Am I dosing Kalk right?

Saltine · Sep 20, 2016

So after reading even more articles, I think I'm just more confused, so figured I would ask here. Some say to stir the "slurry" before taking some water off the top and adding it to the tank. Others say leave it alone and just don't pull from the bottom. :)

Right now I run a 5g ATO with 2 Tablespoons of kalk in it. I add the kalk, run a power head for 10 minutes, pull the powerhead out and seal the bucket with a lid. I then pull water about 1/2" off the bottom of the bucket. (lasts 7 days)

I normally don't have any slurry at the bottom when I open the bucket to refill, but I do dump any excess water/crap from the bottom out and spray it out.

Should I be shooting to have a nice slurry at the bottom of my bucket?

I maintain my Alk around 8.4 but my PH hits 7.78 as it's low point and 8.04 or so as it's high point. I'm thinking my kalk delivery method could be the reason?

Lastly I have a kalk stirrer/reactor (little fishies), that I received but never used, this has the water powered spinning mechanism in it. If I decided to use this, how much kalk would I add? The same amount? Or more? It seems most I see a TON of kalk in the bottom, maybe that's b/c they are only using to boost PH? This also has a huge inlet/outlet, way more than my aqualifter is needed to power it, that seems like it wouldn't work for an ATO setup...

Sorry for so many questions, I'm just confused :D.

Salt

Saltine · Sep 20, 2016

Sorry two teaspoons, not tablespoons.

Waterjockey · Sep 20, 2016

The method you use (add kalk and water, stir, cover, and pump from just off the bottom), is exactly how I do it, and it seems to work fine for me.

wranodj99 · Sep 20, 2016

That's a pretty small amount of kalk. I use 2 tsp/gal. Let it settle then add to my ATO.

Saltine · Sep 20, 2016

wranodj99 said:
That's a pretty small amount of kalk. I use 2 tsp/gal. Let it settle then add to my ATO.

I was doing a higher amount but wanted my alk to come down from the high 10's. Calcium is still good at the lower dosage but I'm adding more sps now. I might start the aquaforest program in a few months.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 20, 2016

Waterjockey said:
The method you use (add kalk and water, stir, cover, and pump from just off the bottom), is exactly how I do it, and it seems to work fine for me.

That's the plan to use. :)

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 20, 2016

Saltine said:
Lastly I have a kalk stirrer/reactor (little fishies), that I received but never used, this has the water powered spinning mechanism in it. If I decided to use this, how much kalk would I add? The same amount? Or more? It seems most I see a TON of kalk in the bottom, maybe that's b/c they are only using to boost PH? This also has a huge inlet/outlet, way more than my aqualifter is needed to power it, that seems like it wouldn't work for an ATO setup...

If you use a reactor, the amount in it is fairly unimportant, as long as it can stir. It is always present in excess. It doesn't impact the potency of the delivered limewater appreciably. The amount of time stirring can, however.

Saltine · Sep 20, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you use a reactor, the amount in it is fairly unimportant, as long as it can stir. It is always present in excess. It doesn't impact the potency of the delivered limewater appreciably. The amount of time stirring can, however.

Thanks!