Starting kalkwasser dosing..

[Heisenberg 78]

Just wanted to get a few answers for dosing kalk if someone could kindly help..


I have the deltec 10L kalk stirrer..how much powder do I add to get it strong enough to raise ph alk and calcium.?

once I have added the powder how long should this last?, I’m using a kamoer stp fx dosing pump at 2ml per min and topping the water up manually as it’s not attached to my Ato.?

I’m finding that at 3 ml per minute exceeds the evaporation rate, so I’m finding my Ato sensor becoming submerged as the kalk gets dosed..

can you add too much powder or does it all eventually dissipate back to the water..eg could it be added say 1”deep in the reactor..?

thanks..

 

[blaxsun]

Bump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just wanted to get a few answers for dosing kalk if someone could kindly help..


I have the deltec 10L kalk stirrer..how much powder do I add to get it strong enough to raise ph alk and calcium.?

once I have added the powder how long should this last?, I’m using a kamoer stp fx dosing pump at 2ml per min and topping the water up manually as it’s not attached to my Ato.?

I’m finding that at 3 ml per minute exceeds the evaporation rate, so I’m finding my Ato sensor becoming submerged as the kalk gets dosed..

can you add too much powder or does it all eventually dissipate back to the water..eg could it be added say 1”deep in the reactor..?

thanks..

Reactors often do not always product saturated kalkwasser, but 1 gallon of water passing through it will take up to about 2 level teaspoons of dry calcium hydroxide powder.

You certainly need to slow down the dosing, or put it on a timer, if you are exceeding evaporation.

 

[Heisenberg 78]

I am supplementing a calcium reactor with the kalk reactor to surpress the co2 (and trying) to increase ph during the hours of darkness.
I don’t really seem to be seeing much difference in the ph readings despite the 2ml per min kalk dosage for 15hours.

maybe you could give me some guidance on the way to do this.

thanks Randy

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am supplementing a calcium reactor with the kalk reactor to surpress the co2 (and trying) to increase ph during the hours of darkness.
I don’t really seem to be seeing much difference in the ph readings despite the 2ml per min kalk dosage for 15hours.

maybe you could give me some guidance on the way to do this.

thanks Randy

2 mL per min implies 1800 mL per day?

What size tank are we talking about?

 

[Heisenberg 78]

Hi Randy it’s a Reefer 350 sps dominant.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So the volume is about 275 liters, and 1.8 L per day is about 0.65% of the tank volume. That's a fairly low dose. About 0.8 dKH per day.

Adding 1.25% of the tank volume in saturated limewater all at once pushes pH up by about 0.65 pH units. If you add it over time, as you should, the rise is much less.

Does the rate of evaporation allow you to add more?

 

[Heisenberg 78]

Yes, this is where I’m confused; How would a sps tank survive on a 0.8 supplement of alk. Per day if I was to solely use kalk instead of a cal reactor.
My cal reactor is online 24/7 and usually runs stable at around 7.5 dkh; more recently my alk has risen up to 9.5dkh since adding the kalk.

if I dose any more kalk then I’ll be reducing my salinity and eventually overflow the sump.
Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, this is where I’m confused; How would a sps tank survive on a 0.8 supplement of alk. Per day if I was to solely use kalk instead

They often cannot. That's the primary knock on limewater. You may need another supplement.

FWIW, you can make a diy two part that is much more potent and has the same pH boost using sodium hydroxide for alk.

 

[Heisenberg 78]

They often cannot. That's the primary knock on limewater. You may need another supplement.

FWIW, you can make a diy two part that is much more potent and has the same pH boost using sodium hydroxide for alk.

It was just the ph boost I wanted Randy, I’d heard so many good things about kalk in tandem with the cal reactor.

kalkwasser Isn’t that popular in the Uk these days, but back in the day people ran successful reeftanks on kalk, how did they do it as a stand-alone system?

If I was to switch the calcium reactor off what would the dkh be? Are we saying the output from the kalk would not maintain the demand for my coral..?

 

[cpschult]

Instead of starting a new thread I’m going to piggyback off this one. I have an 80 gallon system that is fairly fresh, low bio load but I’ve seeded coralline and I’d like to make sure it gets going. With the kalk calculator it looks like I need to add 1324ml of kalk to make up for a daily 0.5dkh loss (8dkh to 7.5dkh). Does that math check out?

edit-this would be saturated kalk(no vinegar)

1324ml/24 hours = 55ml/hour. Can I use a 50ml/minute dosing pump to add 55ml in just over a minute or dose 22.5ml every 30 minutes or will that affect pH to much?

thanks!

 

[arking_mark]

It was just the ph boost I wanted Randy, I’d heard so many good things about kalk in tandem with the cal reactor.

kalkwasser Isn’t that popular in the Uk these days, but back in the day people ran successful reeftanks on kalk, how did they do it as a stand-alone system?

If I was to switch the calcium reactor off what would the dkh be? Are we saying the output from the kalk would not maintain the demand for my coral..?

Generally speaking, you can dose Kalkwasser to your evaporation rate which is usually somewhere between 0.5 and 3% depending on lots of factors including season of the year. Many use 1% as a baseline for evaporation. With a continuous drip you get about 1dkh and a 0.8 boost.

Most tanks consume between 0.5 and 5.5dKH, and kalk is insufficient and requires additional supplements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Instead of starting a new thread I’m going to piggyback off this one. I have an 80 gallon system that is fairly fresh, low bio load but I’ve seeded coralline and I’d like to make sure it gets going. With the kalk calculator it looks like I need to add 1324ml of kalk to make up for a daily 0.5dkh loss (8dkh to 7.5dkh). Does that math check out?

edit-this would be saturated kalk(no vinegar)

1324ml/24 hours = 55ml/hour. Can I use a 50ml/minute dosing pump to add 55ml in just over a minute or dose 22.5ml every 30 minutes or will that affect pH to much?

thanks!

That sounds like a fine plan. once per h is plenty spread out, except right where the kalkwasser is added. Make sure that is to a turbulent, hiw flow area.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Hi Randy it’s a Reefer 350 sps dominant.

Great looking tank, I don't see anywhere ph is holding you back!!

 

[cpschult]

That sounds like a fine plan. once per h is plenty spread out, except right where the kalkwasser is added. Make sure that is to a turbulent, hiw flow area.

I was planning on dosing into return pump area of sump. That should work well yeah?

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was planning on dosing into return pump area of sump. That should work well yeah?

Thanks!

That sounds reasonable, yes.

Here's where I dosed mine, right where the skimmer exit water landed.

Figure 4. When limewater drips onto surfaces, such as the sides of a sump, precipitation of calcium carbonate takes place. The off-white coloration probably comes from metals such as iron binding to the calcium carbonate surface in the place of calcium.

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[NewCaliCaptives]

I stumbled across this because i’m looking at doing something similar to the ACI method but i just gotta say that you’re tank is absolutely stunning and you should be very proud of yourself, whatever you’ve been doing has for sure been working great.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I stumbled across this because i’m looking at doing something similar to the ACI method but i just gotta say that you’re tank is absolutely stunning and you should be very proud of yourself, whatever you’ve been doing has for sure been working great.

Just be careful that uncontrolled dosing of kalkwasser does not result in excessive alk before you get to a pH you want.

 

[NewCaliCaptives]

Just be careful that uncontrolled dosing of kalkwasser does not result in excessive alk before you get to a pH you want.

Actually I think it might work out perfectly for my system. My PH has a daily swing from around 8.1 to 8.4/8.5 without any additives. So I think i’m just going to dose my whole days top off only during lights out with a saturated kalk to flatten the curve.

He was also saying that he had excessive alk and alk swings even up to 13 but saw no reaction from corals with the stabilized PH, although i’m a little scared to attempt that myself.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Actually I think it might work out perfectly for my system. My PH has a daily swing from around 8.1 to 8.4/8.5 without any additives. So I think i’m just going to dose my whole days top off only during lights out with a saturated kalk to flatten the curve.

He was also saying that he had excessive alk and alk swings even up to 13 but saw no reaction from corals with the stabilized PH, although i’m a little scared to attempt that myself.

Just be cautious that tanks vary a lot in CO2 exposures and, iirc, ACI used a CaCO3/CO2 reactor at the same time as the kalkwasser.

That said, I used kalkwasser for 20 years without the pH getting too high. In the early years I used less than saturated kalk and then later used full strength to replace all evaporated water. Alk never got too high in my system.