Kalk/calcium reactor

[allof fish]

I currently run 2part on my system from the brs mixes but have recently been burning thru calcium. About a gallon every 2 weeks or so. I’ve been looking into a calcium reactor but not set on it yet, especially if my consumption isn’t high enough. What’s another way to offset the costs associated with 2 part besides a calcium reactor. Kalk stirrer? My alk dosing last awhile so not sure if that’s it yet. Thanks for input

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I currently run 2part on my system from the brs mixes but have recently been burning thru calcium. About a gallon every 2 weeks or so. I’ve been looking into a calcium reactor but not set on it yet, especially if my consumption isn’t high enough. What’s another way to offset the costs associated with 2 part besides a calcium reactor. Kalk stirrer? My alk dosing last awhile so not sure if that’s it yet. Thanks for input

It should not be the case that calcium gets used up well before alk unless you are adding alk some other way, or water changes are lowering your calcium.

 

[allof fish]

It should not be the case that calcium gets used up well before alk unless you are adding alk some other way, or water changes are lowering your calcium.

Idk if it’s the strength of the brs versions but right now I’m using about .8 dkh a day and around 20-25 calcium. A gal of alk I feel like is a lot for what I’m dosing. Dosing about 45 ml of alk and 245 of calcium. So the calcium will obviously run out first. I use tropic Marion salt mixes around 440. Calcium usually sits around 430 ish

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Idk if it’s the strength of the brs versions but right now I’m using about .8 dkh a day and around 20-25 calcium. A gal of alk I feel like is a lot for what I’m dosing. Dosing about 45 ml of alk and 245 of calcium. So the calcium will obviously run out first. I use tropic Marion salt mixes around 440. Calcium usually sits around 430 ish

What recipe did you use exactly? There are a couple, and using alk from one and calcium from the other will cause imbalanced demand.

 

[allof fish]

What recipe did you use exactly? There are a couple, and using alk from one and calcium from the other will cause imbalanced demand.

It’s just their standard kind of soda ash and calcium chloride that is standard for their 2 part

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It’s just their standard kind of soda ash and calcium chloride that is standard for their 2 part

I just wanted to be sure you did not mix it at the sodium bicarbonate rate.

 

[allof fish]

What could be the reason I’m using calcium more than or is that just being standard

 

[rishma]

How long has this trend continued? How many test results show the trend? I find calcium test kits give me variable results so it would be good to rule out test error. As Randy states, actual consumption in the proportions you state shouldn’t happen. Something is amiss.

To your original question, calcium reactors are a bit of a misnomer. They supply calcium, alkalinity and sometimes magnesium depending on the media used.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What could be the reason I’m using calcium more than or is that just being standard

If real, other sources of alk are the most likely, such as tap water to replace evaporation, or continuous dosing of nitrate.

 

[allof fish]

I haven’t dosed a nitrates in a few weeks. And I don’t use tap water all rodi for ato.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’d just keep an eye on it. It may just be calcium test variability as Rishma notes.

You might try that kit on some new salt water.

 

[allof fish]

I’ve been using salifert for calcium and stays pretty consistent to what I see. Could I consider Kalk as an Option drip wise or in ato as an add on to 2 part. The Kalk can replace a majority of the alk and calcium consumption I’m using which then could maybe stable the consumption if that sounds accurate. The benefits I could have from Kalk would be the raise in ph and having to use less calcium but not entirely sure how I would go about that. When is right time to add on Kalk with rate of consumption?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve been using salifert for calcium and stays pretty consistent to what I see. Could I consider Kalk as an Option drip wise or in ato as an add on to 2 part. The Kalk can replace a majority of the alk and calcium consumption I’m using which then could maybe stable the consumption if that sounds accurate. The benefits I could have from Kalk would be the raise in ph and having to use less calcium but not entirely sure how I would go about that. When is right time to add on Kalk with rate of consumption?

Kalk is fine to use to maintain alk at any time, but do not expect much oh boost below 0.5 dKH added per day. Do not dose it based on calcium since that may drive alk too high.

 

[backbayreef]

I currently run 2part on my system from the brs mixes but have recently been burning thru calcium. About a gallon every 2 weeks or so. I’ve been looking into a calcium reactor but not set on it yet, especially if my consumption isn’t high enough. What’s another way to offset the costs associated with 2 part besides a calcium reactor. Kalk stirrer? My alk dosing last awhile so not sure if that’s it yet. Thanks for input

Hope you can figure out if it's just a testing error on calcium. That's a lot of calcium to add!

To your origin question, I run a calcium reactor + kalk stirrer on all my tanks. The kalk addition is compensate the carx's pH drop, not necessary to supplement alk/ca. The initial cost for a calcium reactor can be high; and depending on your consumption rate, you should recoup the cost in a few years.

Kalk is super cheap! I've been buying Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime from amzn.
https://a.co/d/764S0hT

 

[allof fish]

Hope you can figure out if it's just a testing error on calcium. That's a lot of calcium to add!

To your origin question, I run a calcium reactor + kalk stirrer on all my tanks. The kalk addition is compensate the carx's pH drop, not necessary to supplement alk/ca. The initial cost for a calcium reactor can be high; and depending on your consumption rate, you should recoup the cost in a few years.

Kalk is super cheap! I've been buying Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime from amzn.
https://a.co/d/764S0hT

If I were to start running Kalk through ato for example I would still need to dose alk and calcium just at lower ml correct? My consumption of alk isn’t super high as in the gallon last awhile but my calcium has increasingly gone up recently. I will continue to test everyday to see if that’s the issue but if not can I try all 3? Just dose calcium and alk at lower amounts and rest through Kalk in ato.

 

[backbayreef]

If I were to start running Kalk through ato for example I would still need to dose alk and calcium just at lower ml correct? My consumption of alk isn’t super high as in the gallon last awhile but my calcium has increasingly gone up recently. I will continue to test everyday to see if that’s the issue but if not can I try all 3? Just dose calcium and alk at lower amounts and rest through Kalk in ato.

kalk is essentially "1-part", increasing your alkalinity & calcium in equal ratio. So yes, you'll lower your dosing since kalk will supplement with a side-effect of higher pH. However, I wouldn't dose kalk right now until you determine why calcium is "depleting faster". I'm with others, it's likely a testing error. Have you tried Hanna or have LFS/someone else test to validate? This doesn't sound right to me...

 

[allof fish]

kalk is essentially "1-part", increasing your alkalinity & calcium in equal ratio. So yes, you'll lower your dosing since kalk will supplement with a side-effect of higher pH. However, I wouldn't dose kalk right now until you determine why alk is "depleting faster". I'm with others, it's likely a testing error. Have you tried Hanna or have LFS/someone else test to validate? This doesn't sound right to me...

I don’t have a Hanna calcium checker just use salifert. Had lfs test calcium a week ago and there’s was 380 using api which I didn’t believe since mine was sitting around 420. I normally don’t trust api. My goal is to stabilize the consumption of alk and calcium throughout the day without burning thru my calcium 2 part. I would also love to increase ph at night which tends to drops consistently everyday. I run a co2 scrubber and at times it reaches 8.3-8.4 but now has been peaking around 8.2-8.25 but at nights drops to 8 ish low 7.9s. First one is today’s graph. Ph of 8.4 was last week highest it’s ever gotten to and at night still drops to almost 8. Thinking about adding a fuge at some point to combat that but nutrients aren’t high enough for it yet. If I can drip Kalk in at night to combat that that’s ideal

 

[backbayreef]

edit on above (calcium is depleting faster). Anyway, I would rule out the calcium uptake part. It's possible that your calcium might be higher than you think?

pH boost: fully saturated kalk has a pH of 12.4 so dosing at night should help. I drip kalk 24/7 using a Kamoer -> Kalk stirrer. I supplemented kalk ~2 weeks ago and seeing some positive responses from SPS frags.

CO2 scrubber: I was using the Ice Cap CO2 scrubber with Jorvet Soda Lime (see below) before but it was cost prohibitive for large tanks. I've just removed it and went with kalk -- a little messy but cheap!
https://a.co/d/6BwjnaR

 

[allof fish]

edit on above (calcium is depleting faster). Anyway, I would rule out the calcium uptake part. It's possible that your calcium might be higher than you think?

pH boost: fully saturated kalk has a pH of 12.4 so dosing at night should help. I drip kalk 24/7 using a Kamoer -> Kalk stirrer. I supplemented kalk ~2 weeks ago and seeing some positive responses from SPS frags.

CO2 scrubber: I was using the Ice Cap CO2 scrubber with Jorvet Soda Lime (see below) before but it was cost prohibitive for large tanks. I've just removed it and went with kalk -- a little messy but cheap!
https://a.co/d/6BwjnaR

This tank isn’t super large about 100g so for now the co2 scrubber is viable as I only change media about every 3 weeks but it doesn’t hold a super high stable ph. Has gotten up to 8.4 last week but now trending around 8.25, also takes all day to get to that point then drops around 8 or under at night. If I can dos a small amount of Kalk at night and keep ph lets say at 8.1 I would be hoping to consistently get ph up to 8.3 or higher during day. How big of boost would Kalk add? I will keep testing every day to check calcium anount

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The boost from kalk depends on several things, but mostly how much you add. You are unlikely to notice much effect if you add less than 0.5 dKH of alk per day via kalk.