Can Someone School me on Using Kalk?

RussC · Jul 20, 2018

I have a very tight home, so I max out at 7.8 PH. Ive been exploring ways to raise the PH. I am after a PH about 8.2. I believe it will make a significant difference in my coral growth rate. In my investigation I came across KALKWASSER. Wow, just add it to my ATO and, bam, your done. Your Ca is good and your Alk is good. And the side benefit is it raises your PH. It couldn't be that simple, right? How do you set the CA level? Alk level? PH level? IS all that a done deal with KALK? Seems a little too easy if you ask me. I currently two part dose CA and KH. I'm ready for school! Tell me your thoughts.

KStatefan · Jul 20, 2018

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

Brew12 · Jul 20, 2018

RussC said:
I have a very tight home, so I max out at 7.8 PH. Ive been exploring ways to raise the PH. I am after a PH about 8.2. I believe it will make a significant difference in my coral growth rate. In my investigation I came across KALKWASSER. Wow, just add it to my ATO and, bam, your done. Your Ca is good and your Alk is good. And the side benefit is it raises your PH. It couldn't be that simple, right? How do you set the CA level? Alk level? PH level? IS all that a done deal with KALK? Seems a little too easy if you ask me. I currently two part dose CA and KH. I'm ready for school! Tell me your thoughts.

I found that it wasn't that easy. It worked, but it was inconsistent. My tank did not have even evaporation so my daily dosing of kalk was highly variable.
What I am currently doing is dosing a total of 1400mL of fully saturated kalkwasser spread out over 75 doses per day. This is about 2/3 of my minimum loss to evaporation so makes my ATO water last longer. I then make up for the extra Alk and Calc that I need by dosing 22mL of 2-part daily. I gradually increase this as demand grows. This has worked extremely well for me. Stable Alk and Calc plus the pH gain from the kalk.

Potatohead · Jul 20, 2018

Holy_makerel · Jul 20, 2018

I dose it via a dosing pump and mix it to about 75% saturation(1.5 tsp/gal) with 20ml vinegar/gal. I also dose 2 part so my dosing of it is minimal just to get a bump in pH. Currently dosing 3ml every 2 hours in a 60 cube

dragon99 · Jul 20, 2018

KStatefan said:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

Dang, beat me to it. Nothing better than Randy's grandma article for learning about kalk.

I've been using it for 2 years as my primary Alk/Ca replenishment. I dose via my ATO, but I've considered switching to a dosing pump. Just haven't gotten off my LARS and done it.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jul 20, 2018

It's nowhere near as simple as it sounds. Yes, to implement it, you simply mix it into your ATO. That's the end of the easy part.

Let's say your alkalinity gets too high. How do you control the dose? By dumping out your ATO, mixing some limewater at a lower strength, and seeing if that lowers your alk. If not, dump the ATO and add even less calcium hydroxide.

What happens if your ATO sticks on? Your pH will skyrocket, along with alkalinity and calcium.

What happens if you get busy with life and forget to mix a new batch of limewater for your ATO reservoir? In addition to having a salinity problem, you now have an alkalinity and calcium problem as well.

Personally, I prefer to dose limewater with a dosing pump. This way, you can create a fully saturated limewater solution and only dose as much as you need to. If your alkalinity creeps a bit too high, simply decrease the dose per day. If it goes too low, up the dose. Your ATO will pick up the slack and put in enough freshwater to keep the salinity stable.

The only downside to this approach is that there is a limit to how much limewater you can add per day before your tank begins to overfill. But it's pretty obvious when this happens.

Brew12 · Jul 20, 2018

dragon99 said:
I dose via my ATO, but I've considered switching to a dosing pump. Just haven't gotten off my LARS and done it.

Do it!!!!!

fish farmer · Jul 20, 2018

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
Personally, I prefer to dose limewater with a dosing pump. This way, you can create a fully saturated limewater solution and only dose as much as you need to. If your alkalinity creeps a bit too high, simply decrease the dose per day. If it goes too low, up the dose. Your ATO will pick up the slack and put in enough freshwater to keep the salinity stable.

That's the way I'm going as well. My old system was manually drip kalk and separate ATO. I had great Ca/Alk/pH levels just using kalk. Unless I dripped too much or not enough. I tried kalk in the ato as well as in a reactor, but it didn't work as well for me. I'm back to dripping a gallon batch over a weeks time to dial it to where I want it, but I have a dosing pump sitting on my porch as we speak.

RussC · Jul 20, 2018

As expected, never as easy as it sounds. Lots of good info here, each with a different tweak on the method for their scenario. And someone mentioned a CO2 scrubber. Not familiar with that one. Gonna look into that some more, too. And continue reading Randy's article. Good article.

Brew12 · Jul 20, 2018

RussC said:
As expected, never as easy as it sounds. Lots of good info here, each with a different tweak on the method for their scenario. And someone mentioned a CO2 scrubber. Not familiar with that one. Gonna look into that some more, too. And continue reading Randy's article. Good article.

I started with a CO2 scrubber before switching to kalk. The scrubber worked great, but the media costs got out of hand. I was shocked at how quickly the media was consumed.

RussC · Jul 20, 2018

I was afraid that would be the problem with a CO2 scrubber...the cost of the media!

Brew12 · Jul 20, 2018

RussC said:
I was afraid that would be the problem with a CO2 scrubber...the cost of the media!

Just to give you an idea, this is what I used and it wouldn't have lasted 3 months.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-color-changing-medical-grade-co2-absorbent.html

sawdonkey · Jul 20, 2018

I disagree with some of the other replies here and think that is it is exactly as easy as it sounds! I’ve been using Kalk as my only alk/cal additive for years and doing it through my ATO. It’s not only easy, it is so cheap that it’s almost free. Of course you can screw it up, but you can screw up anything if you’re not careful.

I grew out my old tank full of SPS in Kalk only. Never had a problem keeping up.

Here is what I do:

-Get parameters right using two part

-Fill up ATO with RODI

-Add Kalk and keep track of how much I added (6 tablespoons Vs 4, etc.)

-Mix it up really good

-let it settle for a couple hours.

-Turn on ATO and let the tank run for however long it takes for the ATO to empty

-Re-measure Alk

-If alk increased since before last time you filled your ATO, add a little less Kalk than the previous mix or the other way around (or use the same if it didn’t change)

I have a 220 tank and a 25 gallon ATO. My ATO drains in about 5-7 days, depending on the season. So, no, I do not make immediate changes to my alk, but I let the Kalk move the needle in either direction, depending on where alk is at in comparison to my target. I honestly don’t pay much attention to CAL as is almost always stays in an acceptable range.

Of course things can go wrong like your ATO sticking on,etc. However with two part or CalRX, there’s a lot of room for mistakes too.

hotashes · Jul 20, 2018

I've been looking for YouTube videos on using dosing pump to add kalk, couldn't find much!!!

A.

mclark452 · Jul 20, 2018

In my opinion, the best, easiest and safest way to use kalk is with a dedicated reactor and a dosing pump. ATOs can fail and dump it all in your system, evaporation rates vary etc and so on. I run a PM kalk reactor. I put a few ml of kalk in my tank every 15 minutes and add about 2cups of kalk powder to the reactor every few weeks when my alk starts to dip. It doesn't have to be complicated. You just need to watch your alk. Been incredibly stable for over a year. I'm not gonna lie, though, I'm also dripping 2 part as well. It takes a little bit of tweeking to find the sweet spot but it's not that hard.

sawdonkey · Jul 20, 2018

Brew12 said:
Just to give you an idea, this is what I used and it wouldn't have lasted 3 months.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-color-changing-medical-grade-co2-absorbent.html

I can’t use Kalk right now because I don’t have much coral to suck up the alk, so I just started using this, which is less than half the cost of the BRS stuff. If you pay $95 for the five gallons, it’s even cheaper.

https://www.shopmedvet.com/product/...MI5LH61Jau3AIVWp7ACh1MPAEvEAQYASABEgJS4fD_BwE

Brien · Jul 20, 2018

I think after using kalk for a while you'll realize it's a hassle and hard on your equipment. IMO, it's better to just start 2-part dosing now and skip the whole kalk experiment.

Potatohead · Jul 20, 2018

Brien said:
I think after using kalk for a while you'll realize it's a hassle and hard on your equipment. IMO, it's better to just start 2-part dosing now and skip the whole kalk experiment.

I mostly agree. Unless you can set up an easy drip system or something.