Confused in how start dosing Kalk

Kamila89 · Jul 29, 2021

Hi everyone!!! I have a 135g tank,I’m dosing 2 parts Cal around 2.5ml/3ml per day and Kh around 4ml per day with a dosing pump.
My tank is a year old LPS dominant and I haven’t seen a mayor coral grow. I knew that ph is very important so I tried other methods to rise it from 7.8 to at least 8 which It’s right now but I’ll like to bump it just a bit higher to 8.3 so maybe that will help to coral grown. I wanted to tried Kalk since I started adding corals but I was scare to mess it up but I’m ready, I had order Avast Kalk stirred and ph controller.
My questions are I have a GHL 4 head doser can I use it with my Ato so can dose fresh water to the stirred? Or I need an independent dosing pump that pump slower that the one I have? The evaporation rate is around 3000ml per day,I’ll have to divide 3000 and 24?or how can calculate the exact dose?

Kamila89 · Jul 29, 2021

dwest said:
Based off your 2 part addition, I would start to dose 150 ml of kalkwasser per day spaced out throughout the day and night if possible. Measure alkalinity every day initially and adjust kalk amount until you acheive your desired alkalinity. I would run the ATO independent of kalk.

Welcome!

Peace River said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef! I'm sure that others will jump in soon, but I wanted to specifically welcome you to this amazing forum!

I appreciate!!!!

Kamila89 · Jul 29, 2021

isaacalves said:
Welcome!

I have the Avast kalk stirrer as well. I feed freshwater to it via a Versa dosing pump. Others use a continuous doser to drip all the time.

I personally would never tie my ato to kalk dosing -- but I'm in southern California so evaporation is very uneven due to air conditioning as well as just not giving me the control I want.

My experience was that I had to fiddle at the beginning to make sure I found the right balance of alk levels and pH and salinity.

Nowadays I don't even think about the ATO or even calcium levels. I do test once a week though and buff up calcium or mag as needed. I refresh the kalk stirrer once a week

Kamila89 · Jul 29, 2021

I watched some YouTube videos in how to setup the Kalk stirrer and what I understood was that one line is connected to your dosing pump to the Ato and the other line to pump to the Stirrer ? If so, it’s better get an independent dosing pump to do this? I have 2 more pumps left from my GHL 4 heads system.

thatone08 · Jul 30, 2021

Welcome!

MERKEY · Jul 30, 2021

Hello and welcome to R2R!

SPR1968 · Jul 30, 2021

Some good advice already so Welcome!

Derby City Corals · Jul 30, 2021

For starters I would never chase ph
If the corals look happy and healthy don’t mess with a good thing
If you want to increase your ph try fresh air to the skimmer or co2 buffing
If this doesn’t work raise your Alk some using soda ash we keep our Alk at 9 dkh and never have a issue with ph

kalkwasser will also dose Alk and cal in equal parts to the system to watch your parameters closely if you still decide to use kalkwasser

Jimbhoy13 · Jul 30, 2021

Welcome to R2R. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

Kamila89 · Jul 30, 2021

MERKEY said:
Hello and welcome to R2R!

Thank you!!!

Kamila89 · Jul 30, 2021

Jimbhoy13 said:
Welcome to R2R. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

Thanks!

Kamila89 · Jul 30, 2021

Whitlyn Aquatics Louisvil said:
For starters I would never chase ph
If the corals look happy and healthy don’t mess with a good thing
If you want to increase your ph try fresh air to the skimmer or co2 buffing
If this doesn’t work raise your Alk some using soda ash we keep our Alk at 9 dkh and never have a issue with ph

kalkwasser will also dose Alk and cal in equal parts to the system to watch your parameters closely if you still decide to use kalkwasse