Limewater vs two part

[bif24701]

Strange. I has always assume that basements where great for staying warm in winter and cool in summer. Maintaining a consistent environment, is that not true? I heard that was a good reason to have one.

The dehumidifier, that could be why your rates changes so much. Makes more sense now, because that could very easily drop the humidity very very low thus causing huge amounts of water to evaporate, and at some point they fill up and stop until emptied.

 

[bif24701]

I will be more aware of my capitalization in the future, I can certainly see how that can be interpreted in countless ways.

My sump is in my garage. I live in Florida where it doesn't get as cold but does get somewhat dry at times and very hot/humid in summer.

 

[jason2459]

Strange. I has always assume that basements where great for staying warm in winter and cool in summer. Maintaining a consistent environment, is that not true?

The dehumidifier, that could be why your rates changes so much. Makes more sense now, because that could very easily drop the humidity very very low thus causing huge amounts of water to evaporate, and at some point they fill up and stop until emptied.

My basement is climate controlled with the rest of the house and is all the same. The dehumidifiers should be helping to increase evaporation of the tank. But the past few days has been very little evaporation due to a lot of humidity recently.

My humidifiers run to a floor drains so never need emptied which is nice.

 

[bif24701]

By all means. Share your method. Some people it may work for. Others it may not. I didn't dispute that once.

Gotcha!

BTW, isn't having a remote sump/filtration system the best?

 

[jason2459]

I will be more aware of my capitalization in the future, I can certainly see how that can be interpreted in countless ways.

My sump is in my garage. I live in Florida where it doesn't get as cold but does get somewhat dry at times and very hot/humid in summer.

Northern folk get some extremes. The winters get very dry. My knuckles crack open and bleed. Dry nose bleeds. Etc. Evaporation shoots up a lot.

In the spring it will be 86 and humid one day and the next it will be 34 and snowing a blizzard. No joke.

 

[bif24701]

I may have started all this by claiming everyone was doing it wrong! LOL. Sometimes my exaggeration doesn't transfer well when typed, i use it to try to be funny.

 

[Cory]

Ive come to the conclusion its better not to dose limewater via evaporation anymore.

It will be much safer for me to dose via the ghl profilux. The only thing i dont like is the high ph. What i dont like about two or three part is the potential to mess up sodium/sulphur/chloride.

Which is more prone to error?

 

[kazikage42]

Ive come to the conclusion its better not to dose limewater via evaporation anymore.

It will be much safer for me to dose via the ghl profilux. The only thing i dont like is the high ph. What i dont like about two or three part is the potential to mess up sodium/sulphur/chloride.

Which is more prone to error?

Everything has errors when not maintenancing our equipment, but it's up to us to keep things in check and maintain proper operation. Whether you dose limewater or 2 part, once you have it dialed it to your corals demands, it's pretty much set and forget.

 

[bif24701]

Ive come to the conclusion its better not to dose limewater via evaporation anymore.

It will be much safer for me to dose via the ghl profilux. The only thing i dont like is the high ph. What i dont like about two or three part is the potential to mess up sodium/sulphur/chloride.

Which is more prone to error?

I think that is a wise choice. Separating the two would give you better control.

 

[Holy_makerel]

I use kalk and 2 part in my SPS dominant 32 gal biocube. Kalk is added every 2 hours at 22ml a dose. 2 part is added 9ml total(each) over 3 doses at night separated by one hour. This maintains cal at 400ppm and alk at 9.

Dosed with a jabao 4 head pump. Eventually I'll add mag to the doser as well but for now i dose that by hand and maintain levels at about 1300ppm

I've found this to be a very stable setup for me and have good coral growth/health. I'll adapt the kalk/2 part method to my 93 gal system I'm setting up as well.

 

[jason2459]

Another method coming out with newer devices hitting the market would be dosing limewater separately and using an Alk monitor to control the alk dosing for anything above and beyond demands of the limewater. And manually dose some Ca periodically if required or add it to the water change water along with some Mg.

 

[rushbattle]

Another method coming out with newer devices hitting the market would be dosing limewater separately and using an Alk monitor to control the alk dosing for anything above and beyond demands of the limewater. And manually dose some Ca periodically if required or add it to the water change water along with some Mg.

I'm thinking an integrated system will finally handle these tasks for us. It would add saturated kalk to control alk levels and make up the rest of evap with RODI, with water level and pH safeguards in place. Then as alk demand increases beyond the evap rate it would switch over to adding a balanced two part to control alk and calc balance. As evap changes, the amount of alkalinity added via kalk versus two part would change, but the alk monitor would maintain the set alk level. Could even set Mag as a ratio to the amount of calc added via two part solution. Or based on demand automatically from something like the mindstream. I'm hoping to rig something like this with the G2 Cerebra, but hopefully it will be more streamlined in a few years.

 

[Velcro]

I think every single person is doing Kalk wrong!!!!

Why not add Kalk just like every other additive. Calculate the amount needed in a 24 hour period and dose that much exactly, based on evaporation NOT ALK/Cal consumption.

My Kalk system is simple:

Container: 32g Brute
Pump: BRS 50ml/min ATO pump/doser
Timer/Control: APEX

My pump comes on 4 min every 1/2 hour, this amount matches my evaporation rate. That rate and dose has not changed in the 1+ year I have been doing it.

Never had an over dose. Never spiked pH, never flooded the sump. Only issues that you hVe to deal with is refilling the container. If everyone did Kalk like this everyone would be doing Kalk. There is no reason not too. Include it with any system to help stabilize pH and ALK. Maintains Cal. Will NOT increase salinity. Will not cause an imbalance of ions. Is also your ATO.

If your system is small find a slower pump for better fine tuning.

Do Not Use Switches for control, ONLY alerts!

You already should have an idea of the evaporation rate, use that as a starting point. Adjust the timing as needed. Once set the evaporation rate may change a little with the seasons but no enough to cause danger, just adjust.

A pump that can be calibrated is great for tuning.

Must not allow a siphon!

Must be consistent, so regular pumps are out unless you can assure that it will add exactly the same amount every time. Aqualifters will not work for this setup, they are never consistent enough.

I agree. My favorite setup was having one vessel of RODI With two lines coming from it. One line was my ATO. The other line was to a dosing pump that fed a kalk stirrer. It was a rock solid setup, but I don't have room for the stirrer anymore.

 

[bif24701]

I agree. My favorite setup was having one vessel of RODI With two lines coming from it. One line was my ATO. The other line was to a dosing pump that fed a kalk stirrer. It was a rock solid setup, but I don't have room for the stirrer anymore.

I would very much like to look into a stirrer. I feel it can help ensure I get the most saturated Kalk into my system.

 

[hart24601]

I have been recommending for years now evaluating how much your tank evaporates each season and getting a peristaltic pump to dose limewater under the lowest amount your tank evaporates. Keep it separate from the ATO. All sorts of float values even manual ones to prevent disaster if the pump stuck on. I also use 2 part when the demand exceeds how much limewater can supplement.

Of course monitor the demand in your tank and use calculators to see how much limewater you are dosing a day! But I do not want to mix limewater and my ATO, however I want the benefits of limewater so I started doing the above method.

 

[Holy_makerel]

I would very much like to look into a stirrer. I feel it can help ensure I get the most saturated Kalk into my system.

I add 50ml/gal of white vinegar to my kalk. Not only does it help keep my kalk in solution but adds a little carbon dosing to my system. I'm sure it's not as good as a stirrer but has been working well for me

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I have never used 2 part or 3 part just because I have never purchased a doser. I have tried lime water in my ato but I hate the deposits that build up. I have tried a kalk reactor using my ato but because of times where the requirements from evaporation required exceeded the ability of the reactor I would get some unsettled kalk in tank. Never drove the ph to high but required frequent cleaning of the pumps. I went with a calcium reactor instead of trying other things. If I were to go back to dosing kalk I would buy me a peristaltic pump and use the kalk reactor separate from my ato pump. This kalk setup would do most of the make up water. Since it would be many small doses throughout 24 hours and most at night, it would keep ph swings down and would not rely on varying evaporations rates. I am currently very happy with my calcium reactor and have no plans on going back to kalk. I do have lower ph than I like but that is from higher co2 in the home. I have thought about using a ATS for a number of reason including removing co2 from tank

 

[Velcro]

I would very much like to look into a stirrer. I feel it can help ensure I get the most saturated Kalk into my system.

I really liked mine. My next system will definitely have one if there's room. I had the aquamedic which was nice, but in the future I'd go with the avast because I love that company.

 

[bif24701]

I really liked mine. My next system will definitely have one if there's room. I had the aquamedic which was nice, but in the future I'd go with the avast because I love that company.

Avast? I like their skimmer neck cleaner, really has worked well.

 

[bif24701]

I add 50ml/gal of white vinegar to my kalk. Not only does it help keep my kalk in solution but adds a little carbon dosing to my system. I'm sure it's not as good as a stirrer but has been working well for me

I do that also, I add 2 cups to ~30-32 gallons. I have had problems with very weak Kalk saturation so I started adding the vinegar to ensure it's strength. I'm very lucky in the fact that I only have to dose Kalk and it perfectly maintains constant ALK of 10.5 and Cal of 430. Sometime I have to add Cal, about once a month.