Preference: 2 part or kalkwasser?

[Michael43]

im curently dosing 2 part throughout the day. What's everyone's preference between these 2? I know kalk is usually through your ATO. I feel there's less control that way..

 

[McMullen]

I use BRS 2-part for the presumed issue you stated! I have to do some sort of adjusting to my dosing pump every two to three weeks. I wouldn't be able to control with Kalk in the ATO.

 

[Rodmad4]

I run 2 part myself using bubble magus dosing pumps. Very stable readings thanks to oceans blend 2 part solution. I also dose mag.

 

[happyhourhero]

I drip a gallon of kalk per 24 hours with a milk jug and airline tubing. Have been doing that for about a year. Poor man's ato.

 

[CenlaReefer]

Kalk is great if you have a mixed reef. I try to drip it 24 hrs and love it. An SPS dominated tank may have too much Ca uptake to do well with kalkwasser.

 

[happyhourhero]

Kalk @ 1.5 tsp per gallon RO keeps up.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You have one more option....both. I know some who dose kalk in their ATO (which isn't enough to maintain proper alk and calc), and then also dose 2 part. In my mind, kalk is the way to go if your pH is on the low side....will give you the biggest boost in pH.

FYI, I dose 2 part in a 90DT.

 

[G8trBait16]

I use 1tsp per gallon of kalk in my ATO (5g bucket). I have a SPS dominated tank, (45+ frags).

 

[Cory]

Kalk because there is no messing up the formula as there is with two part.

2tsp per gallon = calcium and alklainity in exactly the ratio calcification needs!

 

[briancarterkc]

My tank for whatever reason consumes alk a lot faster than calc (and Mg is always at 1320) I've found I get a lot of precipitation if I use the typical 1.5-2 tsp of kalk per gallon top off. So, I stopped kalk and now I put baking soda in my ATO (about 2.5 T in 10 gal) and dose calc as needed. Keeps me at the 8 dKH and 450 calc I want.

 

[coralseas]

Man! I'm dosing around 14oz of alk brs two part a day! Is this crazy? Keeps my tank around 9 dkh and my cal is 465 and my mag is around 1320. Is this not normal???

 

[briancarterkc]

Man! I'm dosing around 14oz of alk brs two part a day! Is this crazy? Keeps my tank around 9 dkh and my cal is 465 and my mag is around 1320. Is this not normal???

How big is your tank? Also, on the off chance I'm not the only dumb-dumb...one time I realized I bought the nano formulation of a 2-part which is heavily diluted for easier dosing to smaller tanks...couldn't figure out why I needed to use up the bottles in 10 days until I looked closer on day 3 or so. No wonder the by-volume price on Amazon was so much cheaper!!

 

[coralseas]

How big is your tank? Also, on the off chance I'm not the only dumb-dumb...one time I realized I bought the nano formulation of a 2-part which is heavily diluted for easier dosing to smaller tanks...couldn't figure out why I needed to use up the bottles in 10 days until I looked closer on day 3 or so. No wonder the by-volume price on Amazon was so much cheaper!!

120 gallons of water volume. I'm using bulk reef supply 2 part.

 

[briancarterkc]

120 gallons of water volume. I'm using bulk reef supply 2 part.

Well. That does seem like a lot. While I haven't used BRS, my dose with B-Ionic 2-part before moving to just baking soda was around 15-20 ml a day in my 65 gallon.

 

[BigJohnny]

As far as kalk vs 2 part. I think everyone should use kalk until their tank outgrows it and then supplement or switch to 2 part. Kalk is cheaper, you only need to dose 1 part, it doesn't raise salinity, and it helps maintain/raise ph. I do recommend a ph probe/controller failsafe in all kalk scenarios to stop an accidental overdose, especially with an ato application. I use my reefkeeper for that, and also to control my brs dosing pump for kalk.

I dose kalk with a dosing pump 42 times spread throughout the night, my ATO tops off the rest 24/7. That way I get the benefit of kalkwasser and can precisely control my dose instead of relying on evaporation. I like kalk in the ato due to its simplicity, but I find I can keep my tank more stable by dosing, and all I have to do is mix it up.

There are several additional benefits vs the ATO method IMO:

- I can mix a big batch of kalk at the strength I need and won't have to refill it except for once every 3 weeks. (I refill my ato reservoir every 7-10 days)

- I can adjust the dose by simply shortening or extending the time the dosing pump is on, no need to mess with adjusting the of % kalk or mixing a new batch.

-i don't have to worry about ato pumps going bad from kalk or accidental overdose of kalk due to ato being stuck on.

-I can dose whenever I want (at night to counter act pH swing a little)

 

[briancarterkc]

As far as kalk vs 2 part. I think everyone should use kalk until their tank outgrows it and then supplement or switch to 2 part. Kalk is cheaper, you only need to dose 1 part, it doesn't raise salinity, and it helps maintain/raise ph. I do recommend a ph probe/controller failsafe in all kalk scenarios to stop an accidental overdose, especially with an ato application. I use my reefkeeper for that, and also to control my brs dosing pump for kalk.

I dose kalk with a dosing pump 42 times spread throughout the night, my ATO tops off the rest 24/7. That way I get the benefit of kalkwasser and can precisely control my dose instead of relying on evaporation. I like kalk in the ato due to its simplicity, but I find I can keep my tank more stable by dosing, and all I have to do is mix it up.

There are several additional benefits vs the ATO method IMO:

- I can mix a big batch of kalk at the strength I need and won't have to refill it except for once every 3 weeks. (I refill my ato reservoir every 7-10 days)

- I can adjust the dose by simply shortening or extending the time the dosing pump is on, no need to mess with adjusting the of % kalk or mixing a new batch.

-i don't have to worry about ato pumps going bad from kalk or accidental overdose of kalk due to ato being stuck on.

-I can dose whenever I want (at night to counter act pH swing a little)

The "everyone should use kalk" advice is what I followed and why I wound up with a cloudy tank for two weeks. If your tank consumes alk or calc out of proportion with each other, kalk may not be your friend. I can't figure out why, but my alk depletes much faster than my calc and kalkwasser did not work for me.

 

[BigJohnny]

The "everyone should use kalk" advice is what I followed and why I wound up with a cloudy tank for two weeks. If your tank consumes alk or calc out of proportion with each other, kalk may not be your friend. I can't figure out why, but my alk depletes much faster than my calc and kalkwasser did not work for me.

Using kalk was not why you ended up with a cloudy tank, using it incorrectly or without the proper fail safes may have been. Could also have been due to many other things.

With proper testing while dialing in your dose (just like with 2 part), you'll know pretty quickly what works and what doesnt. I'm not saying that kalk will work with your system, but to say you had cloudy water because you used kalk is not the full story. You don't just automatically get cloudy water from kalk if you have disproportionate alkalinity consumption.

Having said that, i have heard of people supplementing kalk with 2 part due for a variety of reasons.

Sorry it didn't work out for you because it's awesome IMO! How often do you test Magnesium? I find that when magnesium is out of whack, calcium and alkalinity get out of whack.

 

[sawdonkey]

I'm all kalk-all-the-time with a nearly all SPS tanks and pretty significant colonies. You have to have a ton of SPS for kalk to be insufficient.

Here's what I do. I have a 25 gallon Ato tank with Smart Aqua ATO. Depending on the season and my current rate of evaporation, I adjust how many tablespoons I add to the tank. I also test alk each time to see if my number went up or down from the previous time I tested, and adjust the number of tablespoons accordingly. Now that it's spring and more humid, evaporation slowed down so I'm adding 14 tablespoons to 25 gallons of water.

Here's my tank.....all kalk.

 

[briancarterkc]

Using kalk was not why you ended up with a cloudy tank, using it incorrectly or without the proper fail safes may have been. Could also have been due to many other things.

With proper testing while dialing in your dose (just like with 2 part), you'll know pretty quickly what works and what doesnt. I'm not saying that kalk will work with your system, but to say you had cloudy water because you used kalk is not the full story. You don't just automatically get cloudy water from kalk if you have disproportionate alkalinity consumption.

Having said that, i have heard of people supplementing kalk with 2 part due for a variety of reasons.

Sorry it didn't work out for you because it's awesome IMO! How often do you test Magnesium? I find that when magnesium is out of whack, calcium and alkalinity get out of whack.

Yeah I suspected Mg but I test it weekly and it's always 1300-1320

 

[BigJohnny]

Yeah I suspected Mg but I test it weekly and it's always 1300-1320

Did you make sure your alk and calc were in balance before you started dosing? When I first used kalk it wasn't proportional and I had problems dialing in the dose. Then I manually adjusted with 2 part and turned back on the kalk. Been running great ever since.