Dosing

[RayAllen]

what do you guys think about this. Ive read reviews and it seems to work

http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/kalkdrip.htm

[JimD]

Lots of people use the drip method for kalk dosing, the trick is matching the evaporation rate and making sure not to dose while mixing... Kalk needs to be stirred then allowed to settle before adding.

[ErikH]

If for some reason, the ato malfunctions your left with a white tank and a toxic pH level.

If your ATO messes up, that is a hardware problem, and not a dosing problem. What happens if a kalk reactor malfunctions? ITS MUCH WORSE, imo.

[SoLiD]

This what I used to do when dosed kalk regularly through my ATO.

1. Get a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with RO\DI water.

2. Put 2-3 teaspoons per gallon of Kent Kalk (I assume any will work).

3. Mix it up really good, wait about an hour and mix it up again.

4. Wait at least 12 hours for everything to settle.

5. Open the valve on the bucket a fill up my ATO.

This would leave most of the powder (but not all) behind in the 5 gallon bucket. Then the ATO would drip it in via a float valve into my refugium. This worked for me before I got a calcium reactor.

Like Erik said, you do have to monitor your pH to make sure it doesn't get to high.

-David

[reeferRob]

I guess I do it too simple, I add about 90ml - 120ml of Seachem reef complete with a syringe directly into my sump every other day, and 4 level teaspoons of Seachem reef builder mixed into at least 2 gals of top off water (Idon't use an ATO yet) poured directly into the sump every other day for my 180g + about 20g sump - rock = i dunno 150g system? My dkh is always 10.2 to 11.5 and my Ca is always between 420-460 and PH 8.2-8.3. I test once /week. As someone else mentioned my Mg gets taken care of with water changes + reef complete contains trace amounts of it, it is always around 1350. Been doing this for 2 years with no trouble. This is probably some sort of unorthodoxed method but it works for me.


Rob

[glennr1978]

I DIY'ed my own dosing pump system. It consists of 2 digital timers, 2 aqualifters, airline hose w/ valves, and a couple containers to hold 2 part (currently using B-Ionic). I have it dialed in to dose exactly 20mL per minute since my tank requires 20mL of each part daily. Alk is dosed for one minute at 11:30 pm, and again at 5:30 am, equalling 40mL. Ca is dosed for 2 minutes at 3:00 pm, Again, equalling 40mL. I've only had this system up and running for about 2 weeks. So far it seems to be working pretty well. I get consistant readings of 9-10 dkh, and 420 Ca. The only fluctuation I have is Ph, which ranges from 7.94 to 8.17 (I know, it's a little low) in a 24 hour period. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure the fluctuation I have in Ph is acceptable. I'm considering setting up an additional pump on an additional timer to dose kalk very slowly at night. Hopefully I can get that Ph swing even smaller.

Fwiw, my dosing system cost me roughly $60 total. Not bad considering a LMIII will run in the $400 neighborhood.