Liquid limestone: Have you used a Kalkwasser Reactor?

[Peace River]

Liquid limestone: Have you used a Kalkwasser Reactor?

Many reef keepers know that calcium and alkalinity are important parts of maintaining healthy corals, especially corals with skeletal structures. Growing corals can deplete the available calcium and alkalinity which need to be replaced. One approach to doing this is through the use of a Kalkwasser reactor which has the side benefit of boosting pH in a positive direction. Kalkwasser reactors are not new to the hobby and have been used for several decades and their popularity has risen and fallen over time. Have you used a Kalkwasser reactor? Please let us know why or why not and share any tips that you may have with the R2R community.

Photo by @maramotreefs

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[Doctorgori]

I don’t understand the equipment yet…
does this saves space or increases efficiency and if it’s worth it over dosing kalkwasser st8

 

[tzabor10]

Just bought one a few months ago. But switched to all for reef. I hope it works

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Honestly it does not make too much since to me to using equipment like this, something I wouldn't get as of right now

 

[shakacuz]

i have no confidence in my ability to run kalk or even a carx. the horror stories are enough to deter me

 

[nereefpat]

I always use automated limewater additions, but I don't use a reactor. I just make a 6 gallon bucket of kalk at a time, and it gets dosed. I really don't see a point, for me, in using a reactor.

 

[SPS2020]

I have great control using soda ash, so no plans for kalk.

 

[exnisstech]

Another point of failure and piece of equipment to maintain IMO. I drip kalk 24/7 on my largest tank and it is rock solid as far as alk and cal. I don't worry about pH tho.

 

[cdemoss01]

I don't understand this stuff! I've never even heard of it lol. I need to be educated on reactors!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not a fan of reactors since they are hard to control potency and often do not produce saturated limewater/kalkwasser despite aquarists thinking they do.

I am a big fan of dosing limewater from a settled reservoir. It was my sole method of dosing calcium and alkalinity for 20 years.

As an aside, regardless of the delivery method, limewater does very slowly raise calcium relative to alkalinity, so in a no water change system, one my need to account for that somehow.

Dosing limewater from a settled reservoir is probably my most preferred alk and calcium dosing method, but I understand space constraints may mean that won't work. Instead of going to a kalkwasser rector, I'd prefer to use a two or three part additive system in such a space constrained setting.

 

[twentyleagues]

In the past when I started to need to dose I went with the Tunze kalk in line thing. (cant remember what they called it. I had little experience back then and the lfs recommended as an easy option. My Tunze ato stuck on a couple times. First time wasnt so bad the second time though was not good. I'd hand dose or get a reliable dosing pump from then on. I'm getting into that phase now since my return to reefing, hand dosing afr currently.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't understand this stuff! I've never even heard of it lol. I need to be educated on reactors!

The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION

There is no aspect of reef aquarium chemistry more important than calcium and alkalinity. Many of my previous articles have described various aspects of these systems in detail. In reading those articles, aquarists will note one pervasive theme: that maintaining appropriate levels of each are...

www.reefedition.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t understand the equipment yet…
does this saves space or increases efficiency and if it’s worth it over dosing kalkwasser st8

Space is, IMO, the only advantage over a settled limewater reservoir.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I don’t dose kalk. I have seen too many cases where the tank gets overdosed and “nuked”. Many Reefers are successful with it though, it’s just not for me. I use two part instead, and pay the extra cost.

 

[d2mini]

Yes, many moons ago. Hated it.

Too many problems with clogged lines, inconsistent batches, dealing with the slurry, ruined pumps... I'm sure there is improved ways to do it now but it still seems like far too much hassle compared to a dosing pump and a good pre-mixed two-part like ESV Bionic, or just using Randy's recipes if you want to mix it up yourself.

I MUCH prefer using a calcium reactor on a larger tank. So much easier IME.

 

[JHSteepat]

I dose saturated at 1.25 ml/minute from a 5g settled container (Hedpak from Amazon), and I programmed my controller to cut off power to the doser if tank pH exceeds 8.6. I will increase or decrease the dose based on weekly alk readings.

I bought two of the same containers, so when the active container is getting to about a quarter tank, I can mix up new kalk in the other container and just switch out the containers.

Calibrate your pH meter every few months so you don’t have this happen, which shut off my kalk doser. The precipitous drop was when I recalibrated after 6 months:

 

[14 foot reef]

I have been using a Kalk Stirrer for evaporation loss for almost 2 years now. I dose my 24 hours worth of evaporation in a 12 hour period reverse of the light cycle.
I had to heavily modify my Avast K2 in order for it to deliver saturated lime water. I wouldn't recommend this massive modification on any system that is small. I have 850 gallons of running water with my sump 100' away from my display tank. ( The only reason I feel comfortable with this method )

I have been thinking about changing to the way @Randy Holmes-Farley describes because I do not have any space constraints as sump room is a 3 car garage with 1 car in it.

I wanted to really give a long test on this modification, and I have, and I am very happy with it.

But I think its time to go to Randy's method and see how much better and more stable I can keep my pH.

The Stirrer out of the box on a smaller system is exactly what Randy describes, very inconsistent and very unpredictable.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

We run custom made 5 foot tall kalk reactors on our systems. They have their own controller so that we can set the Ph that we want the systems at and it doses appropriately. It has a Ph probe connected to the controller so I can monitor saturation and know when to add more kalk, and I can adjust the stirrer speed to ensure that it is constantly fully mixed. Currently dosing about 10 gallons per day to each system. Ignore the mess, we are doing some cable management LOL

 

[BAMatter]

I’m using an AvastMarine K1 on my 75 gallon system that accounts for about 50% of my alk/cal consumption and use ESV 2 part to pick up the rest. It’s about 1440 ml’s being dose 24/7, and have ESV on a control to dynamic dose alk as needed. PH stays 8.1-8.3 and alk has about a .5dkh range over the course of the day.

 

[Sweet Reef Corals]

Space is, IMO, the only advantage over a settled limewater reservoir.

Hi Randy,
You keep mentioning “settled” reservoir. Is there a difference in the potency of “settled” limewater vs stirred (cloudy) limewater?