Kalkwasser in ATO a good idea in a 16G?

[Muffin87]

I finally found a large clam - which I've been looking for ... forever. Yeah, they're very very rare where I live, so I just couldn't let it go.

I'm upgrading to a 70G system within a couple of months, in the meanwhile the clam needs to stay in my well-lit 16G.

The 16G only has LPS and softies (5 Euphyllias, 1 Elegance, 1 candycane).

 

The clam is gonna consume Ca and Alk aggressively.

Other than large weekly water changes, is kalkwasser in an ATO a good idea?

 

Or Ph swings with kalkwasser are gonna be a big concern in a 16G?

I was thinking dosing once a day is probably a much bigger Ph Swing.

 

I wanted to use Re-mineral marine. Price is similar to kalkwasser and it's  "Alk + Ca + trace elements" and no sodium chloride (NaCl)

•	Minerals for hardness increase of reverse osmosis water and for soft tap water
•	The water gets back all minerals that get lost during the reverse osmosis process
•	Provides all trace elements and minerals in the natural composition of the sea, whereas “Kalkwasser” only adds Calcium
•	Alkalinity is raised and stabilized
•	Suitable for aquarium conditioning of soft tap water
•	Without sodium chloride (NaCl)

[Tamberav]

You not worried about dosing too many 'minerals' ?

 

 

[Muffin87]

3 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

You not worried about dosing too many 'minerals' ?

You mean worried about the trace element part? Or the Ca / Alk part?

[Tamberav]

1 hour ago, Muffin87 said:

You mean worried about the trace element part? Or the Ca / Alk part?

Trace. 

[Muffin87]

11 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Trace

Why do you think the amount of trace elements introduced by this product would be too much?

Minor elements are consumed by clams (Strontium) and softies (Iodide), so replenishing them at the same time as Ca / Alk would have a positive effect?

Iodide specifically is also removed by skimming and carbon, as far as I'm aware.

Isn't that the reason why some dose a drop of Lugol's solution a week?

[Tamberav]

56 minutes ago, Muffin87 said:

Why do you think the amount of trace elements introduced by this product would be too much?

Minor elements are consumed by clams (Strontium) and softies (Iodide), so replenishing them at the same time as Ca / Alk would have a positive effect?

Iodide specifically is also removed by skimming and carbon, as far as I'm aware.

Isn't that the reason why some dose a drop of Lugol's solution a week?

 

Yes it gets used but I am asking if it is impossible to overdose it. I am guessing it is such a little amount it doesn't have much impact on anything.

 

I never had problems with kalk in ATO or with hand dosing. If the consumption is crazy high in a small tank...a doser would probably offer the most stability. 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

 

Yes it gets used but I am asking if it is impossible to overdose it. I am guessing it is such a little amount it doesn't have much impact on anything.

 

I never had problems with kalk in ATO or with hand dosing. If the consumption is crazy high in a small tank...a doser would probably offer the most stability. 

 

 

I found it did help, but left a horrible amount of chaff or other nasty chalky substance on the bottom of the ATO container. It was difficult to remove too, because I assume it had turned into calcium carbonate. While it's more time consuming, I feel like hand dosing is easier to manage-you can check levels more carefully with each dose and not have to count on the ATO pump getting hit or miss on the amount of kalk that's dispersed.

[Tamberav]

16 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

I found it did help, but left a horrible amount of chaff or other nasty chalky substance on the bottom of the ATO container. It was difficult to remove too, because I assume it had turned into calcium carbonate. While it's more time consuming, I feel like hand dosing is easier to manage-you can check levels more carefully with each dose and not have to count on the ATO pump getting hit or miss on the amount of kalk that's dispersed.

I would agree with this. I stopped kalk due to having to clean container..letting it sit to settle before hooking up ATO and the fact it was so hard on my ATO pump. 

 

I went back to hand dosing but will be finished setting up dosers soon to remove that chore.

[ECLS Reefer]

Just now, Tamberav said:

I would agree with this. I stopped kalk due to having to clean container..letting it sit to settle before hooking up ATO and the fact it was so hard on my ATO pump. 

 

I went back to hand dosing but will be finished setting up dosers soon to remove that chore.

What size are the dosers? I haven't got just a ton of room under my tank in the sump area. I dont know how I'll put my future media reactor in the little space left down there. Dosing makes sense for my system as it ages, so guess I better start to wrap my head around the dimensions of the systems. 

[Tamberav]

27 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

What size are the dosers? I haven't got just a ton of room under my tank in the sump area. I dont know how I'll put my future media reactor in the little space left down there. Dosing makes sense for my system as it ages, so guess I better start to wrap my head around the dimensions of the systems. 

I use the brs ones with Apex and a Jaebo on another. If you want small...the Kamoer x1 is the smallest I know of.