Dosing Dow Flake

[fishdrummer]

thanks for the forum. I am dosing dow flake from my 45 gallon make up water brute trash can via a float switch in the sump. my system has about 300 gallons worth ..are there any draw backs? I was using KALK and will continue to dose part II for the ALK part via a doser.

thanks in advance

 

[J. Montgomery]

You have DOWflake in your top off water?

 

[fishdrummer]

You have DOWflake in your top off water?

YEP.. what is the drawback ..

 

[ficklefins]

The reason Josh was questioning your use of calcium in your top off is because it is not supposed to be dosed that way. Calcium Hydroxide (Kalk) is normally used in a drip form (or kalk reactor or in small top off amounts) and will help to maintain Alk and pH levels, while just dosing Calcium Chloride (Calcium) you are throwing the equilibrium off and may endanger your tank stability.

Have you measured your Alk, pH, or Calcium lately? Hopefully the levels are in line with no issues. I am still new to this chemical relationship so hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in.

Personally I drip kalk in one tank and dose Alk/Calcium in the other. I am trying out the two methods to see which has more stability.

 

[surfn]

yeah, i'm a bit confused by the question.....

on a tank with 300g.....i imagine you can't keep your levels up with kalk alone in your topoff.....hence the reason you are dosing the dowflake....

but on a tank that big....i'd just go with kalk and a calcium reactor.....i think that will keep your levels more stable.

 

[fishdrummer]

yeah, i'm a bit confused by the question.....

on a tank with 300g.....i imagine you can't keep your levels up with kalk alone in your topoff.....hence the reason you are dosing the dowflake....

but on a tank that big....i'd just go with kalk and a calcium reactor.....i think that will keep your levels more stable.

oh i am definately dosing alk .. baking soda to maintain my kh levels at about 10. I use one of the medical pump dosers for this .. about a gallon once every two week or so .


I havent purchased the calcium reactor as I've got four frags at the moment at I look forward to building up the reef.

I just wanted to know if there are drawback to adding dow in the makeup water at all. assume if the levels are good then Im good . thanks

 

[J. Montgomery]

I just wanted to know if there are drawback to adding dow in the makeup water at all. assume if the levels are good then Im good.

Thats not a good approach, do not put DOWflake in your top off water.

People (like myself) use pickling lime (kalkwasser - calcium hydroxide) in their top off water b/c its balanced with calcium and alkalinity. If your top off water only has calcium in it, then you'll quickly end up with your calcium and alkalinity out of balance. You'll have too much calcium and not enough alkalinity.

I follow the Reef Chemistry articles that Randy Holmes-Farley has written in the Reef Chemistry forum on ReefCentral. His articles are the gold standard of reef chemistry.