How Often Do You Clean Your KalK Wasser Container?

[BAUCE]

How exactly are you dosing?

If you are using a mixer and doser, the key is to keep the mixture saturated (add until no more dissolves). When this is dispensed into the tank, it has a consistent amount of dissolved kalk and should keep parameters stable.

No more kalk will dissolve into the mixture than the saturation point. That’s why slurry happens at the bottom.

I have a magnetic icecap stirrer being fed by a aqualifter. It’s dosing 160ml every hour and is stirred every four hours directly after a dose.

So I should just dump in a 1/4 cup or so at a time? It literally will just stay powdered when it can no longer take any more? Not sure I’m super clear on this.

 

[BlennyTime]

I have a magnetic icecap stirrer being fed by a aqualifter. It’s dosing 160ml every hour and is stirred every four hours directly after a dose.

So I should just dump in a 1/4 cup or so at a time? It literally will just stay powdered when it can no longer take any more? Not sure I’m super clear on this.

Think about it like, you are dosing x amount of kalk powder per day. You can have x dissolved into 5 gallons of water, or x dissolved into 1 gallon of water.

Water can only have so much kalk dissolved in it at one time, that’s the saturation point. Any other will just sit at the bottom (hence the usefulness of stirrers). Since that’s a set amount for kalk (about 2 tablespoons per gallon), you know that every time you dose certain amount of the solution you are getting a certain amount of kalk.

Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I should just dump in a 1/4 cup or so at a time? It literally will just stay powdered when it can no longer take any more? Not sure I’m super clear on this.

Yes, that's the strategy. The amount to add just depends on how much can be stirred. Too much might end up as unstirrable mud.

 

[BAUCE]

Think about it like, you are dosing x amount of kalk powder per day. You can have x dissolved into 5 gallons of water, or x dissolved into 1 gallon of water.

Water can only have so much kalk dissolved in it at one time, that’s the saturation point. Any other will just sit at the bottom (hence the usefulness of stirrers). Since that’s a set amount for kalk (about 2 tablespoons per gallon), you know that every time you dose certain amount of the solution you are getting a certain amount of kalk.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Yes, that's the strategy. The amount to add just depends on how much can be stirred. Too much might end up as unstirrable mud.

It still looks like there is the same amount of the slurry on the bottom as when I added it last week though. Does that cloud at the bottom not get any smaller as time goes on and it gets more watered down? Is there a correlation with the slurry at the bottom and how potent the kalk get dosed is?

My stirrer is rated for up to 200 gallons and is being used on a 120 sps tank. I was dosing 50ml of 2 part daily before adding this unit. On day 2 I figured that I had to add 10ml of 2 part but as the week has gone on I am up to 25ml of 2 part to keep up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It still looks like there is the same amount of the slurry on the bottom as when I added it last week though. Does that cloud at the bottom not get any smaller as time goes on and it gets more watered down? Is there a correlation with the slurry at the bottom and how potent the kalk get dosed is?

It gets smaller, but will not go away since there will be residual calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide that won't dissolve well.

One reason I am not a fan of kalk stirrers (rather than dosing from a settled limewater/kalkwasser reservoir) is that controlling the potency is much harder with a stirrer, and many folks are surprised when they find the stirrer is not delivering saturated limewater (when measured by, say, conductivity of the effluent).

 

[BAUCE]

It gets smaller, but will not go away since there will be residual calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide that won't dissolve well.

One reason I am not a fan of kalk stirrers (rather than dosing from a settled limewater/kalkwasser reservoir) is that controlling the potency is much harder with a stirrer, and many folks are surprised when they find the stirrer is not delivering saturated limewater (when measured by, say, conductivity of the effluent).

Yeah I’m pretty surprised that it’s only been 8 days and my PH and KH have dramatically dropped already. I set this up to stabilize my ph but if there isn’t an easy way to keep things consistent I’m not going to keep it around.

I added 25 grams yesterday which had no affect on the levels. So when I get to the saturation point what do I need to look out for? From what I understand it just won’t mix any further? I read your article on this but may need to read it again. Thanks Randy!

 

[csb123]

55 gallon barrel cleaned once in 4 years.