PSA: Kalk is not a pH supplement!

[Formulator]

Twice in the last week I’ve seen threads about kalk dosing with the primary intention of raising pH and zero regard for the fact that kalk is an alkalinity supplement.

So I’m posting this in the hopes that someone will find it when searching for kalk as a pH boosting method. Yes, kalk will raise your pH and can be a useful tool in doing so, but the primary purpose of kalk is to replenish alkalinity used by corals to grow their skeletons. If you dose more alkalinity (kalk) than your corals consume, your alk will increase. Your daily dose of kalk should be based on alkalinity test results over time to tell you how much alkalinity is used in your system per day. It should not be based on a target pH value you are chasing.

Anyways, rant over. Happy reefing!

 

[exnisstech]

Ooh this could get interesting ;)

 

[Formulator]

Ooh this could get interesting ;)

Ya, I’m sure I could be missing some applications as I’m not an expert on kalk and haven’t personally used it, but the posts I saw these people didn’t even seem to know that kalk would affect alkalinity.

 

[helmsreef]

I suppose it depends on what your needs are. I def use Kalk for PH boost, mostly because my CALRx lowers my PH. Full saturation of kalk at max evap of 7500ml a day for me dripped 24/7 wont even cover half of my ALK needs a day so in the end I do use it for PH boost and it just happens to replenish some ALK and take some load off my CALRx

 

[exnisstech]

pH seems to the new thing. I was dosing 7200ml of kalk daily to my system of about 220g and when I tested pH compared to the other two tanks it was identical so I wasn't even getting a boost. I don't monitor tho so maybe I just wasn't seeing it I dunno.