Advice for a complete supplement dosing that utilizes Kalkwasser

[arking_mark]

I'm using BSR Kalk and a KS-100 stirrer and pH is reflecting dose added. Last couple of dKH readings have been going up so maybe substrate/rock/CUC was absorbing the initial dosing and now the numbers are rising.

With the re-calibrated GHL, my dKH is showing about a .2dKH drop in 6hrs (I stopped dosing kalk last night to see consumption). If that is roughly accurate, I should be seeing ~.2dKH increase per day. Given that my ASW is 7dKH-ish and my current tank reading is 8.1 and I've been running for about a week with kalk, I'm thinking things are accurate enough for discussion. I'll keep monitoring but am still perplexed about what is consuming the Kalk. I'll also look to measure the potency of the kalk. Any easy way to do that?

@Randy Holmes-Farley Can I use a Hanna Salinity Checker to get the potency?

Marine Salinity Tester - HI98319 - Hanna Instruments

"...the HI98319 Marine Salinity Tester measures conductivity (EC) to determine the salinity"

 

[HuduVudu]

PH would probably be better.

 

[arking_mark]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Can I use a Hanna Salinity Checker to get the potency?

Marine Salinity Tester - HI98319 - Hanna Instruments

"...the HI98319 Marine Salinity Tester measures conductivity (EC) to determine the salinity"

Per one of your other posts:

"The best way is by conductivity. Saturation is around 10.3 mS/cm at 25 deg C."

My Hanna is measuring 2.56. I'm just not sure it made to measure Kalk, I'm converting the salinity reading to mS.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Per one of your other posts:

"The best way is by conductivity. Saturation is around 10.3 mS/cm at 25 deg C."

My Hanna is measuring 2.56. I'm just not sure it made to measure Kalk, I'm converting the salinity reading to mS.

It should work fine for this, but to verify, make a for sure saturated solution with 2 tablespoons of calcium hydroxide in a cup of RO/DI. Stir a bit and measure it.

 

[arking_mark]

Per one of your other posts:

"The best way is by conductivity. Saturation is around 10.3 mS/cm at 25 deg C."

My Hanna is measuring 2.56. I'm just not sure it made to measure Kalk, I'm converting the salinity reading to mS.

MyGHL conductivity probe is measuring 3.7mS which I assume is more accurate. The Hanna just shows 1.0001

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

MyGHL conductivity probe is measuring 3.7mS which I assume is more accurate. The Hanna just shows 1.0001

Both are very low potency.

How are you making the limewater?

 

[arking_mark]

I guess foolishly following the KS-100 instructions. Fill 2/3 with RODI add 3/4-1 cup of Kalk then run your doser through the stirrer. It mixes for 10 minutes every 2 hours.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I guess foolishly following the KS-100 instructions. Fill 2/3 with RODI add 3/4-1 cup of Kalk then run your doser through the stirrer. It mixes for 10 minutes every 2 hours.

many people discover their stirrer does not deliver saturated limewater. It's a dark secret of this part of the hobby, and one reason to a void them when you can. I'm not sure all manufacturers even understand the potency their devices produce.

Try measuring at the end of a stirring period. You can always set it to stir more.

 

[arking_mark]

many people discover their stirrer does not deliver saturated limewater. It's a dark secret of this part of the hobby, and one reason to a void them when you can. I'm not sure all manufacturers even understand the potency their devices produce.

Try measuring at the end of a stirring period. You can always set it to stir more.

So one cup of RODI with 2 tablespoons of Kalk:
- GHL = 9.4
- Hanna = 7.2

I'm going to left the slurry settle and measure again.

 

[arking_mark]

many people discover their stirrer does not deliver saturated limewater. It's a dark secret of this part of the hobby, and one reason to a void them when you can. I'm not sure all manufacturers even understand the potency their devices produce.

Try measuring at the end of a stirring period. You can always set it to stir more.

Is there a better method of delivering kalkwasser? At my 25% potency with the kalk stirrer, it's not a good delivery method. Curious about what you are using.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is there a better method of delivering kalkwasser? At my 25% potency with the kalk stirrer, it's not a good delivery method. Curious about what you are using.

I delivered it from a large settled reservoir (3 x 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together). When I made it, I watched the conductivity rise to where I wanted it as I manually stirred it, then stopped stirring.

If you run the stirrer 24/7 it may make continuously saturated limewater.

 

[arking_mark]

I delivered it from a large settled reservoir (3 x 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together). When I made it, I watched the conductivity rise to where I wanted it as I manually stirred it, then stopped stirring.

If you run the stirrer 24/7 it may make continuously saturated limewater.

Thanks!

 

[arking_mark]

@Randy Holmes-Farley So interestingly enough, my kalk reactor leaked due to physics and I had to shut it down. I switched over to just a dosing container with kalkwasser from the reactor. Here's where it gets interesting. I had to stop dosing for about 16 hours, within 24hrs of restarting dosing my alk shot from 8 to 8.6. This triggered my automation to stop dosing kalk. For a week now, the alk has been between 8.5 and 9 (bouncing). The only other thing going on in the tank is %1 AWC with ASW who has a 7dKH. Understandably, my pH has suffered.

What are your thoughts on why my alk would behave this way? Would you recommend restarting Kalk?

In previous discussions, you mentioned the elevated pH helped drive alk consumption keeping my #s much more stable than expected (not rising as expected, it rose from 7 to 8 and then flattened there...which was great). I'm thinking that the break in dosing kalk lowered the pH and when the alk restarted is now having a similar effect of initially raising the alk. My soft target for the tank was to keep it between 8 and 8.5. As my ASW is in the 7ish range and close to NSW for parameters, this would allow me to have slightly raised parameters for Alk/Ca.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What are your thoughts on why my alk would behave this way? Would you recommend restarting Kalk?

Maybe you just dosed more potent limewater now, and so either needed less or got an alk rise?

 

[arking_mark]

Maybe you just dosed more potent limewater now, and so either needed less or got an alk rise?

It's been almost a week with no Kalk dosing. So I would expect a slow decline in Alk. Instead, I see bouncing from 8.5 to 9.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's been almost a week with no Kalk dosing. So I would expect a slow decline in Alk. Instead, I see bouncing from 8.5 to 9.

Then I'd dose nothing and just keep watching. I expect the variations may be testing noise.

 

[arking_mark]

Then I'd dose nothing and just keep watching. I expect the variations may be testing noise.

So the dKH keeps inching up with 1% AWC (~7ish dKH). My last reading was 9.2dKH. This is driving me nuts! Could the low pH be acidifying the sand and boosting Alk and Ca? If you recall our other thread, when I was switching to a new ASW, I had a very similar issue. The tanks dKH kept drifting up.

This tank definitely started at the 7ish dKH as I started it with Neomarine. When I started adding Kalkwasser, I got a good pH boost and a semi-expected increase in dKH. When I pausing and restarted the kalkwasser, again I got the expected rise which triggered my automation to halt the kalkwasser. Now with no kalkwasser and a 1% AWC with low dKH, I would expect my dKH to slowly come down. Instead, it is still slowly rising. I keep checking it with Hanna and GHL to make sure the numbers are similar and they both show an increasing dKH over the last two weeks.

I can continue to wait it out, but I'm thinking that if I add the Kalkwasser dosing again, my pH with rise and the Alk/Ca consumption we were seeing earlier would kick back in. My pH is now bouncing between 7.8 and 7.9 (which is still in the acceptable range).

This week, I added 3 frags (2 sps, 1 lps) from the old tank to the new tank. I'll be adding a couple more in the next couple of days (1 sps and several softies). Speaking of which, the softies have not been happy in the new tank. The water is far "cleaner" than the previous tank. Nitrates run about the same ~20ppm, but the Phosphates are down from about .8ppm to .06ppm.

 

[arking_mark]

Bringing this thread back into focus.

Having mostly sorted out my pH and Alk, and seeing a consistent Alk consumption, I am now monitoring my Mag. Once this starts to drop, I'll begin dosing Mag and trace elements per my original goal of a complete supplement dosing that utilizes Kalkwasser and continue to share results.

 

[DxMarinefish]

I've ben using Aquaforest Component 1-2-3 Balling method and have had great results. My Ca is solid at 460, Alk at 8.8 and Mag at 1375. My corals really love it.

Interested.
What is your ph please?
Don’t want to hijack the thread so apologies to the op.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bringing this thread back into focus.

Having mostly sorted out my pH and Alk, and seeing a consistent Alk consumption, I am now monitoring my Mag. Once this starts to drop, I'll begin dosing Mag and trace elements per my original goal of a complete supplement dosing that utilizes Kalkwasser and continue to share results.

Sounds good.

keep us updated.