Kalkwasser

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sammo2001

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
63
Location
Darwin, Australia
Does anybody know if you can mix the left over kalkwasser sludge in the bottom of the ATO reservoir with new water and just keep using it to top up your tank or is this mix not actually Kalk and needs tipping out?
I only ask because my tank has very very little evaporation and I have to physically remove 2-4L of water per day for my ATO to add enough Kalkwasser. I was hoping I could just transfer this water from my tank back to my ATO reservoir where it would mix with this sludge and form more Kalkwasser until eventually all the sludge is gone and then I would have to mix up a fresh batch.
 
If you are making a saturated solution, which is 2 teaspoons of kalk for every 1 gallon of water, the sludge on the bottom is the impurities in the kalk. I would not try to reuse that. If you are putting more than 2 teaspoons per gallon of water, the sludge may be kalk that is unable to dissolve because the water is already saturated. That is probably reusable.
 
Hmm ok I am mixing at the 2tsp/gal ration and still getting this sludge. I tried using a the aquarium controller to dose the Kalk to keep the pH at 8.15 but it chews through more than 5L in 8 hours. This empties my reservoir so I guess maybe I need a bigger reservoir. Is there such thing as dosing too much Kalk or is it fine as long as pH, KH and Ca are all within limits?
 
I think you can add to much and that it will affect some of your corals. Not sure though.

Is the 2TSP per gallon every time you top off your ATO to maintain your PH?
 
No you cannot overdose kalk. I throw in a couple of cups of kalk in my ato. Just make sure none of the sludge at the bottom and the particles sitting at the top gets pumped into the tank. Putting eggcrate at the bottom helps.

It should make your alk and cal stable. If those levels are dropping during the week, then your corals are using more than what the kalk is offering. Then you could supersaturate the kalk with vinegar. Its tricky because you dont want to add too much.
 
When preparing the kalkwasser mix do you pour everything in the ATO? From what I read the instruction says the sludge at the bottom must be thrown away. The only portion you need is the clear portion after mixing.
 
My kalkwasser goes straight to the ATO reservoir and i mix there as well and let everything settle overnight.

Water has a limit to how much kalk it can absorb. Once your water hits the limits, then the rest stays in its solid form. Its the sludge you see at the bottom (the sludge also consisting of some impurities).
 
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