How much Kalkwasser?

GoPitt88 · Aug 23, 2017

So I'm losing 1.2 dKH per day. I have a 55 gallon mixed reef tank, with 4 SPS, 4 LPS, and a mix of shrooms and leathers. I'm dosing the tank daily, recently, to slowly raise my Alkalinity to the 8 to 9 range, and am now ready to dose my ATO water with Kalkwasser. How much do you think I should start with? 1 teaspoon per gallon? Or is that a tough question since the evaporation rate of my tank can be different than someone else's, and can also vary throughout the year?

GoPitt88 · Aug 23, 2017

FYI....I'm replacing between 2 and 2.5 gallons per week from my ATO due to evaporation.

saltyfilmfolks · Aug 23, 2017

I would highly reccomend using the reef chemistry calculator.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

And yes , you are correct , there is some difficulty in using just the ato for consistent kalk delivery.

I believe many or most using kalk exclusively to maintain a specific dkh drip or dose directly to the tank because of the inconsistency of the ato delivery and because of the amount of kalk needed to maintain a specific dkh.

Fwiw kalk is generally measured as saturated kalk (mixed). I.e. Before automated dosing, I used 300ml of saturated limewasswer in my 2.5 gallon ato resivor and refilled it once a week.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 23, 2017

GoPitt88 said:
So I'm losing 1.2 dKH per day. I have a 55 gallon mixed reef tank, with 4 SPS, 4 LPS, and a mix of shrooms and leathers. I'm dosing the tank daily, recently, to slowly raise my Alkalinity to the 8 to 9 range, and am now ready to dose my ATO water with Kalkwasser. How much do you think I should start with? 1 teaspoon per gallon? Or is that a tough question since the evaporation rate of my tank can be different than someone else's, and can also vary throughout the year?

A half gallon of fully saturated limewater (kalkwasser) will boost alk by about 1 dKH in your tank. You need 8 dKH per week, and only evaporate 2-2.5 gallons, so may not be able to maintain alk and calcium with limewater alone (if your numbers are correct).

Starting with 1 tsp per gallons seems fine, but expect to have to raise it.

GoPitt88 · Aug 23, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
A half gallon of fully saturated limewater (kalkwasser) will boost alk by about 1 dKH in your tank. You need 8 dKH per week, and only evaporate 2-2.5 gallons, so may not be able to maintain alk and calcium with limewater alone (if your numbers are correct).

Starting with 1 tsp per gallons seems fine, but expect to have to raise it.

Thanks for the info! [emoji846]

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 23, 2017

You're welcome.

Good luck and happy reefing.

Malifry97 · Oct 11, 2019

I have a 36 bowfront with no ATO yet. How much Kalk should I add per gallon for a BTA and a large pipe coral?

William Mumford · Oct 11, 2019

QUOTE="Malifry97, post: 6589622, member: 131738"]
I have a 36 bowfront with no ATO yet. How much Kalk should I add per gallon for a BTA and a large pipe coral?
[/QUOTE]

Just those 2 corals shouldn't use that much nutrients. I would think water changes would be okay with just those 2. I might be wrong but I have a way more coral than that and I just started to have to use kalkwasser.

Malifry97 · Oct 11, 2019

William Mumford said:
QUOTE="Malifry97, post: 6589622, member: 131738"]
I have a 36 bowfront with no ATO yet. How much Kalk should I add per gallon for a BTA and a large pipe coral?

Just those 2 corals shouldn't use that much nutrients. I would think water changes would be okay with just those 2. I might be wrong but I have a way more coral than that and I just started to have to use kalkwasser.
[/QUOTE]
Ok thank you!