Dosing Kalk with no corals?

BC1906 · Jul 16, 2020

So I set up this tank about 3 months and have been having a little issue with low Ph. First let me just say that I know you shouldn't chase Ph and that stability is more important. While the tank is doing its thing and maturing I would like to try and get my Ph up a little bit before I start adding corals down the road.

When I first set up the tank my Ph around 7.5. If I opened the windows all up it would go to like 7.8-7.9 so I know it's a co2 issue. I ran the skimmer intake outside and it went up to around 7.6-7.7. Once I get to it I plan on having the refugium be like a macro display tank so I'm hoping that will also help reduce the co2.

My question is, what would happen if you dosed kalk with no corals to consume the alk and calcium? Would it cause your alk and calcium to become very high? I usually do about a 30g water change every 1-2 weeks (the dip in the graph).

WIReefer · Jul 16, 2020

Yeah I would think your levels would raise quit a bit, I’m sure although my ph runs around 7.8 and have very nice growth with my sps.

dwest · Jul 16, 2020

Yes. Alkalinity and calcium will likely increase. Coralline algae can consume a lot but I assume you don’t have much of that yet. You can try dosing a small amount, monitor alkalinity and adjust as needed.

fish farmer · Jul 16, 2020

Depends on how much you dose. It is a good time to try dosing without animals in your system to get a feel how alk, ca and pH will rise without risking livestock.

BC1906 · Jul 16, 2020

dwest said:
Yes. Alkalinity and calcium will likely increase. Coralline algae can consume a lot but I assume you don’t have much of that yet. You can try dosing a small amount, monitor alkalinity and adjust as needed.

Well I plan on trying out the pink and purple Coraline algae bottles. Maybe I'll do that first and then wait a little bit to try the kalk.

fish farmer said:
Depends on how much you dose. It is a good time to try dosing without animals in your system to get a feel how alk, ca and pH will rise without risking livestock.

What would be the best way to try to dose? ATO (I know it's hard on pumps) or setting up a doser?

fish farmer · Jul 16, 2020

BC1906 said:
Well I plan on trying out the pink and purple Coraline algae bottles. Maybe I'll do that first and then wait a little bit to try the kalk.

What would be the best way to try to dose? ATO (I know it's hard on pumps) or setting up a doser?

ATO, dosing pump or slowly dripping kalk, all will work. I like using a dosing pump since it is a consistent amount of kalk.