Dosage of Kalk/top off water?

[TDTA1181]

Trying to gauge from other users that use Kalk in top off water how many teaspoons/gal of water they use. Talk w/ BRS employee he suggested starting around 1.5 teaspoons/5gal of top off waster. Especially interested in users that also use this method in conjunction w/ a Cal reactor. I've had Cal reactor commissioned for going on around a month now. This last wk-end took a lil' 3 day vacation Alk was 8.34 dKh when I left & when I got bk it had dropped to 7.6 dKh. Had some burnt tips on some of the acro's. Just looking for a little more stability of possible. Low nutrient system is the reason for the lower dKh readings.

 

[TDTA1181]

Forgot other parameters:
Cal - 460 / Hanna
Mag - 1400 / Red Sea
Nitrate - 0 / Salifert
PO4 - 0 / Hanna & Salifert

Skimmer - R.O. POV-DC1
Alge Scrubber - Surf2S

I feed heavily 2-4x/day frozen & pellet food.

 

[gcrawford]

I recommend looking into a kalk reactor. Your ATO water runs through it, the pump stirs it automatically and you don't have to constantly mix, stir and worry about slurry going into the tank. I use one and a cal ex with great results and very stable parameters.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Trying to gauge from other users that use Kalk in top off water how many teaspoons/gal of water they use. Talk w/ BRS employee he suggested starting around 1.5 teaspoons/5gal of top off waster. Especially interested in users that also use this method in conjunction w/ a Cal reactor. I've had Cal reactor commissioned for going on around a month now. This last wk-end took a lil' 3 day vacation Alk was 8.34 dKh when I left & when I got bk it had dropped to 7.6 dKh. Had some burnt tips on some of the acro's. Just looking for a little more stability of possible. Low nutrient system is the reason for the lower dKh readings.

If you are using it in conjunction with a CaCO3/CO2 reactor, and hence probably have a lot of demand in the tank, there's no reason to not use saturated limewater (2 tsp per gallon fresh water) as long as your ATO adds water slowly enough. Using the most limewater possible will help offset the low pH the tank probably has from the reactor (and possibly your home air).

But starting slower is a fine plan. It just takes more adjusting the the reactor if you keep adjusting the limewater dose.

 

[NeverlosT]

If your tank uses a lot of top-off, then topping off with only concentrated kalk slurry can be an issue. When using kalk in the ATO with a CARX, i do so only to bump up pH and I use a non-saturated strength solution to keep from having large pH spikes. This also reduces the impact of a runaway ato. I think your "start at low concentration" idea is good

 

[TDTA1181]

I ordered kalk from BRS as a knee jerk purchase. I had everything so stable. I think well, my theory is... I turned the the air up to like 78 degrees b'f we left for the wk-end & that's a good 6-7 degrees warmer than we usually keep it. In turn, the tank is b/w 77-78 regulated by the Apex. Could ambient temp in the house in coordination w/ tank temp have caused auto top off to top off to work double time thus lowering Alk??? Good theory???

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Warmer temps may increase evaporation, and that would increase delivery from an ATO, but that shouldn't necessarily reduce alkalinity.

What did you observe with alkalinity?

Are you monitoring pH?

 

[TDTA1181]

Ph swing is 7.9 - 8.2.

I had Alk 8.34 before I left. A'f we got bk the Alk had dropped to 7.61. Reason why I thought top off was the culprit was b/c the tank can usually go 5-6 on 5 gal on top water. & after being gone 3 days there was only maybe a 1.5 gal left in bucket.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is possible that if you overdosed it and the pH got too high (well above pH 8.6), you may have precipitated calcium carbonate, which could reduce alkalinity.

But I wouldn't worry about trying to explain it now. It might just be testing error, and I'd focus on getting it where you want it.

 

[TDTA1181]

Have not put Kalk in the top-off water yet. It hasn't even shipped yet from BRS yet. Just wondering if I did have some of it in top off b'f this happened if it could have prevented the burnt tips. I don't have huge or even lg SPS colonies yet so I don't have a lg Alk consumption yet.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Oh, I was confused. You are looking for the limewater to maintain the alk, not to explain why it dropped. Sorry.

It certainly will add alkalinity and will help maintain it. I'm not sure if that would have helped your situation or not, but having more than one addition method can help keep things stable if one starts to slack for some reason.