Kalk & Vinegar Question

[Ultraman]

I’ve got a 29 gallon tank I’m going to use for mixing kalkwasser. The display tank is about 600 gallons total volume and I typically just topoff manually every day or two. I’ve never measured my evaporation but I’m guessing 3-4 gallons a day.

I’ve dealt with low ph of 7.6-8.0 for years and my SPS growth has always been lacking. I’m wanting to top off at night with my Bubble Magus dosing pump to see if that’ll help with the ph issue. I’ll probably still do some manual topoff but was looking on some pointers about what I throw in the 29 gallon tank. I’ve read 1-2 tsp/gallon of kalkwasser and was wondering if vinegar was helpful and if so how much.

I was thinking of running the topoff continuously from 8pm when my lights start going down until 10am when they come on. I also considered just simplifying things and running a set amount , say 3 gallons, continuously over a 24 hour period and topping off manually whatever else I need.

Any point or pearls of wisdom are appreciated!

Thanks, Nook!

 

[Ultraman]

I’ve got a 29 gallon tank I’m going to use for mixing kalkwasser. The display tank is about 600 gallons total volume and I typically just topoff manually every day or two. I’ve never measured my evaporation but I’m guessing 3-4 gallons a day.

I’ve dealt with low ph of 7.6-8.0 for years and my SPS growth has always been lacking. I’m wanting to top off at night with my Bubble Magus dosing pump to see if that’ll help with the ph issue. I’ll probably still do some manual topoff but was looking on some pointers about what I throw in the 29 gallon tank. I’ve read 1-2 tsp/gallon of kalkwasser and was wondering if vinegar was helpful and if so how much.

I was thinking of running the topoff continuously from 8pm when my lights start going down until 10am when they come on. I also considered just simplifying things and running a set amount , say 3 gallons, continuously over a 24 hour period and topping off manually whatever else I need.

Any point or pearls of wisdom are appreciated!

Thanks, Nook!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the goal is boosting pH, vinegar negates that effect.

If the goal is just calcium and alk addition, adding 45 ml of 5% acidity vinegar and 3 level teaspoons of kalk (instead of the normal 2) per gallon of RO/DI will give more potency to the delivered kalk.

Note that using vinegar will also give a large organic carbon effect, driving down nitrate and to a less extent, phosphate.

 

[Ultraman]

Thank you, Randy!

If I add 2tsp/gallon to the 29 gallon container, would I just add the roughly 290cc of kalkwasser weekly and turn a pump on initially to mix it up for a bit, then turn that pump off and let my doser do the rest once it’s settled?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That volume added is very low. How did you arrive at it?

 

[Ultraman]

I was thinking 2 tsp is 10millilters x 29 gallons, so about 290cc total in a measuring cup?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Oh, you used the term kalkwasser, which is the resulting fluid for dosing, not the solids, but I understand the confusion since resellers of calcium hydroxide mislabel their products as
Kalkwasser.

Yes, that seems a fine way to mix a batch of Kalkwasser.

 

[Ultraman]

Much appreciated, Randy. My ph was 7.5 this morning and that’s the lowest it’s been. My calcium reactor and sulfur denitrator have been online a long time. My biopellet reactor has some slimy buildup since adding new pellets. My alkalinity is low yesterday at 7.1 so I increased my bubble per second count on the CO2 to bring it up a bit. I’m suspecting I bumped that dial the wrong direction one day doing maintenance.

Low ph of 7.7 was a norm for years with no real issues besides slow growth, but I’m thinking low ph is not a good thing especially down at 7.5 today. Ph probe is new as well.

 

[Ultraman]

I wanted to provide an update and ask another question. I’ve been running the kalkwasser 24/7 through my dosing pump at 3.6 gallons per day with the 2 tsp per gallon of calcium hydroxide added to the topoff water. My pH is still going down to 7.6 at night with a high of 7.9.

Does it take a few days for the pH to start rising?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I wanted to provide an update and ask another question. I’ve been running the kalkwasser 24/7 through my dosing pump at 3.6 gallons per day with the 2 tsp per gallon of calcium hydroxide added to the topoff water. My pH is still going down to 7.6 at night with a high of 7.9.

Does it take a few days for the pH to start rising?

A couple of days perhaps to reach a new state, but not longer.

No vinegar, right?

 

[Ultraman]

No vinegar. Just that mixture of ESV calcium hydroxide.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

are you tracking all to know you are dosing all you can?

If so, and if you want the pH higher, you may need to look to other options.

 

[Ultraman]

Do you mean could I up the rate a bit more to match my evaporation? If so, “think” I probably evaporate about 5-6 gallons a day.

My skimmer is a 5 ft Lifereef dual mazei Venturi with fresh air intake. Room air has a 6” vent on one side with a 6” exhaust with an exhaust fan running 24/7. Even when it’s 100 degrees outside, my exhaust fan is blowing cool air out. I opted for this so I could have fresh air all the time and to keep the fish room free of mold and humidity.

My calcium reactors are certainly a culprit with the CO2. I didn’t appreciate an upward trend when I removed my sulfur denitrator for cleaning and restart. Certainly lots of fish, heavy feeding.

Alkalinity is 8.0, magnesium 1450, calcium 560, nitrate 40ppm and phosphate 0.10 with 4 pounds of GFO monthly. Water changes don’t have any noticeable affect on the pH either.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you have capacity within the evaporation limit to add more, then you can reduce the calcium reactor input and increase the kalk to keep the same alk.

 

[Ultraman]

I’m now running at 12cc/minute or 4.5 gallons a day. Ph 7.6 at .0630 and 7.9 now. Looks like I’m equal with my evaporation rate, maybe a touch over and will know by tomorrow evening. If my alkalinity rises with the kalk dosing which I totally neglected to think about, I’ll dial the calcium reactor back. Thank you so much for your expertise, Randy.

 

[Garf]

I've been using kalk for 20 odd years. Recently stopped because my pump bust, just compensated with bicarb and calcium. Yet to notice any difference tbh.

 

[Ultraman]

600 gallons total water so dosing isn’t practical for my stony system.

 

[Ultraman]

Good note is that alkalinity is 8.4 tonight up from 8.0 on Wednesday night. I decreased my CO2 bubble per second count from 2 to 3.

 

[mcarroll]

My ph was 7.5 this morning and that’s the lowest it’s been.

That's supposed to be the low point of pH for the day, so being low isn't that surprising.

How accurate is your pH reading? Do you have a way to validate your number, such as a second type of test?

Often there is a factor like +/- 0.2 pH units on a given meaurement.

If your reading is indicating an actual pH of 7.7 in the morning, then IMO this is not really an issue.....mostly a reflection of CO2 buildup, which is not going to be an issue for corals at this rate.

If your pH meter also happens to need a calibration then the factor can be off by even more of course.

IMO this is just not an issue. That just seems to be the assumption at the start of the thread.

That said, if you really want to raise the tank's pH range then do just about anything to improve ventilation to the fish room, sump room or whatever houses your setup. (What you're doing is very temporary.)

If you haven't done Randy's pH test to see if its the aeration of your tank or the air in the room that's dictating your pH, do that next. 9/10 times it's just a local ventilation issue.

Doing something in that area will trend up your pH levels, but I still wouldn't count on this strategy for coral fixes. CO2 is a fertilizer to them. So unless something else is missing (eg. N or P, etc), there's no reason additional CO2 should be viewed as other than a nutrient.

Have you had any other threads where you tried yo dig into the SPS issue?

I'm not sure what tank it was for, but I did notice in some threads you mentioned chemical treatments for algae. "Rough looking" SPS is the minimum I'd expect from those treatments (along with algae regrowth once you water change the chemical out of the water). Sometimes corals never quite recover their original color and brightness after that.

 

[IPT]

Sounds like you have this all figured out.

I'm curious where the 2tsp of Kalk/per gallons came from. I thought max saturation required closer to 4.75 tsp of Kalk mixed into a gallon of RO/DI water?

I do use a dosing pump to dose Kalk in addition to dosing Part A and B. I bias my dosing so I dose the A and B at a slightly higher rate during the day when PH goes up and then dose the Kalk at a slightly higher rate over night to keep PH from dropping as much. I find dosing Kalk hourly, and A and B as well not only gives me better control of the PH, but also helps me smooth out the ALK swing.