How much Kalkwasser to dose?

[wegotjs]

I Built a DIY doser and am just looking for a general rule of thumb of how much Kalk to start dosing .Tank is 70 gallons, I have a 1 gallon bottle that I am going to dose over 24 hours. I have seen a couple thread's that said 1 teaspooon per gallon in tank and another that said 1 teaspoon for 1 gallon of water in your doser? Give me a Head's up on the correct answer.

thanks Jon

[Nyles]

For the water thats being dosed into tank the water should be hyper saturated to about 1 teaspoon per gallon.

For example I don't use a doser per say I mix my kalk in my auto top off sump and have extreme heavy cal use and push up to 2 teaspoons per gallon of top off. The sump has a pump that stirs kalk and keeps the water saturated.

 

In short 1 teaspoon per gallon (2 teaspoons fully saturated), and as always only dose the middle part of the kalk mix, not the sediment or the calcified top for those that have never used it.

[wegotjs]

So Nyles your saying that a good starting point is one teaspoon in my gallon container. Dose over 24 hours and keep checking PH levels ?

[Nyles]

That would be a good start, but in a doser this work differently. A good doser that works properly can be loaded with kalk (a few cups) and it will stir as needed and top off till it is mostly gone (taking months). You need to make sure the kalk settles before the ATO pump runs.

[andy]

On my 55gal (with a solid population of growing SPS) I was ATOing with a fully saturated 2 tablespoons per gallon of RO/DI. This gave me ~10 dKH and ~480ppm Ca. My Aquacontroller monitored the PH, and would often cut-off the ATO during the day so be careful -- maybe only top-off when the light are out..

[Nyles]

Just be careful doing that as it will spike kalk all at once, I think fast raising ph versus just high gradual ph is much more detrimental to corals, so caution is advised if you ATO just at night.

[andy]

Agreed, you really need to know your tank's cycle and levels before starting and take it slow; work your way up a bit at a time. I just provided my numbers as an example, not suggesting you start there.

[downhill_biker]

i just wanted to bring this back from the depths and get some clearity on the issue. i currently am dosing 1 gallon of saturated limewater at 2 tspn per gallon every night. it seems that i am having a difficult time keeping up with the ca and alk demands of my tank, but i dont think i can dose more, because my pH is usually around 8.4 and goes up from there when i dose.

 

what should i do? dose more? please help i dont want to mess things up.

 

currently i dose the gallon in a fast drip over about an hour at around midnight every night, FYI

[dsoz]

Kalk is good, and it has its uses, but it is not the only way to increase your calcium and alkalinity levels. In fact it is not a GOOD way to increase your levels, it is only good at maintaining levels that you already have set.

 

If you are having such a hard time keeping up, you may want to try to use calcium chloride and sodium carbonate (or bicarbonate) in a two part solution that you use daily. There are a few places on the internet that give recipes on how to make the two part solution.

 

Another thought is to use Marine Buffer. It will raise Alk while keeping your pH at 8.3. If you need additional calcium, you can get calcium chloride to increase calcium without changing your pH much.

 

Using the Marine Buffer will allow you to not have huge pH swings like you had in the recent past.

 

dsoz

[downhill_biker]

i understand that it is used for maintaining, but it isn't keeping up. is there a way to counter-act the high pH without causing other issues, such as vinegar and carbon sources?

 

i just don't want to have to spend a bunch of money adding 2 parts, the reason i went to kalk was to save money.

 

would it be better for me to do a slow drip of 2 gallons of top off limewater throughout the entire day?

[andy]

How much water do you lose to evaporation each day?

[impur]

i understand that it is used for maintaining, but it isn't keeping up. is there a way to counter-act the high pH without causing other issues, such as vinegar and carbon sources?

 

i just don't want to have to spend a bunch of money adding 2 parts, the reason i went to kalk was to save money.

 

would it be better for me to do a slow drip of 2 gallons of top off limewater throughout the entire day?

 

Yes you can add vinegar to your saturated kalk water to increase the calcium/alk uptake in the tank. This way you can eek out a little more from the kalk, while keeping the pH in acceptable range. I did it this way on my 29gal with great results.

 

This will tell you everything you ever wanted to know and more about kalk

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

[andy]

It may be that the calcium and carbonate uptake in your tank are greater than kalk can keep up with, particularly if you're just dosing enough to keep up with evaporation. If that's the case, you could check out two-part or a Ca reactor.

[andy]

That vinegar method, that's what they call "kalk balling" right? Always makes me think of a dead John Belushi.

[dsoz]

When I want to get my calcium up higher, I will add some acid to my Kalk. But instead of using vinegar, I use muriatic (hydrochloric) acid that I got from Home Depot. But all it does is make a mixture of calcium hydroxide (kalk) and calcium chloride. It is more cost effective to buy some calcium chloride and just add it straight.

 

Also muriatic has the double edge sword that it does not act as a carbon source for denitrification. I can monitor the carbon input (sugar that I add), and I don't get a bacteria bloom from too much vinegar.

 

dsoz

[downhill_biker]

How much water do you lose to evaporation each day?

 

it depends, but usually about 2 gallons