Kalkwasser AND Two Part?

[Mono]

Does anyone run Kalkwasser and two part?

I've been running Randy's true two part for about a year.

I'm currently dosing about 200ml/day of Alk and Calc with about 180g total system volume (125g display, 40g frag, 55 sump, 20g refugium)

Things have been working out fine lately, so why not fix them!

I've just started dosing Kalkwasser since I had an extra dosing head and some lime around. Why not?

I probably lose about 2 gallons/day in evaporation or about 1%.

I'm thinking of slowly ramping up my dosing of kalkwasser to 1 gallon/day.

This would be significantly below my top-off needs so as not to mess up my top-off system too much.

And then slowly stepping back my two part dosing.

Any thoughts on this approach?

Not worth the extra complication of running too additive systems?

Best way to capture the advantages of each?

Thanks

 

[George81]

I was doing that for a bit. Had kalk in my top off and had to dose calcium and alk every few days. I didn’t have it the 2 part pre mixed I used brs calculator and mixed them as I needed it. Plus daily 1 gallon water changes and monthly 20% water changes. I got sick of it and rebuilt my old geo calcium reactor.

 

[Mono]

I was doing that for a bit. Had kalk in my top off and had to dose calcium and alk every few days. I didn’t have it the 2 part pre mixed I used brs calculator and mixed them as I needed it. Plus daily 1 gallon water changes and monthly 20% water changes. I got sick of it and rebuilt my old geo calcium reactor.

Hey, thanks for sharing your experience. Yeah it might be too complicated but I think I'll give it a try. I might just get sick of it. We'll see.

 

[hart24601]

That is how I have always dozed my tanks, kalk and 2 part although I switched to all for reef recently for fun. Never had issues.

I use kalk containers and dose from there, independent of my ato.

 

[Mono]

That is how I have always dozed my tanks, kalk and 2 part although I switched to all for reef recently for fun. Never had issues.

I use kalk containers and dose from there, independent of my ato.

Hey if it ain't broke, it's time to fix it.
Thanks for the input.
Did you notice any particular advantages to using a combination of Kalk and two part?

 

[hart24601]

Hey if it ain't broke, it's time to fix it.
Thanks for the input.
Did you notice any particular advantages to using a combination of Kalk and two part?

I started supplementing with kalk to raise pH which it does a good job of. The latest system I added it to would dip down to 7.8 at night and now never drops below 8. I have a trident and could see a noticeable increase in alk demand, aka more growth, having the ph higher.

 

[rmurken]

The more demand you meet with kalk, the less excess Na and Cl you’ll accumulate from two-part. And the pH effect is usually a plus.

I think it’s probably usually worth using kalk for as much demand as evaporation will allow.

Mg replacement looks different with kalk vs. two-part—I think the diy solution would use more MgCl relative to MgSO4 than a two-part Mg supplement. Am sure there are recipes out there.

 

[Terry4505]

So, this is basically what I do on my system:



I have like 800-1000 gallons of total water volume. I struggle to keep my PH above 7.8-7.9.

I am dosing BRS Two part (Alk- 8.5-9, Cal 450) via a Jebao dosing pump, as well as Kalk via the Jebao dosing pump and some kalk in my top off. I am not crazy about using my top-off for Kalk, because it can fluctuate so much. I prefer the dosing pump.

I do wonder if I should throw a small pump in the kalk reservoir to keep it mixed and in suspension?

 

[dwest]

In my reef, I dose 4 L of kalk through a stirrer every day plus about 100 ml of each 2 part. I’m a big fan of kalk so, with a new tank, I always start with that, then add 2 part when consumption of calcium and alkalinity increase.

 

[Jseimo]

I don’t run 2 part as my calcium consumption is kept by my kalk and water changes. But I sure do dose alk on top of my kalk. I use pickling lime for kalk so it dirt cheap to run as much as I do. I also like how it keeps my ph 8.3 -8.5

 

[SMSREEF]

I did this in my nano for a long time. I dosed Kalk during the night multiple times on a doser. This helped keep Ph up at night. I set it to keep up with my evaporation rate.

Kalk did not keep up with what My tank was using so I dosed 2 part as well during the day.

When I only dosed 2 part my salinity increased over time. When dosing mainly Kalk with some 2 part, It did not.

One major mistake I made was to add vinegar to make the Kalk more potent. This acted as a carbon source in my tank and nutrients plummeted to 0. I did not realize what was happening and some corals RTNed and I got Dino’s.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

So, this is basically what I do on my system:



I have like 800-1000 gallons of total water volume. I struggle to keep my PH above 7.8-7.9.

I am dosing BRS Two part (Alk- 8.5-9, Cal 450) via a Jebao dosing pump, as well as Kalk via the Jebao dosing pump and some kalk in my top off. I am not crazy about using my top-off for Kalk, because it can fluctuate so much. I prefer the dosing pump.

I do wonder if I should throw a small pump in the kalk reservoir to keep it mixed and in suspension?

Didn't have time to watch the video this a.m., but a couple of comments from a chemistry perspective. The first is that saturated kalkwasser has remarkably little calcium and alkalinity in it compared to 2-part solutions. You didn't say what your total consumption of 2-poart is (perhaps it's in the video that I didn't watch), but I'd guess it's in the 500mL + per day for 1000 gallon total water volume in a system with a lot of corals. If so, you will not be able to notice any effect on the Ca and Alk consumption by changing out 1 gallon of your evaporation make-up to kalkwasser.

From the standpoint of adding a pump to your kalk reservoir, don't bother. If the reservoir is directly attached to a dosing pump, you would have to program a complicated series of timers to turn the pump off, allow the undissolved kalk to settle, then turn on the dosing pump to add the clarified liquid to your system. Anything goes wrong with those timers, and you're dosing kalk slurry to your tank, which may well kill everything in it. Moreover, once fully saturated, which you can accomplish with just a few manual rapid stirs with a spoon, kalkwasser is good for weeks so long as the reservoir is still and covered (though it doesn't have to be covered tightly) - it will not lose its potency, despite developing a crust of precipitated calcium carbonate on the reservoir surface.

 

[medicw131]

I'm no chemist, expert, or anything of the like. So take what I have to say as it just my own personal experience. My system is a 75 gallon display with about 15 gallons in the sump, so I dose everything as 90 gallons respectively. My ATO is plumbed into a kalk reactor (Two Little Fishies kalk stirrer). Yeah, it's super inconsistent in exactly how much it doses from day to day, but I have enough coral mass in my tank that I don't think it matters. Every time my ATO tops off the tank, theoretically it's topping off with saturated kalk. RHF had a good article regarding saturated kalkwasser. Essentially, he states that it's very difficult to overdose kalk, as whatever doesn't get used will just precipitate out into the water column. I've never noticed an issue with my tank other than pH being high temporarily. However, with dosing saturated kalk through a reactor and ATO, I've noticed my pH always remains over 8.2, but never exceeds 8.6. To make up any difference in dKh or Ca, I do dose two-part.

Without specific numbers for anything, I don't necessarily find that my reply to this post is helpful. I will say that my tank is acropora and montipora heavy with a couple zoas, blastos, and a duncan colony. That's all she wrote really. So for me, dosing kalk through a reactor connected to my ATO as well as two part (BRS calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate) works in my tank. Is it efficient? Probably not. Is it the best solution? We'll see long term. Do I want to do something else? You bet, I'd rather use kalk and a calcium reactor, but I don't have the room at the moment. Am I done asking myself questions? Never, but on this post I am! Take care!

 

[aarbutina]

Does anyone run Kalkwasser and two part?

I've been running Randy's true two part for about a year.

I'm currently dosing about 200ml/day of Alk and Calc with about 180g total system volume (125g display, 40g frag, 55 sump, 20g refugium)

Things have been working out fine lately, so why not fix them!

I've just started dosing Kalkwasser since I had an extra dosing head and some lime around. Why not?

I probably lose about 2 gallons/day in evaporation or about 1%.

I'm thinking of slowly ramping up my dosing of kalkwasser to 1 gallon/day.

This would be significantly below my top-off needs so as not to mess up my top-off system too much.

And then slowly stepping back my two part dosing.

Any thoughts on this approach?

Not worth the extra complication of running too additive systems?

Best way to capture the advantages of each?

Thanks

i started dosing Kalk with my 2 part (actually 3 part Balling method) about a month ago. So far so good and my pH is loving it. I dose about 60% of my tanks needs with Kalk and the rest I do with the two part (which is done through trident controlled dosing). I use a Dos and a Kalk reactor for the Kalk. I think just doing Kalk in the top off would be too hard to manage.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Does anyone run Kalkwasser and two part?

I've been running Randy's true two part for about a year.

I'm currently dosing about 200ml/day of Alk and Calc with about 180g total system volume (125g display, 40g frag, 55 sump, 20g refugium)

Things have been working out fine lately, so why not fix them!

I've just started dosing Kalkwasser since I had an extra dosing head and some lime around. Why not?

I probably lose about 2 gallons/day in evaporation or about 1%.

I'm thinking of slowly ramping up my dosing of kalkwasser to 1 gallon/day.

This would be significantly below my top-off needs so as not to mess up my top-off system too much.

And then slowly stepping back my two part dosing.

Any thoughts on this approach?

Not worth the extra complication of running too additive systems?

Best way to capture the advantages of each?

Thanks

Yes, many people who use limewater (kalkwasser) also use a two part since limewater cannot always meet the demand.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

I use kalk and 2-part. You will be limited by your evaporation rate as to how much kalk you can use. I dose up to 80% of my evaporation rate with saturated kalk. I then use 2-part to make up the rest of the demand. By doing this you eliminate a lot of the salinity issue and get a greater benefit of increased ph.

 

[Mono]

I did this in my nano for a long time. I dosed Kalk during the night multiple times on a doser. This helped keep Ph up at night. I set it to keep up with my evaporation rate.

Kalk did not keep up with what My tank was using so I dosed 2 part as well during the day.


When I only dosed 2 part my salinity increased over time. When dosing mainly Kalk with some 2 part, It did not.

One major mistake I made was to add vinegar to make the Kalk more potent. This acted as a carbon source in my tank and nutrients plummeted to 0. I did not realize what was happening and some corals RTNed and I got Dino’s.

Thanks. I was considering doing something very similar. Not sure how to spread out 2 part and Kalk dosing but I definitely was considering something like you were doing. Kalk every hour at night, 2 part every hour during the day. I guess it will depend a little on how much I end up needing to dose. We'll see.

 

[Mono]

I use kalk and 2-part. You will be limited by your evaporation rate as to how much kalk you can use. I dose up to 80% of my evaporation rate with saturated kalk. I then use 2-part to make up the rest of the demand. By doing this you eliminate a lot of the salinity issue and get a greater benefit of increased ph.

I was thinking of working my way up to 50% of my evaporation. I don''t want to mess up my ATO. I could see getting up to 80% as I get some experience how it works. Thanks.

 

[Mono]

Yes, many people who use limewater (kalkwasser) also use a two part since limewater cannot always meet the demand.

Thanks Randy. I've been using the new and improved true two part which you and Welsh came up with. It's been working great, fwiw.

 

[Mono]

So, this is basically what I do on my system:



I have like 800-1000 gallons of total water volume. I struggle to keep my PH above 7.8-7.9.

I am dosing BRS Two part (Alk- 8.5-9, Cal 450) via a Jebao dosing pump, as well as Kalk via the Jebao dosing pump and some kalk in my top off. I am not crazy about using my top-off for Kalk, because it can fluctuate so much. I prefer the dosing pump.

I do wonder if I should throw a small pump in the kalk reservoir to keep it mixed and in suspension?

Randy has a big article on using Kalkwasser that is work reading,

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php