Kalk Reactor/Kalkwasser top off

[Ziggy953]

Hello everyone!

I'm looking into either using kalwasser as my top off water or just adding a Kalk Reactor to my tank. I'm not ready to add a calcium reactor yet just because I don't have room for one at the moment. I'm adding a 55g prop/gow tank to my system and when I do I will have addittional room under that cabinet for a CA reactor but that project is still a little ways off. I need to do something to increase my CA levels as they are starting to get down in the low 300s and I like it better when they are aroudn 400-420. My SPS corals have grown to the point and I have enough of them in there to warrant adding CA to the system.

I'm looking for thoughts and experience with KALK and if you have a reactor some pics of it on your setup would be great!

Thanks for the help!

 

[ccCapt]

There is an old pic I posted in another thread http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=102698 where you can see my DIY kalk dripper...lol. Basically it's a 2 gal jug with a spigot. I used Mrs Wages pickling lime with ro/di for my top off. I did that for a year or so, but it was a royal pain. If your ca demand is high, just dripping kalk as your top off may not keep it. It didn't for me. Kalk will only maintain ca and alk to a certain degree. You may have a higher demand that it can provide. I find it much easier to just dose Randy's 2 Part. I dose alk in the AM and ca in the PM. I found this method much easier, plus I can control the dosage depending on demand.

 

[Ziggy953]

I'm not crazy about all the different things you can use to "dose" your tank with. I'm not crazy about the Kalk either. I would rather put a CA Reactor on the system right now and be done with it.

I just tested my CA levels about 15 minutes ago and I got 420. I did a PWC a couple of days ago so they should be fairly high right now.

 

[ccCapt]

I'm not crazy about all the different things you can use to "dose" your tank with. I'm not crazy about the Kalk either.

hmmmmm...what was your question?
oh yeah

I'm looking for thoughts and experience with KALK and if you have a reactor some pics of it on your setup would be great!

Ca reactor is the way to go, if you can justify the start up costs. A years supply of 2-part cost me maybe $50 (including the mag sup.). If you have a high ca demand tank, get used to dosing. A ca reactor will keep up with ca and alk demand, but don't forget about mag. No way to keep those levels up without dosing if you have such high demand that you need a ca reactor.

 

[ellisz]

I use 2 part. Ca reactor is too complicated for me. I put some kalk in my top off water and add 2 part when needed. I also use salt that is high in Ca.

 

[chase33]

I too have been adding Kalk to my top-off water and dosing for CA/Alk when necessary. Since I perform a PWC weekly I rarely need to dose the CA/Alk.