ATO + Kalk , dos auto water change or dos top off + Kalk dos

[Dmat21]

hey guys which one of these three approaches to the water situation of the aquarium Will be most efficient and beneficial for me with maintaining my mixed reef tank?

1) RO water Gravity drip With kalkwasser mixed in or also being gravity dripped into sump.

2) dosing auto water changes Daily with Neptune dos, dosing old saltwater down drain

3) dose ro Water top off with neptune dos And dose kalkwasser on other side?

thanks in advance!!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I wouldn't use any of those ideas, but that's just me.

I'm just surprised at over 3 weeks you got no replies!

BUMP

 

[PeterC99]

Tough to answer because of too many unknowns. How large is the aquarium and what’s Ph and Alk?

The larger the aquarium, #2 is most beneficial for weekly auto water changes. This will give your aquarium best long-term success

Smaller aquarium, auto dos Alk and Calcium.

Don’t recommend Kalk. Difficult to use, to easy to over dos, hard to keep parameters stable.

Good luck!

 

[Dmat21]

I wouldn't use any of those ideas, but that's just me.

I'm just surprised at over 3 weeks you got no replies!

BUMP

Ok why not?

what route should I go? 65 gal with sump new tank build

 

[Dmat21]

Tough to answer because of too many unknowns. How large is the aquarium and what’s Ph and Alk?

The larger the aquarium, #2 is most beneficial for weekly auto water changes. This will give your aquarium best long-term success

Smaller aquarium, auto dos Alk and Calcium.

Don’t recommend Kalk. Difficult to use, to easy to over dos, hard to keep parameters stable.

Good luck!

How far will auto water changes go until needing two part? and when do I know I need to start doing this?
And what do you do for your evaporation and top off?

 

[Midrats]

Figure out what your daily evaporation rate is and use a doser to replace it with kalkwasser. Start with half a teaspoon per gallon and watch your alkalinity. Work your way up to two teaspoons per gallon. Once your demands exceed the limits of the kalkwasser you'll have to dose additional calcium and alkalinity. That will take a while. Mix up a still reservoir with a tight lid to draw from. When you refill just add more kalk and let the solids settle. It couldn't be easier or safer done this way. Where people run into trouble sometimes is when kalkwasser is dosed via an ATO.

 

[Dmat21]

Figure out what your daily evaporation rate is and use a doser to replace it with kalkwasser. Start with half a teaspoon per gallon and watch your alkalinity. Work your way up to two teaspoons per gallon. Once your demands exceed the limits of the kalkwasser you'll have to dose additional calcium and alkalinity. That will take a while. Mix up a still reservoir with a tight lid to draw from. When you refill just add more kalk and let the solids settle. It couldn't be easier or safer done this way. Where people run into trouble sometimes is when kalkwasser is dosed via an ATO.

I was going to dose kalkwasser and ro top Off thru a dose pump i got the Neptune dos pump

 

[Midrats]

That's what I'd do. Take advantage of all of kalkwassers benefits, the pH boost, the enhanced protein skimming, and the purification of your top up water if certain things make it past your rodi. It's so easy and cheap I'm not sure why everyone doesn't start with it and then supplement when it can't keep up anymore.

 

[PeterC99]

How far will auto water changes go until needing two part? and when do I know I need to start doing this?
And what do you do for your evaporation and top off?

See picture below of water station. This is the game changer.

Water changes will maintain parameters for a few months. Once you start adding nice corals, you will need to dos 2 part.

This water station automates making RODI water, topping off my tank, and water changes.

Auto fills RODI container until float switch activated (not filled now because getting new RO filter to reduce water waste). Have pump and three float valves in my sump to top off from evaporation coming from RODI container. After making & heating saltwater container - same pump pumps saltwater to tank while another pump takes old saltwater from tank. Have separate Neptune DOS that doses 2 part. Very stable parameters.

 

[Dmat21]

That's what I'd do. Take advantage of all of kalkwassers benefits, the pH boost, the enhanced protein skimming, and the purification of your top up water if certain things make it past your rodi. It's so easy and cheap I'm not sure why everyone doesn't start with it and then supplement when it can't keep up anymore.

Do you also integrate water changes?

 

[Midrats]

No I don't but it's a fine idea.

 

[theMeat]

Ato with kalk added is enough for most. Don’t know why most don’t use it. Seems a no brainer to me.
Even on very hi demand tanks that need more you could add air circulation to increase evap so more kalk can be added, or use 2 part for the lil bit extra you need on top of what kalk gives you

 

[Dmat21]

Ato with kalk added is enough for most. Don’t know why most don’t use it. Seems a no brainer to me.
Even on very hi demand tanks that need more you could add air circulation to increase evap so more kalk can be added, or use 2 part for the lil bit extra you need on top of what kalk gives you

Would dosing kalkwasser separate from ATO work Well?

 

[Midrats]

Would dosing kalkwasser separate from ATO work Well?

100%, in fact it's the ideal way. Dial it in as close as you can to your evaporation and let the ATO pick up any slack. This way minimizes any danger of an ATO overdose. Using kalk in an ATO works too, I did it for years with Tunze Osmolators.

 

[Crustaceon]

Kalk is easy and effective if continuously dripped or dosed. It’s awful when used through ATO. I had problems with precipitation when adding using the ATO and couldn’t maintain stable parameters, especially alk. I now dose 1ml per minute with a kamoer fx-stp and my parameters have been dead-nails stable ever since. Just like with soda ash, you have to dose kalk SLOWLY. Ato dosing dumps a bunch in at once. No bueno. ALWAYS separate kalk dosing and ato functions. Set the kalk addition amount and let the ato pick up the slack.

 

[Dmat21]

Kalk is easy and effective if continuously dripped or dosed. It’s awful when used through ATO. I had problems with precipitation when adding using the ATO and couldn’t maintain stable parameters, especially alk. I now dose 1ml per minute with a kamoer fx-stp and my parameters have been dead-nails stable ever since. Just like with soda ash, you have to dose kalk SLOWLY. Ato dosing dumps a bunch in at once. No bueno. ALWAYS separate kalk dosing and ato functions. Set the kalk addition amount and let the ato pick up the slack.

Going to grab a Neptune DOS and on pump 1 do a water top off and on pump 2 dose kalk
this method should work well?

 

[Dmat21]

100%, in fact it's the ideal way. Dial it in as close as you can to your evaporation and let the ATO pick up any slack. This way minimizes any danger of an ATO overdose. Using kalk in an ATO works too, I did it for years with Tunze Osmolators.

Going to grab a Neptune DOS and on pump 1 do a water top off and on pump 2 dose kalk
this method should work well?

 

[swee10]

Kalk In an auto top off is a good place to start and then depending on the need of your tank you can add more from there.

 

[Crustaceon]

Going to grab a Neptune DOS and on pump 1 do a water top off and on pump 2 dose kalk
this method should work well?

That’ll work fine. Just try to add lots of small kalk doses throughout the day. The key to kalk is not letting it suddenly spike your ph. Spreading out doses prevents that from happening and while your ph might run up into the 8.5- 8.6 range, it doesn’t seem to negatively affect even acros and you won’t have the precipitation issue you’ll often get from ato kalk dosing. For reference, I dose mine at full strength (2tsp per gallon) @ 1ml/min continuously (1440ml daily for a 65g system). I don’t see much of an issue in doing 24 separate doses per day either. IME you can’t get away with that using kalk in the ato.

 

[Midrats]

My Litermeter breaks up my 3L of kalkwasser into 150 20mL doses over 24 hours.