Dosing Kalk

[polarbear]

Who here doses Kalk? I’m interested in learning more about it. I dose 2 part now but would like to try Kalk. I have read and watched several videos on how to does it and the ATO way seem to be the safest. I have a reef controller that would monitor my Ph and turn the ATO off it the Ph got above a certain number. My biggest questions are how do you know how much to start dosing? Do you start with the recommended does and test a couple of days later to see if it had any affect? Also if using the ATO as the way to does do I have to worry about my pump sitting on the bottom of the container? I use a regular pump in my ATO not the aqua lifter so it sets on the bottom of the jug. Also do I put a circulation pump in the ATO container to keep the water mixed all the time or let the Kalk settle out? Any info would be welcomed.

[polarbear]

bump. anyone?

[koa25]

I'm going to start. I read some good articles on it and watched some YouTube videos. Once you do the initial mixing you shouldn't mix any more. No powerhead. The stuff that settles at the bottom is impurities and "heavy" lime water. This stuff can jack up numbers quick. The recommend having your line elevated above this murky water at the bottom. I'd invest in the 12 buck aqua lifter and airline tubing so you can have the hose right above the effluent.

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[koa25]

I'm just learning myself. So this just what I have learned. I use to dose 2 part daily as well. Maybe someone will chime in with a little more hands on do's and don'ts.

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[Southern Flame]

I mix a teaspoon of pickling lime from Walmart to 5 gal RO tipoff water mix it up let it settle and siphon off the clear liquid and leave the residue behind and do a slow drip so I don't get ph spikes


90 gal reef <3 250 build<3
MAAST

[Southern Flame]

I think it's called Mrs. Wages


90 gal reef <3 250 build<3
MAAST

[allan]

I never could get my ato top off to work well with the controller. Similar to a voltage surge at the end of a long 100 amp cable... generator runs at 24%, you turn on a large power consumer, draws heavily on the generator, the generator spins up, power surge. With the dosing, I would have my machine kick on the kalk at 7.8... it would run for about an hour before my sensor would register the climb in PH... and half an hour later I would have an alarm for an hour as my PH would be too high. What always worked for me was the evaporative top off, although I toyed with a steady drip drop, drippity drop drop. I thought you didn't have any sps? If you don't have a requirement for the extra calcium, why bother? Or are you chasing PH?

[Mr Cob]

I dose kalk +2 by brightwell via auto top off in a 20g tall reservoir.

I forget what the dose is...I have it written on one of my 5g kalk jugs. Once a week I refill the full 20g auto top off and let it settle after mixing....let it settle for the evening...around 3 hours.

My top off pump is just slightly above the muck.

It's important to note that there is a limit on how much of it can actually dissolve per gallon so once you reach that maximum and if you can not keep up with calcium demands in your tank you may need to look into another method of keeping calcium up. I do a lot of water changes due to all the clownfish in my systems and I have a ton of coral. This has been working well for me.

I also use a CO2 air filter that helps remove CO2 in the air and helps to stabilize my PH. It is connected to the air inlet on one of my skimmers.

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[Mr Cob]

also...the muck or whatever you want to call it that settles at the bottom does not need to be removed or discarded. Once every few months I just pour in ro/Di water without adding more kalkwasser and more of it dissolves. There was an informative post on reef central that discusses this. Some serious SPS keepers saying they have kept the muck going for a year +.

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[Mr Cob]

And yes....NO circulation pump...you also need to wait for the stuff to settle before turning topoff pump back on. Once again i wait 3 hours.

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[koa25]

I remember you dosing a spoon full straight to your tank, Allan. I always thought you were nuts doing that. Come to find out you were/are. Guess it's the biggest taboo adding kalk straight to your tank. But it seemed to work well for you.

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[allan]

It did then... but then I started having issues getting that stuff straight.

My PH would drop through the floor, I'd get it to 8.2 for a few hours and then it would plummet.

All in all, it worked well for about two years. Then it started having a bad effect and I started losing coral.

But, to clarify, I followed Ping's earlier instructions that night that he came over for my sea hare. "Allan, put a teaspoon into a quart container with RO, shake it up, and pour it into your sump about half an hour after lights out."

He went on to say that would be a very basic beginning regime. I kept at it. And then, to make matters worse, I grew cocky and started putting it in at lights out. Then I got foolish and started doing it to demonstrate to visitors how I dose Kalk (because pouring it in was too difficult to do verbally).

I learned a lot over the last year and a half of my 210 and 350 gallon systems. I'm fixing to start up a softy nano up here in Dallas, will be experimenting with long term (one week to nine days) hands off approach. So no livestock, just zoas and... well, just zoas. I won't have to worry about kalk.

[polarbear]

Hey Allen. I do have 8 types of monti's and some SPS. I posted looking for more frags because I want to lean more towards that way in my tank but want small frags to see how they do and to watch them grow out.


I never could get my ato top off to work well with the controller. Similar to a voltage surge at the end of a long 100 amp cable... generator runs at 24%, you turn on a large power consumer, draws heavily on the generator, the generator spins up, power surge. With the dosing, I would have my machine kick on the kalk at 7.8... it would run for about an hour before my sensor would register the climb in PH... and half an hour later I would have an alarm for an hour as my PH would be too high. What always worked for me was the evaporative top off, although I toyed with a steady drip drop, drippity drop drop. I thought you didn't have any sps? If you don't have a requirement for the extra calcium, why bother? Or are you chasing PH?

[polarbear]

Thanks to everyone for the info.

[Justin]

I saw a video that Mr. Saltwater posted on the stuff. I originally started my dose with 2 tbsp/ gallon of water for a typical 5 gallon jug. I upgraded my system to use a 13 gallon container and now I add about a full cup of Kalk powder. Like most people who have commented, I wait for the stuff to settle before I turn my ATO back on. I have an apex controller so I use that to keep my parameters pretty stable. For the most part, I have several variables that if they occur they turn off the ATO within my Apex programming.
I have so far been able to keep my PH at a stable 8.19. Great stuff and I highly recommend it for most people before doing 2 part dosing. Being at the max of the amount you should dose, no more than 5 tbsp/ gallon, if my system continues to need Ca, and Alk, I will need to dose with 2 part. So far I have no need for it.

[texanjordan]

I used to add kalkwasser using a dosing pump and a 3 gallon jug, I would just mix the kalk with RODI water and hook it up to my dosing pump and it would dose only the saturated water and never any of the kalk that settles on the bottom. I also dosed Calcium and Alk. With the setup im about to launch, I have a Kalk Reactor, and I will be using my triple doser to add Kalk, Alk and Mag.

[mkengr45]

I use kalk in my ATO and also use dosers for two-part. My ATO tank is 30 gallons and I usually put 1.5 cups of BRS kalkwasser. I have left the muck in the top off tank for over a year now. I dose about 65ml a day of two part since kalk alone is not able to meet my calcium and alkalinity needs. For some reason I have always had good luck using kalkwasser in the ATO tank combined with dosing two part....something about the kalk just works. ATO run by Tunze and dosers ron by GHL Profilux.

Randy