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Coral Vue Hydros

school me on kalkwasser


GHill762

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okay, I'm considering the move to kalk, but need a better understanding.

 

when adding kalk to top-off, how do you have real control over amount dosed? evaporation rates aren't always the same.

 

do you start at the max 2tbsp/gal or do you start lower and work your way up?

 

is there a "best" time of day to use it or should it be added over multiple times of day to spread out the ph spike?

 

any other tips or concerns?

 

how would you go about the switch to kalk?

 

thanks,

Garrett

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Mr. Microscope

Don't use kalk with ATO. Like you said, evaporation rates vary from day to day and especially from season to season. You'll likely nuke you tank adding kalk to your ATO. Kalk should be fine tuned and dosing spread out throughout the day with a dripper or doser.

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I've been using Kalk as my top off for 2 years and have had great success with it. Its almost too easy once you have it set up.

 

The only thing to NOT use is a float switch to trigger kalk dosing. Your water level usually varies too greatly between on and off switch triggers and this can cause a high amount of kalk to be dosed all at the same time. Also because of varying evap rates your top off would be happening at different times and different amounts. Float switches are also more prone to fail you and this can mean dumping your entire kalk reservoir into your sump or not topping off for days.

 

To have success with it you need a digital timer with multiple on/offs with values in the 1 minute or less range. If you have an aquarium controller this can be used as well. You also need a 50ml peristaltic doser. The timer and doser are the key to having success. This eliminates changes in dosage and keeps your additions small and spaced throughout the day.

 

Using the BRS or similar kalk calculator and daily testing you can figure out your approx daily addition of kalk needed to maintain Calcium and Alkalinity. First you'll see how much water you need to add daily. If your digital timer has 8 on/offs or more space them apart throughout the night. (ex 10pm on - 10:01pm off, 12am on - 12:01am off, etc) This would give you 8 minutes of 50ml (400ml total for the night) If you have your sump marked with a line you should be able to see how much is needed to maintain equilibrium for 1 day. After a few days of adding or subtrating a few minutes you should have you daily top off amount matched to your evap rate. Mine is approx 20min of 50ml dosages. Then using the Kalk Calculator you know how much solution you need daily and you are only using the calculator to figure out the potency of your solution.

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