much is needed and how much to then dose, based on the daily evaporation, but if evaporation changes the dose will change and that may be suboptimal.

I have serious issues with dosing to maintain a specific pH, and it will often fail to produce desirable results. It can work in some particular scenarios (alk demand is substantially higher than all the possible limewater/kalkwasser delivery can manage), but if your tank does not fit that scenario, it won't.

There's a ton of the latter method discussion here:

ACI Kalkwasser Method.... I've watched this video and read a few articles, still not sure the exact method.

ACI Method.... I've watched this video and read a few articles, still not sure the exact method.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Miami Reef]

pH probes are also prone to losing calibration over time. pH also changes a lot depending on CO2 concentrations.

I don’t think it’s smart to use pH to control alk additions. It’s a big point of failure if the probe gets stuck on a low number and your system is automatically dosing alk to bring it up.

Control alk and if pH is still too low, try to find ways to bring it up (dosing high pH alk additives to control alk, better aeration, more ventilation from outside, Refugium/turf scrubber, and/or CO2 scrubber).

 

[Bonsai_Reefs]

Im using reef octopus kalk stirrer, hydros to maintain ph with a milwaukee glass ph probe and the doser on the x10. ph parameters are set to 8.29 low 8.33 high.

when the lights go on full power, my doser pretty much stops until the light starts to ramp down. it does this automatically since the tank keeps its own ph without needing help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Im using reef octopus kalk stirrer, hydros to maintain ph with a milwaukee glass ph probe and the doser on the x10. ph parameters are set to 8.29 low 8.33 high.

when the lights go on full power, my doser pretty much stops until the light starts to ramp down. it does this automatically since the tank keeps its own ph without needing help.

Are you tracking alk?