Kalkwasser what is the best way to dose?

[Roytrolls247]

So any other way of adding the same material to also maintain alkalinity won't alter the pH, will it?

At least that is the simplistic interpretation of your situation. Adding more hydroxide might raise pH a bit, and the raised pH may increase demand for alk, which might offset the extra alk added.

Anyway, there are better ways to raise pH than to try to alter the way you are already dosing hydroxide.

My Fear is I am not getting a potent enough mix by letting the kalk sit in the ato the purpose of the tread was to find out if a Kalk stirrer is more effective at keeping the alk "potent" I would not go out and buy one if it was going to give me the same results.

 

[Silent]

My Ph probe is Calibrated and I have logs in my Apex lol

Need to stop breathing so heavy lol

 

[Roytrolls247]

Need to stop breathing so heavy lol

Right!!! hahah

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My Ph probe is Calibrated and I have logs in my Apex lol

And yet, it is almost certainly incorrect, IMO.

That pH is low enough that rock and sand would be dissolving , and if simple aeration did not raise it, your home air would likely be getting close to the OSHA limit for CO2 in a workplace for an 8 hour work exposure (5,000 ppm).

If true, for your own sake, open a window!

 

[Roytrolls247]

And yet, it is almost certainly incorrect, IMO.

That pH is low enough that rock and sand would be dissolving , and if simple aeration did not raise it, your home air would likely be getting close to the OSHA limit for CO2 in a workplace for an 8 hour work exposure (5,000 ppm).

If true, for your own sake, open a window!

Thank you for the feed back although your approach seems a little abrasive. I am not a chemist or a marine biologist I am just a dude with a Reef tank. I will try a salifert test kit to test ph and compare it with my APEX readout.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you for the feed back although your approach seems a little abrasive. I am not a chemist or a marine biologist I am just a dude with a Reef tank. I will try a salifert test kit to test ph and compare it with my APEX readout.

Sorry if I was abrasive. Decades of incorrect readings in hundreds of thousands of threads may make one excessively cynical and quick to point the finger.

Much better than getting a pH kit that one cannot verify the accuracy of is to do my aeration test. If the pH does not rise, especially with outside air, the measurement is in error.

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/


The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

 

[nereefpat]

A question back to you...

Do you know your exact uptake up Alkalinity daily/weekly?

If you don't... then eventually your dKH will be seriously over 13 before you know it

Kalk is nothing to mess with unless you're committed to testing dKH every other day.
.

There is no reason that you would have to test alkalinity more often when dosing kalk than when dosing 2 part.

 

[Roytrolls247]

Sorry if I was abrasive. Decades of incorrect readings in hundreds of thousands of threads may make one excessively cynical and quick to point the finger.

Much better than getting a pH kit that one cannot verify the accuracy of is to do my aeration test. If the pH does not rise, especially with outside air, the measurement is in error.

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/


The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

All good you did bring up a good point. Just because my apex says my PH is xx it does not mean it is 100% accurate. I never Thought to second guess my gear which can hurt me in the long run.

 

[thewire]

Just water change weekly and stop messing around with dosing unless you can accurate test it. IMHO

 

[Roytrolls247]

Just water change weekly and stop messing around with dosing unless you can accurate test it. IMHO

I test weekly that's how I came to the conclusion of running Kalk my tank consumes it at a rate that a regular 10-15 % water change wont supply

 

[thewire]

I test weekly that's how I came to the conclusion of running Kalk my tank consumes it at a rate that a regular 10-15 % water change wont supply

increase the water change % ?

 

[nereefpat]

Just water change weekly and stop messing around with dosing unless you can accurate test it. IMHO

increase the water change % ?

Most of us find that dosing for alk and Ca is cheaper and easier than doing large/frequent water changes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My Fear is I am not getting a potent enough mix by letting the kalk sit in the ato the purpose of the tread was to find out if a Kalk stirrer is more effective at keeping the alk "potent" I would not go out and buy one if it was going to give me the same results.

It is not. A reservoir is easier to unsure saturation just by adding enough. A stirrer may not saturate the water, and if I was using one, I'd certainly measure the potency. Many folks are surprised when they do measure it to find it is not saturated.

A reservoir in a Brute trash can with a closed lid stays saturated for weeks.

 

[Alchameth]

I just started using a Avast marine Kalk stirrer connected to a DOS and really like it. I used to dose Kalk via ATO and 60ml/ min BRS pump which I liked as well. Only benefit to this is it's easier and

This!

I was contemplating this very thing... How do you have it connected? In line in your ATO reservoir and Out to the In on the stirrer and let that still gravity feed?

 

[ajjw0828]

I was contemplating this very thing... How do you have it connected? In line in your ATO reservoir and Out to the In on the stirrer and let that still gravity feed?

Yup, exactly! I have the in side of the dos coming from my ATO tank, then out is going to the small 1/4" push connect on the top of the kalk reactor, then when it pumps water in, it fills the reactor and it overflows down the 1/2" tubing into my sump. The only real risk I see, is that you have to keep the output of the reactor higher than the sump, so right now mine is just sitting on a storage rack and if it tipped over it could dose a lot of kalk potentially. But Not a huge worry. I think I will make a wood stand to set it on and attach it to that for peace of mind. I like how it uses a gravity feed with a 1/2" hose so that it doesn't clog up at the end. Very happy with it.

 

[Crashjack]

I use a stirrer with large reservoir. I run it from a dosing pump and run for so many seconds every hour. That way, I can keep consistency and adjust dosing as needed (note: I also run a Ca reactor as kalk isn't enough to maintain my system's Ca and alk). It works very well.

 

[ZoWhat]

Just water change weekly and stop messing around with dosing unless you can accurate test it. IMHO

I absolutely 1000% agree. The perfect dosing media is a great saltmix

A great saltmix has all the major and minor elements balanced out for you

WATCH THIS




For me, the only thing a dose is the tetraselmis phytoplankton im cultivating myself. I dose 64ozs of phyto every night at 11pm

Before pouring the phyto into the DT, I add a 1/3 cup of NEW SALTMIX POWDER to my phyto liquid.

So I know my tank is getting a recharge of all the dozens of elements, 1/3 cup at a time NIGHTLY.

I watch that my Salinity doesn't jump over 1.025 and if it does, I drain off 2-3 gals and let my ATO replace with RODI to drop salinity btwn ~1.023


.

 

[Roytrolls247]

I absolutely 1000% agree. The perfect dosing media is a great saltmix

A great saltmix has all the major and minor elements balanced out for you

WATCH THIS




For me, the only thing a dose is the tetraselmis phytoplankton im cultivating myself. I dose 64ozs of phyto every night at 11pm

Before pouring the phyto into the DT, I add a 1/3 cup of NEW SALTMIX POWDER to my phyto liquid.

So I know my tank is getting a recharge of all the dozens of elements, 1/3 cup at a time NIGHTLY.

I watch that my Salinity doesn't jump over 1.025 and if it does, I drain off 2-3 gals and let my ATO replace with RODI to drop salinity btwn ~1.023


.

That's a good method with my schedule and kids something like that is not feasible for me.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

A question back to you...

Do you know your exact uptake up Alkalinity daily/weekly?

If you don't... then eventually your dKH will be seriously over 13 before you know it

Kalk is nothing to mess with unless you're committed to testing dKH every other day.
.

i like that!, any other thoughts about that because i dose 2 part and thought about mixing in some periodic kalk from time to time , but then i see stuff like your comment and i pucker a little lol

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Unstirred kalkwasser is perfect, if you make it correctly. Stirring does nothing useful if you make a reservoir of saturated limewater (kalkwasser) and dose from it after it has settled. I used that method for 20 years, and have shown it maintains potency as it sits waiting to be delivered.

Stirrers are only useful if you do not have space for a substantial reservoir.

does that mean the bigger the reservoir the better, no matter the size of total system water vol?