Doser, Ca reactor, or Kalk Stirrer?

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Big fan of your work Randy! Are you still a big fan of Kalkwasser?

Thanks!

Yes, with two caveats.

1. It's main benefit over a well designed two part or balling (or a CaCO3/CO2 reactor) is the pH boost. With new DIY two part recipes that have an equal pH boost to limewater/kalkwasser, I might be inclined to use a new two part that way (see reason 2).

2. It has become more and more clear that in an SPS tank, that alk stability can lead to better coral growth. Limewater/kalkwasser on an ATO might not have the optimal alk stability, while limewater/kalkwasser on a dosing pump or a two part on a dosing pump will. I'm not sure this is a concern in a non SPS tank, but it might be.

If the tank is an SPS tank, limewater alone probably won't be enough alk and calcium anyway, so for an SPS tank, I'd pick a new style two part, and for many other tanks, I might experiment between limewater in an ATO vs two part on a dosing pump to see which seems to work better.

 

[Chiefmaster30]

This explains why my 2 tsp per gallon Kalk in my ato for the past 2 weeks and my alk has steadily dropped from 9.0-8.9 dkh every day for almost 2 weeks straight. So I’m using Kalk in ato and still having to dose 2 part to keep my alk levels steady! Does this make sense Randy? Sry to jump in on someone else’s post.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This explains why my 2 tsp per gallon Kalk in my ato for the past 2 weeks and my alk has steadily dropped from 9.0-8.9 dkh every day for almost 2 weeks straight. So I’m using Kalk in ato and still having to dose 2 part to keep my alk levels steady! Does this make sense Randy? Sry to jump in on someone else’s post.

The amount of alk and calcium you can dose via saturated limewater depends on the evaporation rate, obviously. At 1% daily evaporation, you can only add about 1.2 dKH and balanced amount of calcium. If you need more than that, then a two part is often used.

Also, the elevated pH in the tank that limewater provides can increase demand for alk and calcium, so the overall demand can rise when using limewater relative to other methods (especially CaCO3/CO2 reactors).

 

[User1]

and for many other tanks, I might experiment between limewater in an ATO vs two part on a dosing pump to see which seems to work better.

Wanted to ask a question on this. I run a mixed reef mostly soft and lps corals today in my 40 breeder. SPS in the future for me is mostly only a couple frags which are birds nest type or staghorn(after upgrade and cycle is finished). I like to keep things simple so was interested in this part of your post. I was considering limewater in my ATO. I guess the question is does one determine which to use based on tests, judgement, or how? New tanks won't have a history but I'm guessing has you add frags and they grow more minerals would be consumed quicker?

BTW - thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Wanted to ask a question on this. I run a mixed reef mostly soft and lps corals today in my 40 breeder. SPS in the future for me is mostly only a couple frags which are birds nest type or staghorn(after upgrade and cycle is finished). I like to keep things simple so was interested in this part of your post. I was considering limewater in my ATO. I guess the question is does one determine which to use based on tests, judgement, or how? New tanks won't have a history but I'm guessing has you add frags and they grow more minerals would be consumed quicker?

BTW - thanks.

Alkalinity is the gauge as to whether limewater is sufficient.

I used only limewater in my ATO for my mixed reef tank for 20 years. I never had any reason to think something else would be better, but I also never tested any other methods on it to know (or, for that matter, I'm not even certain what I would look to to be "better").

Here's my tank description and pics of it:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-tank-description.172508/

 

[User1]

Alkalinity is the gauge as to whether limewater is sufficient.

I used only limewater in my ATO for my mixed reef tank for 20 years. I never had any reason to think something else would be better, but I also never tested any other methods on it to know (or, for that matter, I'm not even certain what I would look to to be "better").

Here's my tank description and pics of it:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-tank-description.172508/

@Randy Holmes-Farley - Thanks. Appreciate it. I went back through my log book I kept on my 100 gallon back in 2000. I actually had notes written down I believe from a post of yours regarding pickling lime / Mrs Wages I think it was. Reading the tank description / link now. Thanks again.

 

[Shad Quill]

After reading through this I still want to set up a calcium reactor on my relatively small system. My display is a 60 gallon cube with a sump of about 39 gallons. My idea is to dose 2 part and run the reactor for the trace elements and mag. I'd like to set it up so the reactor is bearing the brunt of the work load ... say 75 percent. This way I can reap the benefit of the trace elements. Is using 2 part to balance everything off so I don't run into low ph problems a good idea?

 

[fedeuma]

Thanks!

Yes, with two caveats.

1. It's main benefit over a well designed two part or balling (or a CaCO3/CO2 reactor) is the pH boost. With new DIY two part recipes that have an equal pH boost to limewater/kalkwasser, I might be inclined to use a new two part that way (see reason 2).

2. It has become more and more clear that in an SPS tank, that alk stability can lead to better coral growth. Limewater/kalkwasser on an ATO might not have the optimal alk stability, while limewater/kalkwasser on a dosing pump or a two part on a dosing pump will. I'm not sure this is a concern in a non SPS tank, but it might be.

If the tank is an SPS tank, limewater alone probably won't be enough alk and calcium anyway, so for an SPS tank, I'd pick a new style two part, and for many other tanks, I might experiment between limewater in an ATO vs two part on a dosing pump to see which seems to work better.

Good points Randy! In my last reef I used to dose Kalkwasser on an ATO. My PH stayed pretty stable throughout the day and night as the room the reef was in I managed to keep the temp, humidity, and CO2 pretty much the same throughout the year. As I'm getting ready to start my reef again, I think I will continue to dose Kalkwasser but not in my ATO but with a dosing pump concentrating on dosing more towards the night. I never got to the point that Kalkwasser wasn't enough to maintain alk and cal and I never reached full Kalkwasser saturation.
Now I'm interested to know how to make the DIY two-part that have an equal pH boost as limewater!
Thanks!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Good points Randy! In my last reef I used to dose Kalkwasser on an ATO. My PH stayed pretty stable throughout the day and night as the room the reef was in I managed to keep the temp, humidity, and CO2 pretty much the same throughout the year. As I'm getting ready to start my reef again, I think I will continue to dose Kalkwasser but not in my ATO but with a dosing pump concentrating on dosing more towards the night. I never got to the point that Kalkwasser wasn't enough to maintain alk and cal and I never reached full Kalkwasser saturation.
Now I'm interested to know how to make the DIY two-part that have an equal pH boost as limewater!
Thanks!!

You can just swap in an appropriate amount of sodium hydroxide into my DIY (e.g., BRS) in place of sodium bicarbonate/carbonate, but here's a true two part recipe (with magnesium in it, not as a third part):

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/

 

[fedeuma]

You can just swap in an appropriate amount of sodium hydroxide into my DIY (e.g., BRS) in place of sodium bicarbonate/carbonate, but here's a true two part recipe (with magnesium in it, not as a third part):

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/

Awesome Randy!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks. Hope it is useful.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

here's a different recipe, just swapping out the carbonate for hydroxide:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/second-new-diy-two-part-recipe-with-higher-ph-boost.357080/