Kalk dosing question

[JohnNLuc]

Hey guys I'm pretty new to this hobby so bare with me please. I have a 46G bow and now that i've been adding a few hardy corals I think its time to start dripping kalk but have a few questions. I've got down the 1 teaspoon for every gallon of RO/DI and the 1 drip per second to start with than onto trial and error as how fast i should add it but my questions is should the kalk I drip make up for all my evaporated water daily?

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

What you need to do is make sure the ca and alk are at the same level, and you need to balance them before you add any additives. I wouldnt recommend kalk, buts thats my humble opinion. I use warner marines calxmax, its alot more easier and safer than kalk. You can also use c-balance or bionic. My calxmax comes with 2 part additives (Obviously one is alk and the other is ca) and I just dose it according to my consumption of what the corals take in, so you will need ca and alk tests The reason why I get calxmax is cuz im too lazy to drip it into my system, and if not dripped right, or something goes wrong with the dripping system, you tank could crash. The reason why you have to drip it is because, kalk has a PH of 12 and if added wrongly it will mess up your system, so beware!

 

[JohnNLuc]

Thanks a lot. Before adding the corals my CA levels were constant due to my water changes (every two weeks) with oceanic salt but with the addition of corals I am slowly seeing my levels drop which is why I purchased mrs. wages pickling lime. I do understand that this must be done very slowly and have also heard that it should be done at night when your ph is at its lowest i was just wondering what others do. As well as should the kalk makeup ALL of my evaporated water daily?

 

[steve-s]

As well as should the kalk makeup ALL of my evaporated water daily?

It could eventually but unless your CaCO3 demands within the system are quite high, you may only need to drip the Kalk solution every few days or only weekly. Best suggestion is after your next water change, test the tank levels and keep testing every few days to get an idea or the depletion rate. Once the levels depreciate some, drip the kalk at 1 teaspoon per gallon of RO at least for the first time. The actual saturation of limewater is 2 teaspoons per gallon of RO.

If the 1 teaspoon solution raises your levels too much, cut back. If it falls short, try the same solution (1tspn/gal) the next night. You might find a daily addition of the weeker solution fits the needs of the tank. It's a bit of trial and error at the beginning but once you get a handle on the rate of depletion through testing, you'll have a much easier time of determining how much/how often to drip the kalk. Try to equalize the amount of limewater used in a given week so it pretty much keeps the levels stable rather than raising them up and letting them fall continually. Consitancey in your levels will gain you healthier growth.

As mentioned above, be sure your chemistry is balanced before you start the whole process. Kalk is a balanced additive and raises both alk and Ca equally so if one is out of balance the kalk additions will not fix that.

Cheers
Steve

 

[JohnNLuc]

Thanks steve I will do as you stated.

 

[ellisz]

unless you have hard corals, you might not even need a Ca additive. Oceanic is pretty high out of the bucket. Definately check you Ca and Alk levels and see where you are at first.

 

[Brad]

I drip the kalk 24/7 to make up all the evaporative loss....Currently, that would represent too much Ca/Alk for my tank so I'm currently mixing the kalk at less than full strength.

As the tank increases it's demand, I can increase the concentration of the kalk that is being dripped.

As the tank increases it's demand, one can artificially increase the evaporation rate with fans in order to be able to drip MORE kalk in more quickly.

As the tank increases it's demand further you can add vinegar to the kalk mix in order to increase the Ca/Alk in the solution.

As the tank increases it's demand further....you buy a Calcium reactor.