Dosing kalk in a tank with minimal evap?

[GMF Reef]

I have a 29 gallon tank that has been setup for about a month. This is my first saltwater tank. It's a simple setup without a sump, ATO or any of that fancy stuff. The tank is already finished it's nitrogen cycle, now I am just waiting for it to stabilize a bit more and build up a good base of coralline algae before I try to add some easy soft corals.

I have read and been told numerous times the best way to encourage coralline growth quickly is through dosing kalk. However, all of the methods I have read thus far for dosing seem to be dependent on systems which allow at least 1 gallon top off water daily.

I keep a glass top over my tank because I am worried about livestock jumping out or harmful stuff settling on the surface of my tank from the air. Because of this my evaporation is minimal. I might evaporate .2 gallons daily, if that. That being said, is there any way for me to safely and effectively dose kalk into my system?

 

[saltyphish]

By no means am I suggesting this through experience just using logic here. So take it for what it's worth. I too have a 29 g tank but I don't dose kalk. Actually the only thing I dose is a little bit of Fuel, and a little soda ash to bump my alk up. Personally I only add what is needed in my tank, but then again I only have a little bit of Coralline growth in my tank so maybe I am missing something. I would base my dosing not by what people are saying to add but what your parameters are saying and what coral usage you have. Are you testing Alk, Cal, and Mag? If so, what are your parameters? If not, stay away from dosing until you do. You increase something to much and you can crash your tank. Without those numbers it would be hard to give advice. If you don't have those test kits most lfs will test your water for you. I would suggest getting your water tested and post your numbers so someone with more exp with kalk can better answer you. Also, I would assume your numbers are pretty close to what your salt mix is freshly mixed.

 

[AAE]

You can manually do a very slow drip dose of kalkwasser solution for 15-30 min a day as needed. Being such a small body of water you have to be careful not to over do it. Also monitor the other values like alkalinity, magnesium and strontium and keep them in balance as you get much better and faster results.
Kalkwasser will elevate the pH and if it is dosed too fast it could negatively effect the live stock.
Considering the risks involved in smaller tank, it might be a safer bet to use a product like Purple-Up initially. Seachem Reef Complete is another all in one additive that produces good results with coralline algae due to its stability in solution.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How do you aerate this tank?

The question is important not only for O2 and pH/CO2, but for the use of limewater, which needs to pull in CO2 from the air.

Since the demand is very low in your tank, you do not need (or want) to add very much limewater now.

 

[GMF Reef]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

The tank is aerated with a HOB aqua-clear filter and a Hydor circulation fan pointed towards the surface of the tank. I assumed this, with the 4" opening along the back of the tank would allow for sufficient gas exchange and oxygenation?

The Calcium levels are sitting right at 360ppm and the Alkalinity levels are at 12dKH. Unsure on the Mag levels, I don't have a test for that but I am going to get that tested by my lfs as soon as possible (my lfs is 1 1/2 hrs away).

Another reason I was wanting to dose Kalkwasser is someone mentioned it would, along with boosting coralline growth, burn off any nuisance hair algae. After the first 2 weeks my tank experienced a large diatom bloom, which quickly died off after about another week. I was expecting this because used well water to start up the tank and I know it had a lot of silicates in it. After the diatom die off I did a pwc with distilled water ( I have an RO/DI unit, just haven't hooked it up yet). Now, I am having hair algae growth on the rocks and sandbed. I am running phosphate removal pads and have added 2 blue leg hermits to the tank, but so far I have not seen any reduction in the algae or phosphates, which are sitting at .25ppm.

Other than the algae, the tank seems to be doing very well. I have 2 hermits, a feather duster, and even 2 mushrooms which have popped up on their own off the piece of LR I got to seed the base rock in the tank. I understand these things take time, but I am hoping I can find some way to get this tank 100% on the right track by next month because I was planning to attend the Florida Frag swap in Tampa to pickup some zoanthids and mushrooms.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Another reason I was wanting to dose Kalkwasser is someone mentioned it would, along with boosting coralline growth, burn off any nuisance hair algae. After the first 2 weeks my tank experienced a large diatom bloom, which quickly died off after about another week. I was expecting this because used well water to start up the tank and I know it had a lot of silicates in it. After the diatom die off I did a pwc with distilled water ( I have an RO/DI unit, just haven't hooked it up yet). Now, I am having hair algae growth on the rocks and sandbed. I am running phosphate removal pads and have added 2 blue leg hermits to the tank, but so far I have not seen any reduction in the algae or phosphates, which are sitting at .25ppm.
.

I would not assume limewater is any sort of magic bullet in relation to algae. I've used it for 19 years as the only calcium and alkalinity addition method in my reef tank, but I still need many other ways of exporting nutrients.

To boost the calcium from 360 ppm, use calcium chloride (the limewater is not good for this as the alkalinity will get too high).

The aeration may be adequate. One way to gauge is the daily pH swing once the tank starts photosynthesizing.