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

Biologic

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I've been doing this since April of this year. A lot of misunderstanding and flaming in this thread.

I dosed kalkwasser many years ago when I was first starting out via an ATO and float valve. Not the best method in retrospect. Like many of us we didn't know 100% how it worked. It just worked. NO really, this is sort of re-inventing the wheel like others in this thread has said, but just in a much more controlled fashion. Some wheels are better than others. For me personally, the jury is out on this method, and I am still considering Randy's Sodium Hydroxide 2 Part recipe and using a part C from Tropic Marin.

My code found in the Neptune DOS gear icon, under the advance tab:

Comments are indicated in forward slashes "//" which explains what each line's purpose
If MAIT_1 CLOSED Then OFF //shuts off dosing if I am doing maintenance on the tank
If SMPOFF CLOSED Then OFF //shuts off if the optical water level sensor SMPOFF detects water on the optical eye. Prevents kalkwasser overdose in the event the water volume be too high in the sump. Or prevents any additional volume being added to an already full sump. This sensor also is tied to an alarm.
If Time 09:00 TO 17:30 THEN OFF //prevents any unnecessary daytime kalkwasser addition when my lights should kick off photosynthesis, which raises pH by itself. Also prevents any strange events like an asterena starfish hanging out on the probe in the middle of the day, causing an necessary additions of kalkwasser
Defer 002:00 Then ON //Just good to have after doing anything that might happen above as a little bit of a time delay buffer
If pH > 8.25 Then OFF //my minimum pH set point

My settings in the Neptune DOS:

1670020249882.png


I've calculated my evaporation to be around 2500 mL per day. So I doubled what's required in the APEX. That doesn't mean that the system throws in 2500 mL per day. Naturally what's happening at night the pH falls, the code above in the advanced setting turns ON. The DOS automatically doses at its prescribed internal settings at its own flow rate, which you have no control over without doing some fancy coding. Naturally the pH raises when the kalkwasser hits the water, eventually satisfying the conditional statement of IF pH > 8.25 THEN OFF . See below for what that looks like.

Below is my pH graph. Lights out at 18:30 and lights on at 06:30. Due to the conditional statements that I coded in, kalkwasser is dosed in at this time replenishing calcium and alkalinity.

1670020632859.png


Why am I doing this fad? Pros?
  1. It's easy, inexpensive, needs only one doser head, handles the evaporation. Steady salinity readings. Not much to think about.
  2. Fill up a bucket, fill with saturated kalkwasser, check and/or replenish about every 7-8 days.
  3. I do not go nuts with setting up a Styrofoam cut out, but I see the appeal.
  4. No more dangerous than any other dosing method. Kalkwasser's bad name came from ATO float valve days. This is a better wheel.

What do I wish it address? Cons?
  1. Trace Element Additions in a balanced ionic fashion. I can still dose in Trace A- and Trace K+ into the system, but at that point, I might as well do a Two Part + C. That's three DOS heads.
  2. Alkalinity creeps up. Calcium creeps up. Alkalinity creeping up just could be me not trusting the system "to let it ride". Possibly this is alleviated when you "let go". Then supposedly alkalinity starts dropping because the corals get really happy??? I still need to prove that to myself.
  3. Space. You need a big bucket to do this. I have a 50 gallon tank. I use a 5 gallon bucket. A 200 gallon system would need a small brute trashcan. Obviously with traditional two part methods, it's much more concentrated and needs less water.


That's my two cents. I hope this helps clear things up! It's great for those on a budget. It's not worth all these flames. It's a perfectly legitimate system to dose calcium and alkalinity. Chris might not be the most eloquent speaker but practicality speaking what he's doing is working well for him and others. Reef on y'all.
 

ReefHunter006

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I've been doing this since April of this year. A lot of misunderstanding and flaming in this thread.

I dosed kalkwasser many years ago when I was first starting out via an ATO and float valve. Not the best method in retrospect. Like many of us we didn't know 100% how it worked. It just worked. NO really, this is sort of re-inventing the wheel like others in this thread has said, but just in a much more controlled fashion. Some wheels are better than others. For me personally, the jury is out on this method, and I am still considering Randy's Sodium Hydroxide 2 Part recipe and using a part C from Tropic Marin.

My code found in the Neptune DOS gear icon, under the advance tab:

Comments are indicated in forward slashes "//" which explains what each line's purpose


My settings in the Neptune DOS:

1670020249882.png




Below is my pH graph. Lights out at 18:30 and lights on at 06:30. Due to the conditional statements that I coded in, kalkwasser is dosed in at this time replenishing calcium and alkalinity.

1670020632859.png


Why am I doing this fad? Pros?
  1. It's easy, inexpensive, needs only one doser head, handles the evaporation. Steady salinity readings. Not much to think about.
  2. Fill up a bucket, fill with saturated kalkwasser, check and/or replenish about every 7-8 days.
  3. I do not go nuts with setting up a Styrofoam cut out, but I see the appeal.
  4. No more dangerous than any other dosing method. Kalkwasser's bad name came from ATO float valve days. This is a better wheel.

What do I wish it address? Cons?
  1. Trace Element Additions in a balanced ionic fashion. I can still dose in Trace A- and Trace K+ into the system, but at that point, I might as well do a Two Part + C. That's three DOS heads.
  2. Alkalinity creeps up. Calcium creeps up. Alkalinity creeping up just could be me not trusting the system "to let it ride". Possibly this is alleviated when you "let go". Then supposedly alkalinity starts dropping because the corals get really happy??? I still need to prove that to myself.
  3. Space. You need a big bucket to do this. I have a 50 gallon tank. I use a 5 gallon bucket. A 200 gallon system would need a small brute trashcan. Obviously with traditional two part methods, it's much more concentrated and needs less water.


That's my two cents. I hope this helps clear things up! It's great for those on a budget. It's not worth all these flames. It's a perfectly legitimate system to dose calcium and alkalinity. Chris might not be the most eloquent speaker but practicality speaking what he's doing is working well for him and others. Reef on y'all.
I really want to make this method work for my reef tank. The first two times I tried to implement it, the swing in alk and cal just scared me out of it.

I keep a low alk swing of less than .15 most of the year. There are obviously exceptions. But I would live to think that if I could use a PH probe to peg everything to PH that it will work.

What I can say is that keeping alk that stable with kalk, my ph goes from 8.2 to 8.7. That’s a pretty decent ph swing. (The ph probe is accurate, and calibrated quarterly)

Did you make the transition of this on an established reef tank or did you start using this method day 1. Switching an established frag tank full of sps has me a bit fearful to be able to fully commit.
 

Biologic

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I really want to make this method work for my reef tank. The first two times I tried to implement it, the swing in alk and cal just scared me out of it.

I keep a low alk swing of less than .15 most of the year. There are obviously exceptions. But I would live to think that if I could use a PH probe to peg everything to PH that it will work.

What I can say is that keeping alk that stable with kalk, my ph goes from 8.2 to 8.7. That’s a pretty decent ph swing. (The ph probe is accurate, and calibrated quarterly)

Did you make the transition of this on an established reef tank or did you start using this method day 1. Switching an established frag tank full of sps has me a bit fearful to be able to fully commit.

My goal was less than .5 dKH per day which is I guess pretty standard. That's about what my swing is now. I am not sure what evidence there is for "stable alkalinity" as oppose to we know that pH has significant impacts in biological systems. I am not saying that you are wrong, it's good to be as consistent as possible. Even with alkalinity. I think pH should not be over looked. I think its good that we are all having these discussions and this "ACI Method" really sheds light on how radically wrong we can be about what we think is right or wrong. So this method should be explored. Not shunned as it was in this thread.

So my went from August of 2020, fresh start, then to August of 2021, hurricane. Then finally restarted the tank with my same rock, coral, and fish that was housed kindly by my LFS in February of 2022. I transition into the system slowly. Fully going "ACI Method" in late June. I transition from All For Reef, which is a whole other animal in itself.
 

ReefHunter006

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My goal was less than .5 dKH per day which is I guess pretty standard. That's about what my swing is now. I am not sure what evidence there is for "stable alkalinity" as oppose to we know that pH has significant impacts in biological systems. I am not saying that you are wrong, it's good to be as consistent as possible. Even with alkalinity. I think pH should not be over looked. I think its good that we are all having these discussions and this "ACI Method" really sheds light on how radically wrong we can be about what we think is right or wrong. So this method should be explored. Not shunned as it was in this thread.

So my went from August of 2020, fresh start, then to August of 2021, hurricane. Then finally restarted the tank with my same rock, coral, and fish that was housed kindly by my LFS in February of 2022. I transition into the system slowly. Fully going "ACI Method" in late June. I transition from All For Reef, which is a whole other animal in itself.
My last attempt at controlling ph, caused it to spike alk overnight by .8dkh. So you managed to stay within the .5 threshold dosing the majority at night? And no other alk supplements other than the residual kalk during the day?
 

Biologic

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My last attempt at controlling ph, caused it to spike alk overnight by .8dkh. So you managed to stay within the .5 threshold dosing the majority at night? And no other alk supplements other than the residual kalk during the day?

At first, for about a week, I took a 9 AM measurement and then a 3 PM measurement. This was the most convenient time for me to test. The variance was always higher in the morning of course, and lower in the afternoon. No more than a 0.3 or 0.5 difference. I am sure that sends shivers up your spine. It was nerve racking to me too. In a 24 hour period it shifts about 0.4 or 0.5 at worst. Again, pretty standard.

I am just not convinced that alkalinity swings is the cause for issues of coral RTN or sudden deaths. I cannot imagine the mechanism in which that would fail as a result of an alkalinity swing. Now pH has a huge influence on nearly all organisms, down to how amino acid chains in proteins fold.

Now if I had a hyper established tank with 5 inch SPS colonies, I can be honest with myself and say probably I would not take the risk.




Top down of my tank.

I should add that I am bare bottom. I also run around 140x (assuming they are on only 50% of the time while pulsing mode) turn over from wave makers alone. So I run an enormous amount of flow. Two Neptune WAV's, a Jebao SLW-20, and Jebao SLW-30. Why bother with heaters, need more heat? Add more flow! lol

Screen Shot 2022-12-02 at 11.00.15 PM.png
 

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I’d estimate the normal swing for the majority of reefers is roughly .3 or less.

just remember it’s a logarithmic function so the change is exponential.
I’m going to modify my dosing a bit and dose kalk for 15 hrs a day when my PH is dropping, and the 2 part during the 9 hours it’s typically rising to flatten my PH a bit. Took a lot of maths to figure, but I think I’ve got it sorted… this is my current chart, it has about a .15 PH swing daily but would like to level it out a bit.
 

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ReefHunter006

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I’m going to modify my dosing a bit and dose kalk for 15 hrs a day when my PH is dropping, and the 2 part during the 9 hours it’s typically rising to flatten my PH a bit. Took a lot of maths to figure, but I think I’ve got it sorted… this is my current chart, it has about a .15 PH swing daily but would like to level it out a bit.
I am going to attempt to level out mine from 8.2 to 8.7 today but start slow. Good luck
 

Biologic

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What does everyone consider a large swing in PH?

When I was using All For Reef and/or Sodium Carbonate, I was having daily pH swings ranging from 7.8 to 8.4 in the most extreme cases. On average though I was having 0.3 pH swings on average which I would consider to be a large swing.

A lot of this has to do with CO2 in your home, which really isn't addressed enough in the hobby. However, there's not much you can really practically do about it. We have insulated homes to stay comfortable. The best solution is bringing air from outside from a skimmer. Still you need a large skimmer to have any modest impact.
 

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When I was using All For Reef and/or Sodium Carbonate, I was having daily pH swings ranging from 7.8 to 8.4 in the most extreme cases. On average though I was having 0.3 pH swings on average which I would consider to be a large swing.

A lot of this has to do with CO2 in your home, which really isn't addressed enough in the hobby. However, there's not much you can really practically do about it. We have insulated homes to stay comfortable. The best solution is bringing air from outside from a skimmer. Still you need a large skimmer to have any modest impact.
I do use a scrubber on my skimmer. Usually get about 10 days before the media is purple, but I do get about a .1 rise in PH I’ve found. Nothing substantial, but noticeable.
 

Biologic

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I do use a scrubber on my skimmer. Usually get about 10 days before the media is purple, but I do get about a .1 rise in PH I’ve found. Nothing substantial, but noticeable.

Without knowing much about your system, I am going to guess A) its a large volume of water B) you have a fairly large, but appropriately sized skimmer C) you are using the basic BRS size RO container of CO2 media -- CO2 scrubbers work, but the amount of media is just too little to support the goal. Even triple the size, wouldn't last too long. I think CO2 scrubbers for the most part are better suited on smaller tanks.
 

mdb_talon

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A lot of this has to do with CO2 in your home, which really isn't addressed enough in the hobby. However, there's not much you can really practically do about it.

Of course it depends on the definition of "practical", but air exchange systems are becoming increasingly common even outside of the hobby as a solution to home air quality issues and is certainly a good(though somewhat expensive) option to eliminate co2 from the house.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Of course it depends on the definition of "practical", but air exchange systems are becoming increasingly common even outside of the hobby as a solution to home air quality issues and is certainly a good(though somewhat expensive) option to eliminate co2 from the house.

I have one in my basement. Came with the house as a marginal radon reduction method, but even after adding a better radon mitigation system, we keep it running there to keep the air fresh.
 

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Without knowing much about your system, I am going to guess A) its a large volume of water B) you have a fairly large, but appropriately sized skimmer C) you are using the basic BRS size RO container of CO2 media -- CO2 scrubbers work, but the amount of media is just too little to support the goal. Even triple the size, wouldn't last too long. I think CO2 scrubbers for the most part are better suited on smaller tanks.
75 gallon display, yes on the BRS reactor. My buddy designed a 3D printed lid for my skimmer that would sit on top of it and turn into a recirculating scrubber, but haven’t got it printed yet. Still on the fence with reusing air in that manner. Could get longer periods of time in between replacing media, from what I’ve seen anyways.
 

Shooter6

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Unfortunately too fast on that one as well. 1ml/min puts me at 1440 ml, and I’m dosing around 1200ml. I could probably just have it stop for X amount of mins on the hour…
What you can do is cut the dosing solution with rodi. In a 50/50 mix. Then you can dose more mls but still hit your target amount. That would require you to dose 2400ml to equal the 1200ml your aiming for. That would get you into the continuous dosers ability.
 

BAMatter

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What you can do is cut the dosing solution with rodi. In a 50/50 mix. Then you can dose more mls but still hit your target amount. That would require you to dose 2400ml to equal the 1200ml your aiming for. That would get you into the continuous dosers ability.
That’s an option too. Looks like that new Kamoer will handle things nicely
 

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I really want to make this method work for my reef tank. The first two times I tried to implement it, the swing in alk and cal just scared me out of it.

I keep a low alk swing of less than .15 most of the year. There are obviously exceptions. But I would live to think that if I could use a PH probe to peg everything to PH that it will work.

What I can say is that keeping alk that stable with kalk, my ph goes from 8.2 to 8.7. That’s a pretty decent ph swing. (The ph probe is accurate, and calibrated quarterly)

Did you make the transition of this on an established reef tank or did you start using this method day 1. Switching an established frag tank full of sps has me a bit fearful to be able to fully commit.

Thanks for your wonderfully explained ACI method. Very helpful.

In my case, I have a 110gal display with a 35gal sump. I have a calcium reactor running and dialed in to supply 25dkh water as needed. My tank has been up and running for years and is packed with hard & soft corals & fish. All are doing great.

I am trying the ACI pH method. Running pretty much as explained by Chris in the videos and very similar to your current method. At first, I started this method when I thought my current pH was peaking at around 8.25. So I started using the average pH at 8.20 in the DOS programming and gradually raised it by 0.01pH daily until I reached 8.29. I was thought that I was done, but then found a surprise. I wasn’t sure if I was really at pH of 8.29 so I went out and purchased a new Milwaukee MW102 portable pH probe. Well after the Milwaukee said my pH was really closer to 8.13, my Apex pH probe was reading 8.29 and couldn’t be calibrated lower. So I purchased a new Apex pH probe, calibrated it and started all over again. Unfortunately this new apex probe reads 8.08 when the Milwaukee reads 8.13. Which one is right?? I wish I knew. I have re calibrated both probes many times but can never get them to agree.

My lights ON schedule is 10am to 8pm but I let the DOS rule If pH > 8.11 Then OFF run without restriction. This rule started at 8.08 around NOV 29th and has gradually increased by 0.01pH subject to the average for the last 24hrs after my lights go out. My current DOS set-pt is 8.11.

Here is my pH & Alkalinity graphs so far. Note my alkalinity has had a few large swing of 0.6-0.7dkh but other times runs only about 0.3dkh in any 24hr period. My pH daily swings around 0.5 or lower.


2022-12-05 19_01_32-APEX Fusion and 2 more pages - Personal - Microsoft​ Edge.png


Tan is pH and blue is dkh.
 

Koigula

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That’s an option too. Looks like that new Kamoer will handle things nicely
I tend to do module equipment things most things can not be repaired. I use an apex outlet and just a 50 cc/min brs doser. It is just fine. I do 2 min on/ 20 min off at night. I sort of match evap rate so turned Tunze ATO off and measure salinity weekly.

It is important to get pH towards 8.3 or so if bothering with this method. I do not chase it, I just want to be in range. We have 10 people over last week upstairs and pH dipped 0.1 or 0.2 in basement. I just cracked the basement outside door and it came back in 2 days.

I have an ERV to finish installing. I just need to drill actual house as last daunting task.
 
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Williamson’s Reef

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I tend to do module equipment things most things can not be repaired. I use an apex outlet and just a 50 cc/min brs doser. It is just fine. I do 2 min on/ 20 min off at night. I sort of match evap rate so turned Tunze ATO off and measure salinity weekly.

It is important to get pH towards 8.3 or so if bothering with this method. I do not chase it, I just want to be in range. We have 10 people over last week upstairs and pH dipped 0.1 or 0.2 in basement. I just cracked the basement outside door and it came back in 2 days.

I have an ERV to finish installing. I just need to drill actual house as last daunting task.
How did the ERV workout for you? Did you see a change in tank ph?
 
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