Drip acclimation tube to dose kalkwasser?

[FrugalReeferJon]

Has anybody dosed or does anybody dose kalkwasser using a drip acclimation tube? I’m currently dosing 39 mL each of ESV 2 part in my 33 gallon (display + sump) mixed, mostly SPS system to keep my alk in the 8-9 dKH range and it helps greatly with my daytime pH maintaining it at 8.3-8.4. Despite running a reverse lighting schedule, keeping Xenia and GSP in the sump, protein skimming, opening windows, my nighttime pH drops to 7.7 and sometimes to 7.6. I haven’t yet seen it go lower though thank goodness. Despite this, I have colonies of Monti Caps, Stylo, Birdsnest and Monti Digi growing like weeds. Since I’m a frugal reefer and my tank is a nano I’m not interested in a CO2 scrubber and the maintenance involved. Running an airline outside would maybe be possible but I live in an apartment. I feel kalkwasser is the most economical solution and would help greatly with the nighttime pH drop and the ever increasing alkalinity and calcium demand. I’ve been thinking of dosing it with a drip acclimation tube which I have stored away since I don’t have a doser. Change that, I do have 2 dosers, the BRS continuous dosers, which lack controllability though. Also, any advice and tips are greatly appreciated since I have never used kalk and this would be my first foray into it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

To add 1 dKH to 33 gallons will take 1.1 liters of saturated kalk. Can that device be set up for that volume?

With a 1.1 ml per min doser from BRS, that would mean 1000 minutes (17 h) of dosing. With a 50 ml per min doser, it would be 22 minutes.

That might wear out the 1.1 mL per min doser, but 42 minutes each hour would do it.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

To add 1 dKH to 33 gallons will take 1.1 liters of saturated kalk. Can that device be set up for that volume?

With a 1.1 ml per min doser from BRS, that would mean 1000 minutes (17 h) of dosing. With a 50 ml per min doser, it would be 22 minutes.

That might wear out the 1.1 mL per min doser, but 42 minutes each hour would do it.

I have the 1.1 mL doser. Hoping this isn’t a dumb question, so this calculation is what I would need to dose each night to avoid a pH drop and to keep my alk stable in the 8-9 dKH range?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have the 1.1 mL doser. Hoping this isn’t a dumb question, so this calculation is what I would need to dose each night to avoid a pH drop and to keep my alk stable in the 8-9 dKH range?

No. I just calculated for a 1 dKH addition. You are adding about 2 dish per day now with the ESV. I did not know how much of the ESV you planned to replace.

One cannot calculate a pH increase except from an all at once addition.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

No. I just calculated for a 1 dKH addition. You are adding about 2 dish per day now with the ESV. I did not know how much of the ESV you planned to replace.

One cannot calculate a pH increase except from an all at once addition

Sometime in the future, I’d want to replace some of the ESV when the amount of dosing gets too high for my taste. For now, I just want to dose kalkwasser at night to prevent my pH dropping to 7.6-7.7. Heck, I’d be happy if it doesn’t go below 8.0 dKH. So kalk can be dosed all at once just as the lights go out and it will maintain whatever the resultant pH is for the rest of the night like ESV 2 part? Is that even possible or safe to do because of the possibility of pH getting dangerously high? Is this why kalk is always drip dosed and observation is the only way to determine how much to dose? Sorry for asking many questions but I want to fully understand kalkwasser before trying it out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Controlling pH with kalk is complicated and not always successful. The ESV also provides a boost, although half as much.