Kalkwasser questions

[Mebbid]

I am in the position of needing to supplement my tank with additional calcium and alkalinity and have been wondering about some of the things I've read about it.

I use a bottle with airline tubing and an air valve attached to drip it slowly into my sump.

I read that the calcium and alkalinity can only rise to a certain point in the water which also increases the pH in the process. When it reaches this point any additional kalk added to the tank will precipitate out in the water and accumulate on the bottom of the tank. Are there any issues involved with reaching this point in the tank and is it even desirable to get your calcium levels that high? Will the pH stop rising as well when it starts precipitating out?

 

[dragonfisher33]

Mr.Saltwater on youtube has addressed this issue on one of his videos. i suggest you check it out (i'm at work so i can't post a link to the video directly). but the video deals with the exact thing you're doing, which is using the dripping method and how he prefers it using an ATO and the reason why.

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, I've seen that video but it doesn't really answer any of the questions I have about kalk sadly. If I had an ATO that would be the exact way I would be dosing my kalk but since I don't currently have one I am stuck with the drip method.

 

[giloop]

An excessive build up is not desirable. You would not want to use any more than is needed to keep your levels stable. Your system will also precipitate out the calcium if your magnesium is low so you would want to keep a check on that as well.