How much Kalkwasser ?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

\ok I read it no more measuring Magnesium but alk is high too so no need for ALL FOR REEF. This is after a couple of water changes . Since you talked about water changes being derogatory to changes occurring , oddly enough I see improvement in the tank after a week. So I will wait and see. Be back in two weeks tired of chasing my tail anyway

Not sure why you think I've been negative on water changes. I do them and recommend them in most cases.

But it is true they do not do much for those fast depleting trace elements.

 

[Freenow54]

Not sure why you think I've been negative on water changes. I do them and recommend them in most cases.

But it is true they do not do much for those fast depleting trace elements.

Because you said " It will take a long time for any deviation to show , and if you do water changes it probably never will " Maybe you meant with Magnesium ?

 

[nichthyes]

Decrease your two part to make up for the increase from kalk. I doubt you are going to see that much difference in ph dosing less than 1%

This is what I've been doing. And your are correct, I have not seen much pH difference yet. I'm quite hesitant to dive head first into the ATO-container-kalk-addition method, since it seems like a lot to suddenly dose in a day and it basically feels like letting go of the reins.

Appreciate the input btw

 

[KStatefan]

This is what I've been doing. And your are correct, I have not seen much pH difference yet. I'm quite hesitant to dive head first into the ATO-container-kalk-addition method, since it seems like a lot to suddenly dose in a day and it basically feels like letting go of the reins.

Appreciate the input btw

I do not care for ato for dosing kalk. To many variables that are not controlled when I was dosing kalk with a dosing pump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Because you said " It will take a long time for any deviation to show , and if you do water changes it probably never will " Maybe you meant with Magnesium ?

I don’t know the exact context of your question, but that sounds like a positive for water changes, not a negative.

 

[Freenow54]

I don’t know the exact context of your question, but that sounds like a positive for water changes, not a negative.

My question was by whatever means I want to see growth from my frags. I have been going in circles regarding this and getting discouraged. I thought trace elements might work but the Calcium , and Alk readings are not in line for ALL FOR REEF i will read and try K+ and A- here is the frustration some great two frags have declined steadily over 2 months

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, I do not know if trace elements will help, but it's not hard to try.

FWIW, I bought a coral just like this one of yours over the weekend, but it hasn't opened yet because it had to be cut off of the previous owners rock work. :)

 

[Freenow54]

It doesn't take long

 

[Freenow54]

It doesn't take long

 

[Freenow54]

I also got this and later found out its an invasive species. It spreads like a virus. I had to cull it as it covers the other Coral and blocks the Light. Luckily it does not emit any toxic chemical. So beware. The other cool guy is a Keneya Tree. It collapses overnight

 

[nichthyes]

I also got this and later found out its an invasive species. It spreads like a virus. I had to cull it as it covers the other Coral and blocks the Light. Luckily it does not emit any toxic chemical. So beware. The other cool guy is a Keneya Tree. It collapses overnight

"Invasive" is relative to a time and location... Pulsing Xenia have been reported in the Caribbean now, however, they are obviously from somewhere in the Pacific originally. And while it's kinda a weird term to use in closed-system context, I believe what you're trying to say is that they can spread through your tank like wildfire, which is definitely true. They best way to stop that is to isolate a rock with is on an "Island" surrounded by sand, but even then they can asexually bud and throw polyps/"fragments" of itself tumbleweed-ing around the tank.

 

[nichthyes]

I do not care for ato for dosing kalk. To many variables that are not controlled when I was dosing kalk with a dosing pump.

I'm kinda confused by your reply... It sounds you're saying "too many variables" for the ATO method, but then you said "when I was dosing kalk with a dosing pump"... ?

 

[KStatefan]

I'm kinda confused by your reply... It sounds you're saying "too many variables" for the ATO method, but then you said "when I was dosing kalk with a dosing pump"... ?

I meant that to me there are to many variables when using ato to dose kalk. I used a dosing pump to limit one of them when I was dosing kalk.

 

[Freenow54]

"Invasive" is relative to a time and location... Pulsing Xenia have been reported in the Caribbean now, however, they are obviously from somewhere in the Pacific originally. And while it's kinda a weird term to use in closed-system context, I believe what you're trying to say is that they can spread through your tank like wildfire, which is definitely true. They best way to stop that is to isolate a rock with is on an "Island" surrounded by sand, but even then they can asexually bud and throw polyps/"fragments" of itself tumbleweed-ing around the tank.

Repeating what someone else Posted

 

[IPT]

I used to use my ATO for Kalk but once it ran away and over dosed the tank. Also the evap fluctuated too much depending on the season and temps so it would mess with my Alk levels. I've found a dosing pump much better (Kamoer). Its adjustable and does a consistent volume. You can even bias dosing more Kalk at night to fight Ph drop. I'd highly recommend that method vs in an ATO (as mentioned).

I try and max out dosing my Kalk (about 3200ml a day now) and then just dose Part A and B to make up where the Kalk dosing falls short. I have a 14 gallon tote I fill with saturated Kalk. I guess the volume is high, but unless I am misguided there have for a long time been a lot of support for dosing Kalk into these systems for a many years. Aside from the volumes required, I do not think there is a down side to it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used to use my ATO for Kalk but once it ran away and over dosed the tank. Also the evap fluctuated too much depending on the season and temps so it would mess with my Alk levels. I've found a dosing pump much better (Kamoer). Its adjustable and does a consistent volume. You can even bias dosing more Kalk at night to fight Ph drop. I'd highly recommend that method vs in an ATO (as mentioned).

I try and max out dosing my Kalk (about 3200ml a day now) and then just dose Part A and B to make up where the Kalk dosing falls short. I have a 14 gallon tote I fill with saturated Kalk. I guess the volume is high, but unless I am misguided there have for a long time been a lot of support for dosing Kalk into these systems for a many years. Aside from the volumes required, I do not think there is a down side to it.

While those are all points I agree with, dosing pumps also cause issues and there are plenty of threads where something happened (usually a setting mistake) and they dosed far more my than wanted.

I used kalk in my ato for 20 years. I did have a number of overdoses, usually from sucking up a slurry and having the pump deliver that super potent mess. But not once did I lose anything despite having the tank turn milky white on a few occasions.

One way around these issues with either method (ATO or dosing pump) is to use a pump that cannot deliver a lot more than you want to deliver each day. The pump I used (a Reef Filler diaphragm pump) had a mechanical way to set the dosing volume, but I understand peristaltic pumps do not ever have such a feature.

If I were to set up kalk in the future, I'm not sure which way I would go, but I would lean toward a dosing pump.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

can someone explain the benefit of a kalk stirrer? My understanding is that kalk is still saturated in the space between the bottom slurry and the layer on surface. Does a stirrer keep it more potent?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No.

The only real benefit over a settle reservoir is space. It takes up much less than a large reservoir.

Drawbacks include the often lack of saturation in the effluent, despite reefers assuming it is.

 

[IPT]

Rand

No.

The only real benefit over a settle reservoir is space. It takes up much less than a large reservoir.

Drawbacks include the often lack of saturation in the effluent, despite reefers assuming it is.

Randy can please clarify the max amount of dry Kalk that can added to one gallon of RO water for a fully saturated solution? Ie; how much Kalk to add to the water, stir, then let settle and draw from remaining clear liquid).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Rand

Randy can please clarify the max amount of dry Kalk that can added to one gallon of RO water for a fully saturated solution? Ie; how much Kalk to add to the water, stir, then let settle and draw from remaining clear liquid).

Sure. I just did that in a different thread based on your question:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/kalk-vinegar-question.1151346/page-2#post-14250647

from it:

Saturation at 25 deg c is exactly 0.0204 M or about 1.5 g/L. With most powder calcium hydroxide, that translates to about 2 teaspoons per gallon of ro/di.