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Kalkwrasser/Limewater


davy jones

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Hello, It appears i am going to need to start supplimenting my tank. I plan on doing this using Kalkwrasser from BRS and my gravity fed ATO in the Reefer 250.

 

I understand that kalk is balanced calcium and alkalinity. I also understand that adding this to the aquarium will raise PH.

 

 

So how would i go about using it?

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Dosing Kalk is pretty simple, however, as I understand it using a gravity ATO isn't a very good method to use.

 

It doesn't dissolve 100% so there's often a little bit of a concentrated slurry that settles at the bottom of the ATO container. So using a gravity ATO would probably mean dumping some of that stuff directly into the tank which wouldn't be a good idea.

 

Can you switch to a pump fed ATO? BRS has a good video or 2 on the matter - I would suggest watching those for starters.

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Dosing Kalk is pretty simple, however, as I understand it using a gravity ATO isn't a very good method to use.

 

It doesn't dissolve 100% so there's often a little bit of a concentrated slurry that settles at the bottom of the ATO container. So using a gravity ATO would probably mean dumping some of that stuff directly into the tank which wouldn't be a good idea.

 

Can you switch to a pump fed ATO? BRS has a good video or 2 on the matter - I would suggest watching those for starters.

I planned on mixing the kalk slurry in a seperate container and then dumping the saturated lime water into the ATO to avoid the build up on the bottom of the ATO container, id prefer to not have a pump ato as i have almost 0 room in my sump

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Circle_City_Bill

I tried adding less-than-saturated kalkwasser via the top-off water, but found that it was difficult to achieve stability. There are a couple issues...if you're adding the kalk in the top-off, the rate addition is being controlled by the rate of evaporation, which is generally not constant throughout the year. Another issue is that the kalk concentration will decrease over time, if it's not stored over the solid. Reaction with dissolved CO2 causes precipitation of insoluble CaCO3. I have had much more success adding saturated kalk via a peristaltic pump on a timer. The volume required (over 24 hours) to maintain the parameters is significantly less than the volume of top-off required in that same period. By monitoring the Ca2+ concentration over the course of a couple weeks, I was able to calculate (via an online calculator) the amount of saturated kalk required to keep up with consumption.

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you can use up to 2tsp/gal in your top off container. kalkwasser is for maintaining not increasing. in many instances once the tank is fully stocked with demanding sps you will be dosing 2 part as well.

gravity fed is a bad idea depending on how much you trust your float. ive had a few mechanical floats and i didn't like them. seems like they never sealed up very well. i like to use an ato with a aqualifter pump, especially when dosing kalk. i used to use an apex to monitor ph in case of a runaway but never had a problem.

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The plan is to bring ca/alk to normal levels via a series of waterchanges and then maintain with Kalk via ato.. If this is not a good plan what do you guys reccomend instead of kalk? i dont have room in my sump for any more pumps or any reactors of any sort and i dont have a doser.

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I like the idea of using the aqualifter... Should be pretty easy to set up too. If you don't have room in the sump you could use a container that hangs off the side or the back of the tank which contains the saturated kalkwasser. Wouldn't need to be that large. Then figure out how much you need to dose each day, factor in the flow rate of the aqualifter at the height you're using and set a daily timer (on the conservative side).

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So,

Bring levels to normal with WC's

Get Aqualifter

Use aqualifter to pump kalk slurry into sump

 

Kalk will maintain levels of CA and ALK

 

How do i program the apex to say turn the pump on for 1 minute every hour from 10pm until 10 am? (I have no idea if this is the correct amount, total spitball type thing.)

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Circle_City_Bill

Why not pickup a cheap 100 mL graduated cylinder to calibrate the pump, and use this calculator to determine the volume of saturated kalkwasser to add to achieve desired Ca2+/Alk dosage. Others can advise on Apex programming, but I imagine that you simply need to setup an oscillating on/off timer.

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Why not pickup a cheap 100 mL graduated cylinder to calibrate the pump, and use this calculator to determine the volume of saturated kalkwasser to add to achieve desired Ca2+/Alk dosage. Others can advise on Apex programming, but I imagine that you simply need to setup an oscillating on/off timer.

That is an AWESOME calculator!! Thank you for the link!!

 

The graduated cylinder is to figure out the speed of the aqualifter to properly set the amount desired correct?

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That is an AWESOME calculator!! Thank you for the link!!

 

The graduated cylinder is to figure out the speed of the aqualifter to properly set the amount desired correct?

 

Precisely. Set up the aqualifter pump as you would normally have it set up and test the transfer rate. The rate depends on the combination of the suction height as well as the push height so try to duplicate how you will actually have it set up during the test.

 

Also don't forget to have a little hole in the lid of the kalk container or suction could eventually work against the pump. Finally I would make sure the kalk container is lower than the output into the sump. It's slow but any dosing pump can create a siphon.

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Don't forget to have the output from the pump above the water level in the sump as well.

 

I find my aqualifters are better suckers than pushers. If my container and pump are on the floor it pumps slower than if the pump is hanging off the back of the tank and sucking from the same container.

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Circle_City_Bill

That is an AWESOME calculator!! Thank you for the link!!

 

The graduated cylinder is to figure out the speed of the aqualifter to properly set the amount desired correct?

I've been using this pump to dose kalkwasser for 4 months with good results. It's definitely more costly than the aqualifter, but has a built-in timer and calibration function.

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Although i ordered Kalk from BRS i might be leaning toward a different solution to maintaining my alk and cal. Based on what ive been told and read kalk isnt going to keep my numbers high enough for long since my tank is gonna be more sps heavy. I think im going to use Red Sea's Reef foundation to keep everything in check. I might bite the bullet and get a cheap dosing pump like a jebao dp-4 or find a used bubble magus

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