Is kalk enough?

[Fishingandreefing]

All, I have been dosing kalk (5 tsp) per 5g bucket via ATO for almost two years. I have been testing my parameters lately, it’s pretty stable: alk around 8.5, cal around 430 but mag is always high at around 1450-1480.

I feel dosing via ATO is not stable as temperature/season various on evaporations.

I am also dosing acropower and are there any recommended trace elements I should dose?

tank is currently high in phosphate (.35) and everything else are ok. One minim colony bonsai acro and lepto is receding.

suggestions are welcomed!

 

[Bruno Sette]

Your alk, calc and mag are fine.

Try some GFO to decrease your phosphate level.

 

[YumaMan]

Is that a picture of your reef tank using just KALK in the ATO? I'd say you could teach a lot of us how to manage our reefs better. Congratulations on your success to date. I don't like to oversimplify, but when I learn of someone succeeding using simple reef husbandry it is very encouraging -- our hobby needs such posts, thanks for writing.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Lookin good! Don't fix it if it ain't broke. If you do decide to lower your phosphates do it sloooowwwww.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

So there are a few ways to continue what you are doing in away where evaporation can be compensated for.

One way is to change kalk dosage based on level of evaporation. For example if you are comfortable with 5 tsp in 5 gallons with evaporation at the rate of 5 gallons every 5 days. If evaporation increases to 5 gallons every 4 days then you would have to decrease kalk dosage by 20%. If evaporation decreases to 5 gallons every 6 days then you have to increase kalk dosage by 20% (may have to add weak acid to make sure no saturation issues). This way can work but have to monitor it closely.

Another way is just do a constant dose of kalk water everyday with no regard to evaporation and then have a separate ATO to make up for the difference that has no kalk. This works as long as you can get the kalk water dosage low enough in volume where it will always be short of evaporation.

Hope this helps.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Your alk, calc and mag are fine.

Try some GFO to decrease your phosphate level.

Was running gfo before and suspected that it’s stripped my acro. Now only running 3 hours a day

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Was running gfo before and suspected that it’s stripped my acro. Now only running 3 hours a day

It probably did. I always use less than the recommended amount of gfo

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Is that a picture of your reef tank using just KALK in the ATO? I'd say you could teach a lot of us how to manage our reefs better. Congratulations on your success to date. I don't like to oversimplify, but when I learn of someone succeeding using simple reef husbandry it is very encouraging -- our hobby needs such posts, thanks for writing.

Thanks for your kind word and yes it’s my current 120. I only show the beautiful side as a few corals are dying that’s why I want to improve or get my parameters more stable to prevent deaths. It seems like mostly the tank is doing well, but there’s always something dying.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

It probably did. I always use less than the recommended amount of gfo

I used about 60% and 100% carbon.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

So there are a few ways to continue what you are doing in away where evaporation can be compensated for.

One way is to change kalk dosage based on level of evaporation. For example if you are comfortable with 5 tsp in 5 gallons with evaporation at the rate of 5 gallons every 5 days. If evaporation increases to 5 gallons every 4 days then you would have to decrease kalk dosage by 20%. If evaporation decreases to 5 gallons every 6 days then you have to increase kalk dosage by 20% (may have to add weak acid to make sure no saturation issues). This way can work but have to monitor it closely.

Another way is just do a constant dose of kalk water everyday with no regard to evaporation and then have a separate ATO to make up for the difference that has no kalk. This works as long as you can get the kalk water dosage low enough in volume where it will always be short of evaporation.

Hope this helps.

Good idea!

 

[Flippers4pups]

@Fishingandreefing, I use 1 1/2 tsp calcium hydroxide per gallon of RO/DI water in my ATO reservoir now for years and years, actually for a few decades.

I go through around ten gallons per week in top off. It stays the same roughly throughout the year in my house. Usually keep the house around 75 degrees year round.

I definitely don't have the coral load you have, but Kalkwasser has helped me grow some impressive colony's.

If it works, don't try to fix it.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

@Fishingandreefing, I use 1 1/2 tsp calcium hydroxide per gallon of RO/DI water in my ATO reservoir now for years and years, actually for a few decades.

I go through around ten gallons per week in top off. It stays the same roughly throughout the year in my house. Usually keep the house around 75 degrees year round.

I definitely don't have the coral load you have, but Kalkwasser has helped me grow some impressive colony's.

If it works, don't try to fix it.

wow nice growth. My monties and the easy sps grows good but just the two are dying made me scratch my head.

 

[Flippers4pups]

wow nice growth. My monties and the easy sps grows good but just the two are dying made me scratch my head.

You Sir, have a impressive tank!

If the others are healthy and growing/encrusting, I would suspect pest or a bacterial issue with those pieces.

It's just so hard at times when a frag takes off after what seems forever to do so, only at some point decline.

My only die off happened about a year ago when I switched salts to Fritz blue box from Instant Ocean. Took a couple weeks before I caught it, by then I had lost a couple hand fulls of montipora digitata, Cali tort colony died off 80%, lost a couple colonies of acans, the montipora monster lost its color and had blotches of white scattered all of it.

Nothing changed, except for the salt. Tested newly made saltwater and it's alkalinity was 15 dkh!

Took a month of water changes with IO to finally get back to normal.

 

[Mikeltee]

Kalk is all you need but if you pushed the ATO through a kalk stirrer you could throw away the measuring spoon and only refill the reactor twice a year. Nice tank! Pics like that prove that kalk is all you need.