Can I infuse my vinegar dose into my kalk stirrer?

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TWYOUNG

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The one I had, that has since died, was a PinPoint brand and cost me $100 which was quite expensive to me. But I used it for salinity too. Sadly, I have not replaced it. I remember that saturated was 10.3 mS/cm. That is temp dependent but I just mixed until it was close and stopped changing.
 
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TWYOUNG

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I have an Apex with a salinity/conductivity probe but my understanding is those are different.
 

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Interesting point. How much,(deep), should the slurry be in the bottom of the stirrer before it needs to be removed and started fresh?
I don’t think there’s a specific answer. I cleaned mine twice in a year. Once when I used a different brand of Kalk that created a thicker slurry and kept the stir bar from rotating. The second time was just as it had been running about a year and I thought, what the heck? As long as the stir bar isn’t bogged down, fluid can get through, and your measured output is on par,I don’t see a specific level at which one needs to worry. I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination pertaining to these matters though. Just sharing my personal observations. Different stirrers, Kalk powder, and rate of flow, could have their own needs.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Thanks. So salinity probes measure in parts per thousand. How does that relate to mS/cm?

Conductivity meters, such as salinity probes, have natural units of mS/cm. Maybe your controller can be set to read that?

It’s doing an internal math conversion to get to anything else, such as ppt or specific gravity.

Worst case, we can come up with a conversion for you.
 

rishma

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Question from a newbie on this. Why use Kalk instead of Fauna Marin balling light CA & ALK? What am I missing here?
Kalkwasser is a low cost, alkalinity and calcium supplement, all in one solution that also helps elevate pH.

2-part systems are good too and have advantages and disadvantages. It’s all about trade offs.

I recommend this article
 

FreshSaltyGuy

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Kalkwasser is a low cost, alkalinity and calcium supplement, all in one solution that also helps elevate pH.

2-part systems are good too and have advantages and disadvantages. It’s all about trade offs.

I recommend this article
Understood, but if you're not looking to raise PH, then why not balling light?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Understood, but if you're not looking to raise PH, then why not balling light?

Kalkwasser is very inexpensive and does not alter the ionic balance or raise salinity. I used it for 20 years despite designing diy 2/3 part systems.

This table from the article linked above summarizes differences:

1736289353239.png
 

rishma

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Understood, but if you're not looking to raise PH, then why not balling light?
Why not bailing lite? Nothing wrong with 2/3 part systems but they are not as simple as kalkwasser. If kalkwasser meets a tank’s needs why not use it?
 
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TWYOUNG

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Conductivity meters, such as salinity probes, have natural units of mS/cm. Maybe your controller can be set to read that?

It’s doing an internal math conversion to get to anything else, such as ppt or specific gravity.

Worst case, we can come up with a conversion for you.
I cleaned and calibrated my salinity probe then tested the outflow from my kalk stirrer. The reading was 1.2 Does this make sense and if so what would that be in microsiemens/cm?
 

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I cleaned and calibrated my salinity probe then tested the outflow from my kalk stirrer. The reading was 1.2 Does this make sense and if so what would that be in microsiemens/cm?

1.2 in what units?

Make a true saturated solution solution (say, 2 teaspoons alk in a cup of ro/di) and see what it reads as.
 
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TWYOUNG

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1.2 in what units?

Make a true saturated solution solution (say, 2 teaspoons alk in a cup of ro/di) and see what it reads as.
The 1.2 referred to the "salinity" reading the probe displays. I did your test and got 6.3 with the probe basically in the slurry.
 

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The 1.2 referred to the "salinity" reading the probe displays. I did your test and got 6.3 with the probe basically in the slurry.

OK, so the 1.2 reading represents very weak kalkwasser. Maybe 20% of the potency of full strength kalk. That may be all some tanks need, but it is not full strength.
 

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Why not bailing lite? Nothing wrong with 2/3 part systems but they are not as simple as kalkwasser. If kalkwasser meets a tank’s needs why not use it?
I went with Brightwell Kalk+ and simplifies a lot of my dosing issues (and still tweaking this to get my desired range).
 

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I went with Brightwell Kalk+ and simplifies a lot of my dosing issues (and still tweaking this to get my desired range).

Doubt it. It contains very, very little magnesium (less than the bulk calcium hydroxide from Mississippi Lime Co) and what is there is not soluble in the high pH of kalkwasser. It’s a design failure, at best.
 

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Doubt it. It contains very, very little magnesium (less than the bulk calcium hydroxide from Mississippi Lime Co) and what is there is not soluble in the high pH of kalkwasser. It’s a design failure, at best.

Ah. The container's marketing says it adds magnesium and strontium and I do have Mississippi lime from Avast. Since using it, Trident says my mag is at 1520 (which you mention to ignore anyway) and I stopped dosing Magnesium altogether now unless it hits 1350.
 

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