Kalk and PH

TD13 · Nov 21, 2015

I have the distinguished privilege of housing a new bloom of dinoflagellates! Now before you all get excited and ask for a frag..... Seriously. I was given some Kalk powder and recommended that it was the best substance to raise Ph without boosting my Alk. Issue is, I don't have a doser and have no clue how much to be adding to my 28 gal nano. My ph is currently 8 and my Alk 8.4. It was said that mixing it and adding it once a day would suffice. Can someone give me some direction, RHF?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 22, 2015

Well, there's no chemical that can raise pH and not alkalinity, but it does have the biggest pH boost per unit of alkalinity.

That said, pH is often not effective on dinos. I have an article on using pH for dinos (linked below), but people have generally been more effective, I think, with hydrogen peroxide.

Problem Dinoflagellates and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Pete polyp · Nov 22, 2015

In my experience (currently) it takes more than just hydrogen peroxide. Dosing a super saturated kalk solution and dosing hydrogen peroxide does seem to work. Adding kalk all at once won't work because the pH need to be greater than 8.5 (8.5-8.7) for at least 5 hours a day. What I did was mix limewater at 4 tsp per gallon in a bucket with a power head to keep the kalk suspended and drip continuously with a piece of airline tubing with a knot to adjust the speed of the drip. You will need to add more or less kalk to the solution depending on where the pH is going to be. I also dose hydrogen peroxide several times a day totalling around 1 ml per every 10 gallons. So for your 28 it would be 1 ml three times per day totaling 3 ml daily. I hope this helps you to head in the right direction.

TD13 · Nov 25, 2015

Pete polyp said:
In my experience (currently) it takes more than just hydrogen peroxide. Dosing a super saturated kalk solution and dosing hydrogen peroxide does seem to work. Adding kalk all at once won't work because the pH need to be greater than 8.5 (8.5-8.7) for at least 5 hours a day. What I did was mix limewater at 4 tsp per gallon in a bucket with a power head to keep the kalk suspended and drip continuously with a piece of airline tubing with a knot to adjust the speed of the drip. You will need to add more or less kalk to the solution depending on where the pH is going to be. I also dose hydrogen peroxide several times a day totalling around 1 ml per every 10 gallons. So for your 28 it would be 1 ml three times per day totaling 3 ml daily. I hope this helps you to head in the right direction.

I'm a complete rookie to this.. How/where do I get like water?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 25, 2015

If you are asking about limewater (aka kalkwasser), it is made by adding calcium hydroxide (or oxide) to pure fresh water.

About 2 level teaspoons per gallon of fresh water is saturated (no more will dissolve).

This has more:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

TD13 · Dec 5, 2015

@Randy Holmes-Farley, I have a dosing pump and an apex now running my Kalk, any idea why when I add Kalk the Ph goes down?!? I have a mix of 4 tsp to 1 gallon RO. I shake it agressively, wait for the kalk to settle and then siphon from the middle of the solution to a container and dose from there. Also, what is the LOWEST i would want to allow my Ph to go?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 5, 2015

I'm sure the pH is not declining because of the limewater, but it might be declining in spite of it.

What is it you observe?

FWIW, 4 tsp won't dissolve in a gallon of fresh water. Only about half that will. But it is OK to add more and just let it settle.

TD13 · Dec 5, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'm sure the pH is not declining because of the limewater, but it might be declining in spite of it.

What is it you observe?

FWIW, 4 tsp won't dissolve in a gallon of fresh water. Only about half that will. But it is OK to add more and just let it settle.

Since 8 AM the Ph has steadily declined in spite of my dosing. I have the dosing pump to come on at the top of the hour for 40 seconds. It's a 1.1 ml/hr pump. At 8 AM CST Ph was 7.7, now at 5:07 it's 7.59. I have added an additional 5 ml to the tank via syringe and no jump. Before I got my Apex and pump, I had an acclimation drip into the tank and managed to get the Ph to 8.7 (dangerously high) and only for a moment. Is it possible that I'm not dosing enough? I have a 28 gallon nano. Maybe I should test the Ph of my solution...
Tested it. Put the Ph probe in the solution and within a few seconds it was 12.3.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 5, 2015

What size tank?
I assume you mean 1.1 mL /min, but how much volume was added?

Adding 1.25% of the total water volume of the aquarium will boost pH by about 0.6 pH units. Adding half that will boost about half the amount, 1/10 give 0.06 pH units, etc.

Adding a few mL into a good size tank won't appreciably impact pH. :)

TD13 · Dec 5, 2015

@Randy Holmes-Farley , now that I put it back into the tank it has settled at 8.0, curious.

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
What size tank?
I assume you mean 1.1 mL /min, but how much volume was added?

Adding 1.25% of the total water volume of the aquarium will boost pH by about 0.6 pH units. Adding half that will boost about half the amount, 1/10 give 0.06 pH units, etc.

Adding a few mL into a good size tank won't appreciably impact pH. :)

Yes 1.1 mL/min. 28 gallons. Not sure how much I have added at this point, yes I now that's not good. After removing it from the Kalk solution and swishing it about in the tank to get any Kalk residue off, it has settled at 8.0. Curious....