Hello all, I’ve been reading about kalk for a few days because it’s something new to me. Please let me get my thoughts down in text to see if I have a hold on the concept and possibly get some input from you pros as far as dosing kalk...
1. Mix it in your ato: easiest way, but hard to control because it’s based on water evaporation and will shorten the life of ato pump.
2. With a doser: have a separate container of kalk connected to the doser. Now you can adjust how much is going into the tank , but you’re now running kalk through the doser which will shorten the life of the internal hosing.
3. With a kalk stirrer: dosing line in the ato fresh, water runs through dosing pump into kalk stirrer which in turn pushes kalk into the sump.my question with this is, If you’re using the ato to replenish the evaporated water AND constantly dripping kalk in through the stirrer wouldn’t that in turn lower salinity over time? You’re adding more fresh water than is needed or is the kalk drip so insignificant over a 24 period( or however many hours you decide to drip the kalk) it won’t effect Salinity.
I do know that “kalk” doesn’t effect salinity but the freshwater it’s mixed in does.
side note: this tank is not fully setup yet, so I’m sure that water changes will carry me for a while (TM pro reef salt) but I just want to be prepared when the time comes and feel confident in what I’m doing, which is why I’m asking now. Due to the tank not being fully setup I won’t be able to answer questions like how much my tank is evaporating in a day.
I’m bouncing back and forth between option 1 and 3. Option 1 gives me the option to just mixed it and let evap do its thing option 3 allows me to actually control how much my tank is getting.
Any information is much appreciated and remember I’m a rookie be gentle don’t bash me if this doesn’t make sense. Thanks in advance reefers
1. Mix it in your ato: easiest way, but hard to control because it’s based on water evaporation and will shorten the life of ato pump.
2. With a doser: have a separate container of kalk connected to the doser. Now you can adjust how much is going into the tank , but you’re now running kalk through the doser which will shorten the life of the internal hosing.
3. With a kalk stirrer: dosing line in the ato fresh, water runs through dosing pump into kalk stirrer which in turn pushes kalk into the sump.my question with this is, If you’re using the ato to replenish the evaporated water AND constantly dripping kalk in through the stirrer wouldn’t that in turn lower salinity over time? You’re adding more fresh water than is needed or is the kalk drip so insignificant over a 24 period( or however many hours you decide to drip the kalk) it won’t effect Salinity.
I do know that “kalk” doesn’t effect salinity but the freshwater it’s mixed in does.
side note: this tank is not fully setup yet, so I’m sure that water changes will carry me for a while (TM pro reef salt) but I just want to be prepared when the time comes and feel confident in what I’m doing, which is why I’m asking now. Due to the tank not being fully setup I won’t be able to answer questions like how much my tank is evaporating in a day.
I’m bouncing back and forth between option 1 and 3. Option 1 gives me the option to just mixed it and let evap do its thing option 3 allows me to actually control how much my tank is getting.
Any information is much appreciated and remember I’m a rookie be gentle don’t bash me if this doesn’t make sense. Thanks in advance reefers