Kalkwasser

[Ladybus301]

Hi all! Im back with another question. Sorry, but I find this place to be pretty knowledgeable and you always answer my questions. Im wondering if there is any downside to bringing my calcium levels up with kalkwasser. I have 2 soft corals, a green star polyp and a pulsating xenia . My Ca is between 360 and 380. I was told that it needs to be at least 400. My lfs said to do my topoffs with kalkwasser but im nervous about doing that without asking for some advice first. Sorry this is so long.

 

[Marc118]

What size tank?

Anyways, lime water will raise your alkalinity as well.

 

[Ladybus301]

I have a 54 gallon corner tank.

 

[Marc118]

If you were to dose with kalkwasser you would need 1.3g of suppliment to bring your 380 up to 400.

2tsp of kalkwasser per gallon of RO water.

You have slowly drip it into the tank as a top off, you cant dose all at once.

 

[melosu58]

380 is not that bad. I believe with just frequent PWC`s you would be OK.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Melosu! You really don't need a high CA level for soft corals, GSP and exnia. Higher CA levels are needed for SPS corals that require CA to build their skeleton. I've been bouncing back and forth on the Kalk as well. I did a little research on the subject and found that Pickling Lime that you can buy at the grocery store for about $5 for 25lbs is the same stuff as "kalkwasser". I haven't decided to use kalk in my tank as yet becuase I do regular PWCs every other week and that keeps my CA at around 400. HTH

Happy Reefing!

 

[MT79]

I haven't decided to use kalk in my tank as yet be

I'm getting ready to start using a DIY kalkwasser auto top-off/drip using a .5 gallon juice container. Dosing 70ml of each part B-ionic everyday is getting to be a pain. Kalk has many benefits 1. Its' cheap(food grade pickling lime as said). 2. It will help maintain PH when dripped at night. 3. It binds w/ PO4, lowering levels. Some people even drip kalk into the reaction chambers of their skimmer. In short it allows the skimmer to remove larger amounts of DOC's, including PO4. It has many benefits, I may have even forgotten one or two.
Ladybus301, kalk is for tanks w/ moderate to heavy daily Ca/Alk demands. If you don't have any SPS/LPS, or even just a few, or clams it will drive the Ca AND Alk up and cause carbonates to precipitate from the water. You have to monitor PH, Ca, and ALK closely when using kalkwasser.

 

[Ladybus301]

Thanks for all the imput. I think i'll hold off on the kalkwasser for now since I only have 2 soft corals. I do weekly pwc of 10%.