Started dosing kalkwasser but alk dropping

[Reef-_-Noob]

So I was dosing 2 part manually but decided to buy a doser a dose kalkwasser. Before I ran out of part B I dosed my alk to 9.8 and was getting great growth and seeing growth tips.

Then came the kalk with the doser..

I mixed about 15 grams in a gallon jug and drilled a hole thru the top for the tube.

I started with 12 doses of 10 mL and monitored dkh and it was dropping throughout the week. Upped the doses to 18x and 19 mL doses and topped off with more kalkwasser.

Decided to attach an ato bucket to the other doser head as I will be going out of town soon and I need that running for the trip. So I decided to add about 15 grams of kalkwasset to the 3 gallons of freshwater in that bucket. Set the dose head to 2x for 500mL a day.

The dkh is still dropping! I am now at 8.3 dkh. Any tips how to keep this dkh up with kalkwasser? I am trying to tune in my evaporation rate because I manually topped off before so I can determine my maximum daily dose.

 

[fishyjoes]

2 part gives a lot more alk per ml than kalkwasser
Use the calculator https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/KalkContribution.php (or some other) to see how much you need

 

[DrMMI]

You could be precipitating it. Are you dosing it to an area of high flow? Randy has a couple of posts throughout the forum about how to avoid this if that's the case.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Has the kalk powder been left open for very long? It will lose potency when exposed to carbon dioxide in the air.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It’s a dose issue, unless your tank is super tiny. Kalk is 44 times less potent than my diy two part recipe.

Use a calculator to determine a dose, which is usually a large fraction of the daily evaporation;

'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV'

 

[Kayvon]

Could be that the added ph is increasing your consumption

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Could be that the added ph is increasing your consumption

That would have been my answer too, but he is adding too little to up pH appreciably unless it is a tiny tank.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Tank is 100 gallons.. I have noticed trend in more consumption of alk but new growth is dwindling. Ph has not improved significantly.
I ordered a new bottle of part B.
I'm going to increase the kalk dose to match evaporation which may be closer to a gallon/pd and have that run at night to increase the ph and Dose a smaller amount of part b.

 

[14 foot reef]

Tank is 100 gallons.. I have noticed trend in more consumption of alk but new growth is dwindling. Ph has not improved significantly.
I ordered a new bottle of part B.
I'm going to increase the kalk dose to match evaporation which may be closer to a gallon/pd and have that run at night to increase the ph and Dose a smaller amount of part b.

This is what I do but larger #'s
Reef is 850 gallons evap is 5 gallons per day and I dose that in a 12 hour reverse light schedule to boost PH at night. My Alk consumption is way more than my kalk can supply like @Randy Holmes-Farley mentions. So I dose 425 ml of Sodium Hydroxide reverse light cycle also. it flattens my alk and pH out perfectly during the full 24 hour time period of the calendar day.
Alk 8.65 lights on 8.6 lights off
pH 8.3 Lights on 8.25 Lights off

Took a while to get here, but now that I am, I'm letting Trident Dosing dictate my dosing ml per day and week.

Coral growth is great, but its a combo of things between Lighting, Flow, Reef Moonshiners, & the modified Chris Meckley kalk dosing process.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tank is 100 gallons.. I have noticed trend in more consumption of alk but new growth is dwindling. Ph has not improved significantly.
I ordered a new bottle of part B.
I'm going to increase the kalk dose to match evaporation which may be closer to a gallon/pd and have that run at night to increase the ph and Dose a smaller amount of part b.

Nothing much will happen with what you added.

To boost alk by 1 dKH in 100 gallons, you need to add 3 liters of saturated (2 tsp/gallon) kalkwasser.

 

[exnisstech]

It took me a while to get my kalk dose figured out when I was switching over from 2 part in my 180g about 220ish total. After a few weeks of tweaking and testing I finally have it stable at 8. I target 8ish so it's right where I like it. I'm dialed in at 7.2 liters a day which is just barley under my evaporation rate. I dose fully saturated over a 24hr period vs 12. My pH has always been 8.3 or a bit higher so I don't bother worrying about it. I don't have a ton of stony corals but a mixed reef including 2 clams that are growing well.

 

[RichReef]

I started using kalk about 3 months ago. It was great at first but trying to match my evap rate was difficult and I'm not into difficult. My GUESS is that my evap rate fluctuated? Dunno. Something was always off daily.

Nothing worked out .... for -->ME<-- and what I was willing to put into it.
Until I purchased and Avast Marine Stirrer and sent my ATO water through it instead of using the doser. I had to modify the stirrer a bit by adding some DIY paddles which was a great improvement.

Now my ALK only drops a point every 2 days (give and take) and I adjust it when I do a water change.

Now on to something a little more controversial......... I have began ... BEGAN ... to monitor my PH more than my ALK. My thought is that after 3 months of messing with this stuff that a steady PH seems way more important when you are using kalk. I've been keeping a steady 8.5 and supplementing ALK at water changes. My PH has been as high as 8.9 and that just didn't sit well with me.

My tank has responded favorably. I still consider myself a noob so take my response with thought.

What ALK can do for you vs others is going to be different. Tank size. Evap rates. Amount of coral demand ect ....

 

[Pntbll687]

So I was dosing 2 part manually but decided to buy a doser a dose kalkwasser. Before I ran out of part B I dosed my alk to 9.8 and was getting great growth and seeing growth tips.

Then came the kalk with the doser..

I mixed about 15 grams in a gallon jug and drilled a hole thru the top for the tube.

I started with 12 doses of 10 mL and monitored dkh and it was dropping throughout the week. Upped the doses to 18x and 19 mL doses and topped off with more kalkwasser.

Decided to attach an ato bucket to the other doser head as I will be going out of town soon and I need that running for the trip. So I decided to add about 15 grams of kalkwasset to the 3 gallons of freshwater in that bucket. Set the dose head to 2x for 500mL a day.

The dkh is still dropping! I am now at 8.3 dkh. Any tips how to keep this dkh up with kalkwasser? I am trying to tune in my evaporation rate because I manually topped off before so I can determine my maximum daily dose.

How much part B were you dosing?

Take what you were dosing in part B and multiply it by 44 and that should get you close to the ml needed in kalkwasser for 24hr period.

Or if you know your tank consumption of alk for a 24hr period you can use one of the calculators online to figure out how much kalk to start with.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I started using kalk about 3 months ago. It was great at first but trying to match my evap rate was difficult and I'm not into difficult. My GUESS is that my evap rate fluctuated? Dunno. Something was always off daily.

Nothing worked out .... for -->ME<-- and what I was willing to put into it.
Until I purchased and Avast Marine Stirrer and sent my ATO water through it instead of using the doser. I had to modify the stirrer a bit by adding some DIY paddles which was a great improvement.

Now my ALK only drops a point every 2 days (give and take) and I adjust it when I do a water change.

Now on to something a little more controversial......... I have began ... BEGAN ... to monitor my PH more than my ALK. My thought is that after 3 months of messing with this stuff that a steady PH seems way more important when you are using kalk. I've been keeping a steady 8.5 and supplementing ALK at water changes. My PH has been as high as 8.9 and that just didn't sit well with me.

My tank has responded favorably. I still consider myself a noob so take my response with thought.

What ALK can do for you vs others is going to be different. Tank size. Evap rates. Amount of coral demand ect ....

I understand the issues around evaporation rates, but there’s no reason a stirrer is easier to dial in than a reservoir, and a couple of reasons a stirrer is harder.

 

[Pntbll687]

It’s a dose issue, unless your tank is super tiny. Kalk is 44 times less potent than my diy two part recipe.

Use a calculator to determine a dose, which is usually a large fraction of the daily evaporation;

'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV'

I can't get the calculator to work. I put in the parameters and a page pops up that's just greyish in color.

 

[exnisstech]

I understand the issues around evaporation rates, but there’s no reason a stirrer is easier to dial in than a reservoir, and a couple of reasons a stirrer is harder.

Reservoir was easy once I realized kalk in my ato was not going to work due to varying rates. Kalk in one brute and ato water in another for ato is what I finally figured out worked for me.

Never tried a stirrer. If consumption starts to exceed what an be dosed via evaporation would a stirrer allow a stronger concentration to be added so kalk could be continued vs having to start 2 part or even a calcium reactor? Trying to continue my education

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can't get the calculator to work. I put in the parameters and a page pops up that's just greyish in color.

Something is wrong with it. Don’t know what.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reservoir was easy once I realized kalk in my ato was not going to work due to varying rates. Kalk in one brute and ato water in another for ato is what I finally figured out worked for me.

Never tried a stirrer. If consumption starts to exceed what an be dosed via evaporation would a stirrer allow a stronger concentration to be added so kalk could be continued vs having to start 2 part or even a calcium reactor? Trying to continue my education

Dosing a slurry will add more, but is very likely to be highly variable in strength. Not many folks dose a slurry.

 

[exnisstech]

I can't get the calculator to work. I put in the parameters and a page pops up that's just greyish in color.

Try it now. It's working for me. Let me know if its not working and maybe I can plug your numbers in

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Still not working on my phone.