i have little knowledge on the subject of
kalk except that it only maintains the levels.
Kalkwasser is german of Lime Water. Chemically its known as Calcium Hydroxide. It is commonly sold in grocery stores as Pickling Lime. It is a balanced additive in that it adds both
Alk and
Ca into the water. People drip
Kalk into the water in order to keep up with their tank's
Ca and
Alk demand.
would i still have to add the b-ionic?
Impossible to say. Every tank is different. You would have to check your levels and dose accordingly.
Kalk did not fully work for me as I had to continue dosing another two part additive. I have since switched to over to straight B-Ionic as I got tired of mixing up the
Kalk every day.
should i be treating the new water with something when i do changes?
I think for most people, I would say "
NO" to this. I switched over to a newer salt mix last week and found out that the
Alk level is a little on the low side so I will probably have to dose the
Alk part of B-Ionic to bring it up to par. But I think this is an extreme case for most.
Are you currently testing for both
Alk and
Ca? Like jackdp cautioned, you should only dose chemicals that you are testing for and then only when they are deficient. If you aren't testing, you may just be thowing money out the window.
Here is a great link for you that will help decide what
Ca/
Alk scheme would work for you:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm
