Out of the box idea - Avast Plank as Kalk Slurry Doser

[trevorhiller]

I recently got this device as an autofeeder. I’m impressed with how precise it doses food…

Last night I heard about some people dosing Kalkwasser slurry straight to the tanks to supplement Ca/ALK and it got me wondering about a similar high precision powder dosing system that could be placed in the sump with lots of flow. Then the avast system popped into my brain- auger for powder dosing, sealed container, mixing tube, timer controllable….

I only have a 60 gallon tank and I think if anyone was going to try to experiment with this it would need to be a on bigger tank first to prevent an overdose, but it seems like an “out of the box” idea they could work, well… out of the box. Fill the avast with kalk, set it up in a sump, start the timer at a couple seconds/day and work up while measuring alkalinity

I have zero intention to take this idea further on my small tank, but figured I would document the idea perhaps as a spring board for someone else’s experiment.

 

[JaaxReef]

Interesting concept! Could see it perhaps being used with powder-based all in one supplements like Red Sea Reef Foundation ABC+. I’m not familiar with the product. How much does it hold and how customizable is the amount that comes out?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, a nice study would include whether the alk and calcium dosed this way all ended up as available alk and calcium in the water, or whether there is localized precipitation of calcium carbonate at the particle surfaces that can't redissolve. :

I don't think any of the proponents of slurry dosing have ever checked this. In the end, it may not matter, if you just dose enough more to account for it, but the question is whether any precipitation involves 10% of what you dose, or 90% (or maybe 0%).

Biggest concerns are to be sure that pH does not rise too fast, and that undissolved particles do not get to delicate organisms.