adding kalkwasser in a nano tank

[saixiong]

i have a 5 gallon tank, I havent been successful in the past due to my impatience of reefing. This time im going to take things slower and do more research before acting too fast. I recently saw a video about dosing with kalkwasser. I dont have any corals in the tank now, but i hope to in the near future, mostly softies and lps. Will adding kalkwasser be a good thing in such a small tank if my tests readings are low? I dont have a ATO. How would you guys go upon adding it?

[ajmckay]

I would check out some youtube videos on the subject of Kalk. I personally found the BRS videos to be most helpful.

 

I'm just now starting a Kalk dosing regimen. Kalkwasser is quite promising, and as I understand it can be used in pretty much any volume of water since once you find the amount of kalk to dissolve in your ATO water the dosing is pretty consistent. So overall it's really easy to use and quite economical. I just bought a gallon of the stuff from BRS for $12 and it will last me quite a while even with about 1 gallon/day evaporation rate of my system (70g).

 

however, has a few drawbacks.

1) You really do need an ATO to dose it properly. Adding too much kalk at once can cause pH to skyrocket. It's best added in small amounts throughout the day - which is exactly how an ATO works.

2) It works great for maintaining alkalinity & calcium levels but it's not very good for getting to those levels in the first place. What I mean is that if your tank currently has low alk & cal then you'll need to dose something like a 2 part to get it to the right level and then the kalk keeps it at that level.

 

The other popular alternative is using 2 part. You calculate how much calcium & alkalinity your system uses and each day you dose a small amount of concentrated solution. For a 5g tank a 2 part solution would probably last quite a while so it might not be a bad method. It's pretty easy because once you know how much to dose you just dose that same amount of both solutions (2 of them) each day.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. It sounds like you have some time so don't be afraid to keep researching on your own.

[Clown79]

As stated, going with 2 part like esv bionic may be easier for you. I use it on 2 tanks and its lasted a long while.

 

Dosing should only be done if needed.

 

Dosing is to replenish elements corals are using up between waterchanges so its essential to figure out how much and how often your corals are using ca, alk, and mag before starting dosing.

 

Depending on how often you do waterchanges and what corals you house, you may not need to dose