Am I ready for Kalk?

Maximus · Oct 28, 2015

Thanks Randy. I've always liked kalk and I think I'm going to replace my Bionic with kalk. I only dose around 25ml/day of alk and ca and I bet I could supply my tanks alk and ca demands with kalk only. Would you agree?

Blue Lip · Oct 28, 2015

Are you planning on a kalk reactor / stirrer?

Jizu Puentes · Oct 28, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Do you mean in a reactor? Many people are surprised that many reactors do not really put out saturated limewater because the mixing is not as effective as they think, but that aside, as long as there is substantial calcium hydroxide present, the presence of useless calcium cabonate doesn't necessarily reduce the potency.

No I mean I a reservoir. I'm my case will the sludge building at the bottom of my 5 gallon jug increase or decrease the potency over time if I continue to top the container off with 4 gallons of kalk water. Maybe i just need to have a large reservoir like you do haha

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 28, 2015

Maximus said:
Thanks Randy. I've always liked kalk and I think I'm going to replace my Bionic with kalk. I only dose around 25ml/day of alk and ca and I bet I could supply my tanks alk and ca demands with kalk only. Would you agree?

25 mL of both parts of B-ionic is equivalent to about a half gallon of saturated limewater.

So if you evaporate that much or more each day, you should be fine.

Jizu Puentes · Nov 1, 2015

I got rid of my 5 gallon jug and decided to use a 40 gallon tank I had as my new reservoir. I've got it filled to 20 gallons in increments of 5 so I can top off and add the correct amount. I have two questions though.
1. Is the precipitation on the surface a concern?
2. How long should it take for the water to clear? I mixed with a pump for 15 minutes.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 2, 2015

This is limewater (kalkwasser)?

Some solids are to be expected.

How long it takes to settle depends on the particle sizes used, but overnight is usually adequate.

Does it have a good lid that keeps air out?

Jizu Puentes · Nov 2, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
This is limewater (kalkwasser)?

Some solids are to be expected.

How long it takes to settle depends on the particle sizes used, but overnight is usually adequate.

Does it have a good lid that keeps air out?

Yes this is kalkwasser at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

The lid is a piece of acrylic that fits inside the top trim. Is that sufficient?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 2, 2015

Jizu Puentes said:
Yes this is kalkwasser at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

The lid is a piece of acrylic that fits inside the top trim. Is that sufficient?

That sounds fine.