Kalk maintaing Ca but not Alkalinity

[tapeworm123]

Yes mg is at 1435 I wonder if I dot have enough co2

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes mg is at 1435 I wonder if I dot have enough co2

Not enough to do what?

 

[tapeworm123]

Oh sorry I was in a rush when I wrote that. Not enough co2 in the tank to produce alk to match the calcium that kalk adds and it only adds calcium and very lil alk ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Oh sorry I was in a rush when I wrote that. Not enough co2 in the tank to produce alk to match the calcium that kalk adds and it only adds calcium and very lil alk ?

Nope. That is not ever the case. Hydroxide adds alk perfectly well and it is testable by kit. Also, unless the pH is excessively high, there is no excess hydroxide present.

 

[tapeworm123]

I was once dosing like 7000ml to my lightly stock 120 and alk wasn’t detachable with Hanna and it bein a balanced solution I think is false

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was once dosing like 7000ml to my lightly stock 120 and alk wasn’t detachable with Hanna and it bein a balanced solution I think is false

Kalkwasser adds exactly 2.8 dKH for each 20 ppm of calcium. It cannot add less alkalinity for any reason unless you add something else to it.

The reason it isn’t perfectly balanced is that calcification in reef tanks uses 2.8 DKH for each 18-20 ppm of calcium. Thus the calcium added is a tiny bit more than is used.

 

[tapeworm123]

Ok so do you think I am not adding enough I have a 40 gallon breeder with a 75g sump tank with maybe 40-50 gallons of water in it. No sps and mostly zoas and mushrooms. I have it dosing 50ml of fully saturated kalk.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok so do you think I am not adding enough I have a 40 gallon breeder with a 75g sump tank with maybe 40-50 gallons of water in it. No sps and mostly zoas and mushrooms. I have it dosing 50ml of fully saturated kalk.

Dosing too much can sometimes be counter-productive, causing precipitation of calcium carbonate due to high pH.

Any indication of sand hardening?

 

[tapeworm123]

No not yet, I tryed lower dosing and the alk just keeps dropping. I’ve tryed kalk multiple times and the same result.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No not yet, I tryed lower dosing and the alk just keeps dropping. I’ve tryed kalk multiple times and the same result.

OK, so I'd up the dose.

Are you using a calculator to judge how much you are dosing in dKH per day?

How are you making it?

 

[tapeworm123]

OK, so I'd up the dose.

Are you using a calculator to judge how much you are dosing in dKH per day?

How are you making it?

No I haven’t used a calculator yet. My mixer is one table spoon to 750ml of water and I have a mixer every night for a hour to keep it potent.

 

[tapeworm123]

I’m thinking of up grading to 1 gallon jug

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Maybe you are just not adding enough. Limewater (kalkwasser) is very dilute and folks usually replace a large volume of evaporated water with it each day.

Adding 1.25% of the water volume only boosts alk by 1.4 dKH.