Help with Alk and Cal

[Mario0240]

Hey guys,

So I started dosing kalk in my ATO to start getting my alk and calcium levels more stable. I was previously using purple up for calcium, but would forget doses here and there and wanted to do something I would only have to do weekly, or so. Hence kalk. It’s easy and has been helping already. I have noticed though, my Calcium will hang around 360 but my dkh stays at 11-11.5. I was wondering if anyone has expletives this and if my calcium will come up over time, or if adding vinegar would help bring the calcium up while bringing the dkh down?

 

[Rybren]

Kalk is a more or less balanced additive, so it will mostly just maintain whatever levels you have in your tank. However, calcium will likely very slowly creep up. It may take many months before the rise will even show up on a test kit.

Your best bet is to use the calcium portion of a 2-part to raise the calcium to where you want it and use the kalk to maintain the levels.

 

[Mario0240]

Kalk is a more or less balanced additive, so it will mostly just maintain whatever levels you have in your tank. However, calcium will likely very slowly creep up. It may take many months before the rise will even show up on a test kit.

Your best bet is to use the calcium portion of a 2-part to raise the calcium to where you want it and use the kalk to maintain the levels.

See I was wondering about that... I was thinking about getting a calcium additive and either dosing that daily, or adding it to my ATO, If that’s a good idea.

 

[Rybren]

I'm not certain, but I think that adding the calcium additive to the ATO containing kalk will result in issues like precipitation, but I may be wrong.

If it were me, I'd use one of the calculators in the stickies to determine how much additive is required to to raise calcium to the desired level and once there, just stick with the kalk in the ATO. You may have to tweak alk or calcium every once in a blue moon.

 

[Mario0240]

I'm not certain, but I think that adding the calcium additive to the ATO containing kalk will result in issues like precipitation, but I may be wrong.

If it were me, I'd use one of the calculators in the stickies to determine how much additive is required to to raise calcium to the desired level and once there, just stick with the kalk in the ATO. You may have to tweak alk or calcium every once in a blue moon.

Definitely sounds like the safer bet... I’ll do that and just dose by hand.. Thanks for the input!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was previously using purple up for calcium,

Glad you stopped. IMO, it is a useless product that defies science as a supplement and leads to false test kit numbers.

Hey guys,

So I started dosing kalk in my ATO to start getting my alk and calcium levels more stable. I was previously using purple up for calcium, but would forget doses here and there and wanted to do something I would only have to do weekly, or so. Hence kalk. It’s easy and has been helping already. I have noticed though, my Calcium will hang around 360 but my dkh stays at 11-11.5. I was wondering if anyone has expletives this and if my calcium will come up over time, or if adding vinegar would help bring the calcium up while bringing the dkh down?

Vinegar would be of zero benefit. It does not deplete alkalinity.

Limewater (kalkwasser) cannot be used to raise calcium as it also raises alkalinity, and by a far larger percentage.

You need to use calcium chloride for the corrective calcium boost. There are many brands.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

See I was wondering about that... I was thinking about getting a calcium additive and either dosing that daily, or adding it to my ATO, If that’s a good idea.

As Rybren noted, it cannot be added to the ATO without messing up the alkalinity that is there.

 

[Mario0240]

Glad you stopped. IMO, it is a useless product that defies science as a supplement and leads to false test kit numbers.



Vinegar would be of zero benefit. It does not deplete alkalinity.

Limewater (kalkwasser) cannot be used to raise calcium as it also raises alkalinity, and by a far larger percentage.

You need to use calcium chloride for the corrective calcium boost. There are many brands.

I’ll get something today! My lfs carries fritz, Kent, and the white cylindrical bottles... can’t think of the brand off hand. They make fuel. Anyways, he should have something for me.