BRS Kalkwasser

[Austin R]

Hi everyone I've been looking at starting to use the Kalkwasser and I was wondering if anyone that has used it could make suggestions or tell me how your experience is with using the product. Also I was gonna add it to my top off water but I manually add the water when it's needed and was curious if that would effect anything.

 

[Alex Hutton]

I use BRS Kalk in my ATO and only have to refill/mix it every 15 days. I know it is very potent right after you mix it and you're supposed to wait until there is some precipitate and the water is clear. A lot of people use it with a dripper on their tank to fulfill calk/alk and top off needs just mix it the night before and start the drip in the morning. BRS even has a DIY Kalk dripper kit on their site and videos of how to put it together.

 

[cmcoker]

Hi everyone I've been looking at starting to use the Kalkwasser and I was wondering if anyone that has used it could make suggestions or tell me how your experience is with using the product. Also I was gonna add it to my top off water but I manually add the water when it's needed and was curious if that would effect anything.

Yeah, that would probably cause a bad spike in pH. How much do you top off at a time?
From Randys article:
Delivering a small amount of limewater all at once. Adding 1.25% of the aquarium’s volume (1.25 gallons of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) as saturated limewater all at once raises the pH by 0.6 to 0.7 pH units. Such an increase is clearly too large. Adding a smaller portion all at once can, however, be acceptable. Adding, for example, 0.25% of the aquarium volume (0.25 gallons or 1 L of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) will raise the pH by only 0.1 to 0.2 pH units. Unless the pH is high (>8.4) before the addition, that amount is likely acceptable. The other concern with all-at-once dosing is that the local pH in the area of the addition will rise considerably higher than the values above. So dosing must be done far from living organisms, and in high flow areas that will facilitate fast mixture. In some aquaria, such restrictions make all-at-once dosing of limewater prohibitively risky to living organisms.

Link to article: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/#5
It's a good read before starting kalk.

 

[YumaMan]

I have had very good results with the BRS Kalk in my top off water. Here's how I use it: I mix a quarter cup of white vinegar and 8 teaspoons of Kalk in a plastic 1 quart bottle, add 1/8 tsp of Magnesium, 1/8 tsp of Strontium, and 2 drops of iodine, shake throughly, and then top off the quart bottle with RO water. I then pour the contents of the quart bottle into a 5 gallon reservoir for ATO. I also manually dose with 2-part daily, 2 ml to my 33 gallon reef tank. Everything from softies to SPS is doing fine, but especially my LPS and the Monti caps - faster growth using Kalk and dosing.

 

[YumaMan]

Oh, and I use the Black bucket Red Sea salt mix and do small water changes daily.

 

[cmcoker]

I have had very good results with the BRS Kalk in my top off water. Here's how I use it: I mix a quarter cup of white vinegar and 8 teaspoons of Kalk in a plastic 1 quart bottle, add 1/8 tsp of Magnesium, 1/8 tsp of Strontium, and 2 drops of iodine, shake throughly, and then top off the quart bottle with RO water. I then pour the contents of the quart bottle into a 5 gallon reservoir for ATO. I also manually dose with 2-part daily, 2 ml to my 33 gallon reef tank. Everything from softies to SPS is doing fine, but especially my LPS and the Monti caps - faster growth using Kalk and dosing.

I thought magnesium was insoluble with kalk. I think it precipitates out...

 

[Orm Embar]

Randy has a great kalkwasser article. As for quality, I believe that BRS would have very high quality stuff. Then again, you can use Mrs. Wage's pickling lime as well (I haven't tried this; given how low my kalk consumption is, the cost difference may be a few dollars per year so I may end up buying BRS just for peace of mind).

 

[YumaMan]

I think you're right, in a test tube it would. But in larger volumes of water I know the chemistry works differently, else no marine salt mix would contain magnesium and calcium carbonate in the bucket, but the better mixes certainly do. Also, dosing in two parts would be in vain, for as soon as the dose containing magnesium mixes with the one containing calcium, the magnesium would become useless for coral uptake, as it would precipitate to the substrate. So something else is going on besides immediate recombination into a precipitate. The chemistry of a reef tank is complex, and further complicated by living organisms doing their things. Best to experiment a bit and gauge any differences. I do notice a difference in my zoathids after adding iodine to my Kalkwasser.

 

[Austin R]

So would you guys recommend I just use a simple two part does because of my situation?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I thought magnesium was insoluble with kalk. I think it precipitates out...

Even with the vinegar added, the pH is likely too high for most of that magnesium to remain soluble.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So would you guys recommend I just use a simple two part does because of my situation?

For manual dosing, two part is a better choice.

If you use a dripper or slow dosing pump or ATO, then limewater (kalkwasser) is a fine choice. I used it for 20 years.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I think you're right, in a test tube it would. But in larger volumes of water I know the chemistry works differently, else no marine salt mix would contain magnesium and calcium carbonate in the bucket, but the better mixes certainly do. Also, dosing in two parts would be in vain, for as soon as the dose containing magnesium mixes with the one containing calcium, the magnesium would become useless for coral uptake, as it would precipitate to the substrate. So something else is going on besides immediate recombination into a precipitate. The chemistry of a reef tank is complex, and further complicated by living organisms doing their things. Best to experiment a bit and gauge any differences. I do notice a difference in my zoathids after adding iodine to my Kalkwasser.

The issue is the pH. At the pH of limewater (12+), vurtually no magnesium is soluble as it precipitates as magnesium hydroxide. Iodine is not impacted by this issue.

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Metals In Limewater
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/5/chemistry

Figure 4. The total solubility of several metals in water as a function of pH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

duplicate

 

[Austin R]

Kinda off topic but are Hanna checkers good I was looking to get some to make it easier to test. But I wanted to make sure it's worth $50

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Kinda off topic but are Hanna checkers good I was looking to get some to make it easier to test. But I wanted to make sure it's worth $50

Most people like them except calcium. Also, some do not work in salt water (e.g., nitrate), so check specifically before you buy.

 

[Austin R]

Most people like them except calcium. Also, some do not work in salt water (e.g., nitrate), so check specifically before you buy.

So what should I use for calcium I have an API test kit. How are Hanna checkers for mg and alk?

 

[cmcoker]

So what should I use for calcium I have an API test kit. How are Hanna checkers for mg and alk?

I use red sea pro for alk, calcium and nitrate (also magnesium, but people have problems with this kit, maybe do salifert for mag). I use hannah phosphorus ulr checker for phosphate.

 

[dangros]

I agree w/ @cmcoker - Red Sea Pro for Calc. Salifert is just as good but I like the shaker thingy (technical term) that Red Sea provides. It makes measuring a little easier than Salifert (albeit the same concept).
I use Hanna for Alk (and love it) and Phosphate - ultra low range.
I use Red Sea Pro For Calc.
Salifert for everything else - which I very infrequently measure.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I use to use BRS calcium hydroxide kalkwasser, but for some years now I've been using Mrs. Wages pickling lime. Same thing, but way cheaper. It's available at Wally World in the house wares department, where the canning items are.

I use 1 1/2 tsp per gallon of ATO water. Works well.