All For Reef + Kalk to boost ph?

[LuizW13]

Happy Friday reefers!

I'm wondering if anyone has ever supplemented their 2-part or in my case AFR with Kalk to get a bump in ph. I don't have a PH problem, It's pretty steady at 8.1ish (salifert); I've tested in the afternoon, late evening, and early morning.

Anyway, I'm using about 10ml's a day of AFR. I say about because I've been gradually increasing the amount of AFR every night. Back in early November, after Aquashella, I had my first Alk consumption spike, and got to a point where I was dosing 5ml's. A few weeks ago, I had another consumption spike and have been gradually increasing AFR every night (I also test alk with Hannah every night). I think I've reach a point where 10mls is keeping me steady at 7 dkh.

My thought process was, I'll mix some Kalk in a glass bottle of some sort, reduce the amount of AFR and then dose a bit of Kalk to compensate. The question is, how much AFR should I reduce, and how much Kalk should I use? Is there a good practice or guideline for starting this out?

Also, by the way, I'm dosing manually by hand every day; I usually divide my daily dose in two parts. Half goes in at lights out, and the other half goes in the morning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Many people do this.

Best bet is to replace most of your evaporated water with the kalkwasser, and use whatever other system (AFR or similar products, two parts, or CaCO3/CO2 reactor) to add whatever else is needed to maintain alkalinity.

Instead of kalkwasser, one can also use a very high pH two part (which uses hydroxide as the alk part) that has the same pH boost.

 

[LuizW13]

Thanks Randy,

The reason why I wanted to do in reverse of what you're saying, use AFR and then boost with Kalk is because I've good a good understand of how AFR works for my system now, plus they add trace elements- which isn't a big deal since I do regular water changes anyway.

But I'd also like to avoid running the Kalk though my ATO pump. Also, during this time of year here in north Texas, the weather is crazy, it can be 70 degrees one week, and then 30 the next, currently 28 right now. So, I'd prefer to manually dose to have more control.

I should have looked into that hydroxide- Kalk already on it's way.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The problem is it takes a lot of high pH alk supplement to make a significant pH boost. A little may not be noticeable.

 

[Mal11224]

I am currently using AFR as well as kalkwasser with a very slow drip primarily for stability of alk, calc and ph. I add about 60ml of AFR/day which equates to about 10ml per 26 gal for me. I use a 5 gal bucket for the Kalk and a kamoer peristaltic pump for the dosing. I have a 15gal ato container but the thought of my ato bugging out on me scared me so I did not go that route. It works out great for me, my numbers are very steady as a result. So, I am using Kalk primarily for stability. My ph has definitely improved since adding it and has been more stable.

 

[LuizW13]

The problem is it takes a lot of high pH alk supplement to make a significant pH boost. A little may not be noticeable.

Oh, I see what you're saying now. I guess then really the only logical thing would be to establish an understanding of how Kalk affects my system, and then work my way to maybe 50/50 AFR and Kalk?

 

[Mal11224]

Also, as far as Kalk is concerned, it seems the rule of thumb is a teaspoon per gal of RO. I don’t think you need to adjust your AFR dosage. Personally, I would start slow and monitor my numbers after dosing Kalk and then adjust as needed. Make sure you do not over mix the Kalk and use a container that keeps it sealed tight. Exposure to air for too long will make it useless specifically the CO2 component.

 

[LuizW13]

I am currently using AFR as well as kalkwasser with a very slow drip primarily for stability of alk, calc and ph. I add about 60ml of AFR/day which equates to about 10ml per 26 gal for me. I use a 5 gal bucket for the Kalk and a kamoer peristaltic pump for the dosing. I have a 15gal ato container but the thought of my ato bugging out on me scared me so I did not go that route. It works out great for me, my numbers are very steady as a result. So, I am using Kalk primarily for stability. My ph has definitely improved since adding it and has been more stable.

Thanks for your input. How much Kalk are you dosing in comparison to AFR?

 

[Mal11224]

Thanks for your input. How much Kalk are you dosing in comparison to AFR?

No problem, currently, I am dosing with the kamoer pump at 1.5ml per min And my alk is 7.2-7.4, calc is 450-456, mag is 1393-1405,
ph goes from About 8.08 - 8.28

AFR via my DOS is 60ml per day dosing for 24hr period.

 

[LuizW13]

No problem, currently, I am dosing with the kamoer pump at 1.5ml per min And my alk is 7.2-7.4, calc is 450-456, mag is 1393-1405,
ph goes from About 8.08 - 8.28

AFR via my DOS is 60ml per day dosing for 24hr period.

1.5ml of kalk per minute and 60mls of AFR a day?! Wow!

 

[Mal11224]

1.5ml of kalk per minute and 60mls of AFR a day?! Wow!

Yeah, it seems like a lot but imagine if you used your ato, it would be considerably more as you replenish your tank’s evaporated water With it.

 

[LuizW13]

Yeah, it seems like a lot but imagine if you used your ato, it would be considerably more as you replenish your tank’s evaporated water With it.

So, here's another wrench in the equation- I'm doing all this manually with a 10ml syringe.

I've been waiting for the Versas to become available, so, I've been holding out on buying dosing pumps.

I guess I'll just find a way to mix a bit of kalk in a glass bottle and sub some of the AFR for it. I'd rather under-dose then overshoot; my tank has never been above 7.2 dkh, but it's been below 6 at one point.

 

[Viva'sReef]

I was dosing about 12ml a day of AFR when I decided to give Kalk a go again to help raise/stablize PH. I say again because on my old system Kalk was my sole source of Alk/Ca supplement aside from water changes and it worked really well, 100% of my top off was saturated Kalk water through a reactor.

This time around on my 75g (total volume of about 90g with sump) after trying to do both Kalk and AFR I had to cut out the AFR completley if I wanted to use Saturated Kalk water via Auto Topoff. Turns out even that wasnt enough (or too much) because it slowly drove my dKH above 12. I tried adjusting how long the stir would mix the Kalk to as low as 10 seconds a day but still it rose. So I shut the stirrer off completley and let the tank come back down slowly to around 9 dKH and am now back to dosing AFR and discontinued Kalk until my need rises or the AFR dosing gets to be too much.

The effect on PH was good but not great as well. Nothing like what adding a recircualting Co2 scrubber did.

 

[Mal11224]

So, here's another wrench in the equation- I'm doing all this manually with a 10ml syringe.

I've been waiting for the Versas to become available, so, I've been holding out on buying dosing pumps.

I guess I'll just find a way to mix a bit of kalk in a glass bottle and sub some of the AFR for it. I'd rather under-dose then overshoot; my tank has never been above 7.2 dkh, but it's been below 6 at one point.

Manually dosing can be a challenge. My tank relies on the AFR to add alk, calc because it also adds mag and trace elements. Also, my tank is 171gal and is stocked pretty well. So, I would rather rely mostly on AFR and supplement Kalk for the added boost/stability. A doser will help a lot. Since you are only adding a small amount of AFR, the manual way should be fine At a precise time of day. If you want to use Kalk as well, you may need to get get a small container and a small dosing pump to add it. I used my kamoer when I ran a calcium reactor so I already had it. It is quite expensive but built for this purpose. The one thing about Kalk is to only add the clear portion of the mixture and not the slurry at the bottom, which will make your alk and ph skyrocket. This is why I feel dosing is the best way to add Kalk.

 

[FisheRare]

Also, as far as Kalk is concerned, it seems the rule of thumb is a teaspoon per gal of RO. I don’t think you need to adjust your AFR dosage. Personally, I would start slow and monitor my numbers after dosing Kalk and then adjust as needed. Make sure you do not over mix the Kalk and use a container that keeps it sealed tight. Exposure to air for too long will make it useless specifically the CO2 component.

I have a question . Im pretty new to dosing Kalk and initially my PH went up to 8.3 dosing 100ML daily with my apex .but the past 3-4 weeks its been barely topping 8.1 . did i overdose or under dose ? because i stopped dosing it for a week to see if my tank just needed a change but no difference . so i dont want to continue increasing dosage of kalk only to make things worse . as of today PH is 8.11,alkilinity is 9.92 ,cal is 369 and Mag is 1250 .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have a question . Im pretty new to dosing Kalk and initially my PH went up to 8.3 dosing 100ML daily with my apex .but the past 3-4 weeks its been barely topping 8.1 . did i overdose or under dose ? because i stopped dosing it for a week to see if my tank just needed a change but no difference . so i dont want to continue increasing dosage of kalk only to make things worse . as of today PH is 8.11,alkilinity is 9.92 ,cal is 369 and Mag is 1250 .

You should dose it based on alk needed, and if needs are low, the pH boost will be low.

 

[FisheRare]

I have a question . Im pretty new to dosing Kalk and initially my PH went up to 8.3 dosing 100ML daily with my apex .but the past 3-4 weeks its been barely topping 8.1 . did i overdose or under dose ? because i stopped dosing it for a week to see if my tank just needed a change but no difference . so i dont want to continue increasing dosage of kalk only to make things worse . as of today PH is 8.11,alkilinity is 9.92 ,cal is 369 and Mag is 1250 .

You said over mix . I use a old instant ocean 5 gallon bucket . I add 5 teaspoons of kalk maybe 6 stir for 5 minutes by hand and close it up until needed .what do you consider over mix?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You said over mix . I use a old instant ocean 5 gallon bucket . I add 5 teaspoons of kalk maybe 6 stir for 5 minutes by hand and close it up until needed .what do you consider over mix?

The concern with mixing constantly is that it drives in CO2 from the air, depleting kalkwasser. Your process is fine.

 

[FisheRare]

The concern with mixing constantly is that it drives in CO2 from the air, depleting kalkwasser. Your process is fine.

Thank you. i have stopped dosing the AFR and kalk for about a week now and cleaned all condensation from around tank and sump and perform six 10-gallon water changes and my alk is 933 , Cal is 430 and MG is 1223 .PH is at 8 . i have new HW marine mix salt coming which is supposed to boast higher levels of alk mag and cal and then i will see if i see need to dose at all. i think my problem was i didn't let levels come to the standard before dosing. corals look good so far

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

perform six 10-gallon water changes and my alk is 933 , Cal is 430 and MG is 1223 .PH is a

Alk is 133 ppm calcium carbonate equivalents?