Does your kalk do this?

[DesertReefT4r]

This is my ATO tank 5g. I dose kalk to my top off water at 1 1/2 tbs per 5g. I get this perception going on anyone else have this issue? Using BRS pharma kalk. Pic is about 2-3 weeks of build up and only about half of what was there before dumping the remaining water. Do i need a res with a more sealed top? 5g tank is fairly open.

 

[DancingShark]

I don't get it. Is that all left over from when the tank is emptied out.

Do you dissolve it fully?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is normal for stored limewtaer (kalkwasser) to get solids on both the surface and the bottom. The top layer can sheet over and protect underlying kalkwasser.

These have more:


The Degradation of Limewater in Air - Reefkeeping.com

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from the last one:

Figure 5. A view of my limewater reservoir showing a thin calcium carbonate crust on part of the liquid surface, and heavy deposits of calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and other materials on the bottom. I clean out the bottom of the reservoir only once a year or so.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I don't get it. Is that all left over from when the tank is emptied out.

Do you dissolve it fully?

Yes I mix it well and let it settle out before adding to the 5g ato tank. All let over after the tank was emptied to clean.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

It is normal for stored limewtaer (kalkwasser) to get solids on both the surface and the bottom. The top layer can sheet over and protect underlying kalkwasser.

These have more:


The Degradation of Limewater in Air - Reefkeeping.com

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from the last one:

Figure 5. A view of my limewater reservoir showing a thin calcium carbonate crust on part of the liquid surface, and heavy deposits of calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and other materials on the bottom. I clean out the bottom of the reservoir only once a year or so.

Thanks Randy. I just dont remember having that much settle out when i used kalk in the past. I did have a sealed 5g bucket before though and my 5g tank to pretty much open to the air.

 

[AZMSGT]

Pump your ATO water through a Kalk stirrer. Cleans everything up.

Example of a Kalk Stirrer:

Protein Skimmers

Shop Protein Skimmers and reactors on bulkreefsupply.com. Read reviews and compare protein skimmers and reactors.

www.marinedepot.com

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Pump your ATO water through a Kalk stirrer. Cleans everything up.

Example of a Kalk Stirrer:

Protein Skimmers

Shop Protein Skimmers and reactors on bulkreefsupply.com. Read reviews and compare protein skimmers and reactors.

www.marinedepot.com

I was thinking about a kalk reactor but I dont need fully saturated kalk solution to keep up with current alk and cal demands and I am not sure how easy it will be to dial in.

 

[AZMSGT]

I was thinking about a kalk reactor but I dont need fully saturated kalk solution to keep up with current alk and cal demands and I am not sure how easy it will be to dial in.

Well, you don’t need to add 150 grams all at once, just start at say 50gr and move up as needed. I also wouldn’t say it’s fully saturated. It gets deluded heavily as your ATO pumps through it.

Also, I have the stirring motor on a timer so it only runs about 1 hour a day spread out over 10min x 6 times.

 

[Jaebster]

Thanks Randy. I just dont remember having that much settle out when i used kalk in the past. I did have a sealed 5g bucket before though and my 5g tank to pretty much open to the air.

It's likely precipitating out of solution because exposure to air.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Pump your ATO water through a Kalk stirrer. Cleans everything up.

Example of a Kalk Stirrer:

Protein Skimmers

Shop Protein Skimmers and reactors on bulkreefsupply.com. Read reviews and compare protein skimmers and reactors.

www.marinedepot.com

I'm not a fan of them unless you are low on space and do not have room for a settled reservoir. IMO, the settling is desirable, and it is more complicated to control the potency of limewater/kalkwasser coming out of such a reactor. A lot of folks just mistakenly assume it is saturated, when often it isn't even close.

 

[Dr. Jim]

I use a reactor...(actually, the same one as in the photo 5 posts back). I dump a lot of kalk in it so there is always some visible (undissolved) on the bottom. As water passes through, more kalk dissolves as the "dissolved concentration" decreases. When I see there is hardly any undissolved kalk on the bottom, I just add some more. This way I can be sure that the concentration stays saturated at all times. (Every now and then I will clean out the reactor).
I also have the reactor on a Controller so when the pH is below 8.2, ATO water flows through the reactor. (If pH is 8.2 or higher, then water bypasses the reactor).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I use a reactor...(actually, the same one as in the photo 5 posts back). I dump a lot of kalk in it so there is always some visible (undissolved) on the bottom. As water passes through, more kalk dissolves as the "dissolved concentration" decreases. When I see there is hardly any undissolved kalk on the bottom, I just add some more. This way I can be sure that the concentration stays saturated at all times. (Every now and then I will clean out the reactor).
I also have the reactor on a Controller so when the pH is below 8.2, ATO water flows through the reactor. (If pH is 8.2 or higher, then water bypasses the reactor).

Look doesn't imply saturation. When i have asked folks who make that same assertion if they "know" it is saturated, the answer rarely is yes. When they test it, it very often is not. here's an example from only a week ago where it wasn't saturated

Alk dropping fast with no Corals

Currently dosing 3100 ML of Kalk from my Kalk stirrer with my DOS on Apex. It’s 118 Gallons of water. I have about 10 Gallon of my sump baffled as a fuge and it’s edge to edge chaeto. I was manual dosing Red Sea Alk at 15ml/day and had auto water change going. I stopped AWC and manual dosing...

www.reef2reef.com

Here's another, this one with a nice graph of rapidly declining potency after first mixing:

Calibrating apex conductivity probe for kalk stirrer

Hi there, I'm looking for help on how to calibrate the probe for this application. Do I just use the standard 53,000 mS solution to calibrate it? I have tried using this and can't get past 8.3 mS on freshly prepared saturated kalkwasser (2+ tsp in like 1 cup of water...).

www.reef2reef.com

"So as you have mentioned several times in the past, it appears that my kalk stirrer does not have saturated level at the higher levels of the unit. "

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Ok looks like I will get a 5g container with a lid so the kalk does react with the air. I figured that is whatbis happening. On my last reef I used an old IO salt bucket for my kalk top off it had a sealed lid and I did not have this problem as much.