Dosing containers? And should I dose Kalkwasser with a dosing pump?

[Cantusaurus]

Hey, so I am planning on getting my first doser soon for my 32 gallon mixed reef. Most likely the Kamoer X1. I was also thinking about the Jebao Wifi 3.4, but most likely single channel.
I might do all for Reef with the single channel doser (it is pretty pricey though), but I also was thinking of doing Kalkwasser instead, but for some reason online and on product descriptions there seems to be instructions only for use with an ATO, which does not make sense to me since I have researched and seen many negatives that can happen with it. I do not have/need an ATO since I have a lid that covers 97 percent of my tank.
So are there certain dosing instructions for using a dosing pump? Or do you just have to start off slow, and play around with it to find a better solution?
Also are there better dosing containers to use then others? Like a larger one seems better, but I'm not 100% sure. I do not want to exceed a gallon due to space reasons.
But I am willing to do a diy setup. I just hate the narrow opening containers since it'll be harder to clean I feel.
But what do I know, lol.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[blaxsun]

Are you sure you need to dose at all on a 32-gallon? Water changes alone might be sufficient.

 

[mrlavalamp]

Kalkwasser supplements both your alkalinity and calcium, but because it contains both the concentrations of either will be less than other dosing methods (and the effect on tank parameters will also be less).

Many use it in their ATO because it is simply the most convenient way to support small amounts of consumption of BOTH of those elements in our reefs.

I (and many others) dislike using kalk in the ATO because of the sediment it leaves in the container even though it is totally harmless even if you dont clean it frequently. When I used 5 gallon buckets as an ATO reservoir it was a non-issue, but now I use a 10 gallon acrylic tank is painful to remove and clean.

Now kalkwasser runs into limitations when it comes to the overall consumption in the tank. If your consumption is really high, at some point you would need to dose more kalkwasser than your daily top off volume (especially in a case like yours with a 100% lid), meaning you would need to begin overfilling your tank to get enough kalk in to maintain your parameters.

In high consumption cases, kalkwasser is just not potent enough to keep up and you would need to switch to a 2 part or some other system to maintain your desired kh or Ca ppm.

So what is your daily consumption of Alk/Ca?

Before dosing anything it is a good idea to take some measurements for a few days and get an idea of what is currently happening, then make changes using a dosing calculator designed for the product you want to dose.

If your consumption is low enough you could probably avoid dosing pumps all together and just top off your tank with kalkwasser.

Regarding containers:
Why wouldn't you want to go with a gallon container? Because if your dosing pump gets stuck on for any reason it will slowly dump that entire gallon into your tank unless you somehow notice and stop it. This has happened to countless folks using every single brand of dosing pump out there and in many cases it will completely wipe out a tank.

Now with that said, I was using .5L water bottles for a bit and they worked well because they are basically free and take up very little space. I switched to the biggest Voss glass bottles (800ml?) because they look nicer, they take up the same footprint and I don't have to fill them as often.

Cleaning them isn't really much of an issue because I just put a couple tablespoons of citric acid powder and then fill them with water and let sit. You scrub them with a bottle brush easy enough but the ctric acid gets the job done 100% so far.

 

[Cantusaurus]

Ok. Thank you so much That makes sense why it isn't commonly dosed like that. I'm fine with a 1 gallon container just hopefully not too much more than that. Yeah I've been trying to keep track of my elements more. Especially since I only do small water changes biweekly. My alk is depleting about 0.5-0.7 each week, but I need to keep testing. I made a coupe earlier dosing mistakes, and long story short my mag was pretty low. Things are back in line now, and I am hoping to make dosing improvements without having to dose elements every day.
Would all for reef be better? Or doing Tropic Marin, Carbo-Calcium.

 

[mrlavalamp]

if you are only consuming .5 dkh a week, and your total volume is 39 gallons, then you would only need to dose about 90 ml of kalkwasser a day to keep up.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

In that calculator kalkwasser is called limewater.

 

[TCoach]

I’m dosing kalk to my 92 corner via a Jebao DP-4. Doing 1L a day via a 1500 ml container. Keeps it easy and I refill every day.

if doser fails on, worse it does is an extra 1/2 liter which should not cause too many issues.

This is way better than when I used the ATO and easier on the pumps.

 

[attiland]

Hey, so I am planning on getting my first doser soon for my 32 gallon mixed reef. Most likely the Kamoer X1. I was also thinking about the Jebao Wifi 3.4, but most likely single channel.
I might do all for Reef with the single channel doser (it is pretty pricey though), but I also was thinking of doing Kalkwasser instead, but for some reason online and on product descriptions there seems to be instructions only for use with an ATO, which does not make sense to me since I have researched and seen many negatives that can happen with it. I do not have/need an ATO since I have a lid that covers 97 percent of my tank.
So are there certain dosing instructions for using a dosing pump? Or do you just have to start off slow, and play around with it to find a better solution?
Also are there better dosing containers to use then others? Like a larger one seems better, but I'm not 100% sure. I do not want to exceed a gallon due to space reasons.
But I am willing to do a diy setup. I just hate the narrow opening containers since it'll be harder to clean I feel.
But what do I know, lol.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I am no expert but let me share my experience.

I dose all for reef but as in every tank consumption of different elements ar different. I end up supplementing AFR with alk and mg therefore I would recommend getting a 4 head dosing pump. I currently using only 3 but soon the 4th will get purpose too.


I use Voss battles with a Kamoer F4 doser.

as per ATO I wouldn’t go back to hand top ups since I have bought one. It is up to you

 

[Cantusaurus]

Thank you everyone. This is a lot to think about, but I think I am going to go with the single channel doser. I think it is just going to be easier overall for me, and not take up too much space. All for reef powder just sounds like the best option for me. It's pricey, but will last a long time so that's ok. If I need to supplement a little here and there for an element such as mag, or Alk I think I am ok with that.

 

[ReefChasers]

Kalkwasser has an incredible and far more potent effect on pH than other options like 2 part. It is best dosed with a purpose and a dedicated doser (rather than ato which is a bad idea for kalk).

It is best to dose kalkwasser at night in order to offset some of the pH loss in your system. Stable pH is a dream if you can achieve it but it has a lot to do with just how much biomass you have in the tank and how fast its growing (consuming your kalk). I can promise you with a stable high pH the corals will be growing and consuming!

For example yesterday/last evening our main acropora system has a 8.3 ph high and an 8.2 ph Low. Yowzahs thats tight. We would love for it to just be 8.3 all the time but biomass demand and consumption of Alk/cal must be high to dose that much kalk. So we take it slow until the consumption gets there.

According to randy holmes-farley a 4/10ths point shift in pH is a 20% shift in carbonate availability even if your alk remains steady so the standard ph swing of say 8.3 day time and 7.9 to 8.0 at night is a pretty instable parameter that is oft over looked!

We are big fans of the kalkwasser. On a small system like yours i believe the same goals can be achieved but take it slow until your coral biomass justifies the additional dosing.

 

[WVNed]

Please consider you cannot add more kalkwasser than the amount of freshwater you add to you tank daily or your salinity will go down.