How to keep alkalinity steady with Kalk

[Ryengoth]

I don't chase alk, ca or PH. It swings up and down on a daily basis by the hour. My coral are growing like mad so it's not an issue for me. I dose 1tsp of Kalk in my 5G ATO per fill-up. That's all I regularly dose. If I have a CA drop it's usually due to consumption by stoma or snail population growth and I dose ionic calcium to bring it back up. Then, I check Mg a few days later and dose Mg as needed. I never use 2-part and the only time I have to adjust for PH is due to gassing issues from Phosphate and Nitrate issues and I use baking soda (dissolved in tank water) to correct it a small amount per day.

 

[ilovetank]

Kalkwasser is the best alk/ca additive there is. It's cheap and easy. However, I would use another method if you are trying to raise your ph. Take some lids off your tank to allow for more gas exchange, look into CO2 Scrubbers, or open a window.

As far as Alk swings being a concern when dosing in your ATO, I really think it is a very small swing. Maybe .5dkh when added via a tunze osmolator or something similar throughout the day. My tunze only runs for 60 seconds and I can't imagine it's adding more than a pint of kalk/ top off water at a time. It raises the Ph by about .1 and the Alk doesn't swing that much.

I would advise a back up float switch however, incase your ATO malfunctions. Or you can set your controller to shut off the ATO if PH gets above a certain level.

 

[Ryengoth]

I have used an O2 Concentrator several times with a large air stone to help raise the PH during peroxide and carbon dosing to kill bryopsis. It works wonders for that but not the cheapest thing around and most people don't have an extra one laying around the house.

 

[bubbaque]

This thread wasn't really about keeping ph up. I am not too worried about my ph. I wanted to know how stable can alk be while using kalk in an ato.

 

[Sabellafella]

This thread wasn't really about keeping ph up. I am not too worried about my ph. I wanted to know how stable can alk be while using kalk in an ato.

Typical tank evaporation with full saturated kalk usually will raise your alk about .5 to almost 1.0 dkh. Just going to have to test your daily uptake, and do the math. I think randy knows a good calculator thats somewhere on the net.
I started using kalk about 2 months ago, while i was already dosing 2part(getting expensive). All ive done was drop .3 dkh off my alk 2 part dose, and tossed on 1500 ml of fully saturated kalk (tank is 110g give or take).

 

[Ryengoth]

I dose 1 tsp to my 5G ATO tank every change which is about once a week. The RO water will take the kalk into solution based on temp. Start with a small dose in your ATO based on your refill cycle and give it 48 hours to settle. I go through 5G a week typically and dose 1 Tsp of BRS bulk Kalk until the ATO water starts looking like milk then I stop and let it get consumed based on natural solubility. I have a few SPS but most of my coral are LPS.

 

[RCs reef]

Kalk is ment to maintain levels of dkh, calcium,ph not raise the levels. If you haven't go to brs and check out the line of informational videos they have. If you want to raise levels you will need other additives to do so. The amount I use in my ato is 2 tsp per 1 gal max is 10 in a 5 gal bucket I use this in my setup and it keeps everything perfect I manually dose kh once a week to keep it at an 8kh.

 

[RCs reef]

Also you can use less in a 5 gal container or whatever size you are using at the time depending on your demand. Kalk reacts to co2 in the water witch maintains all 3 levels. But all this depends on evaporation in your tank also

 

[Waterjockey]

I ran kalk in my ato and my alk levels were pretty stable. My ato would run 3 or 4 times over 24 hours and it worked fine.
I recently began "dosing" kalk on an hourly basis instead. Both methods work

 

[Jongalt26]

I love Kalk, works great but i use a doser & nilsen reactor so it is not dependent on evaporation and I can adjust the dose easily. A drip system would work just as well at a fraction of the cost but you'll be mixing the KW on a regular basis. Another option is a stirrer that's inline with your ATO. My kalk effectiveness increased when i started using a system that kept the water saturated as opposed to mixing in my ATO container (that still worked though, just not as well).

As others mentioned you need to use 2-part to get the levels where you want them and then start dosing KW. Then verify the dosage by checking your levels daily for a bit, then every few days until you have it dialed in. You'll also want to make sure that you are using a salt that already has the parameters where you want them. This will make water changes very easy without much of a swing or having to adjust the levels before the water change. One thing to note is that KW reduces phosphates in the tank so if you run KW and GFO (or other phosphate absorbing media) then you'll need your alk levels around 9 ish and below. Running high alk and low phosphates can be a problem. This should keep your ph at decent levels (mines stable around 8.25). I dont have experience with the co2 scrubber but that would be the next thing i would try if i wanted to elevate ph.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have used an O2 Concentrator several times with a large air stone to help raise the PH during peroxide and carbon dosing to kill bryopsis. It works wonders for that but not the cheapest thing around and most people don't have an extra one laying around the house.

Since pH is unrelated to O2, an O2 concentrator would not usually be a good way to try to raise pH.

 

[Mrx]

I would agree here.....take the kalk off of your ATO. Steady is what you want and your not going to get what you could if you dose it in measured amounts. Evaporation is like a rollercoaster everyday up and down. I have a 700gal + system fully sps dominated with quite a few larger colonies and at the present Kalk is all I'm using and I can raise alk or lower it with the push of a button. At the present my system takes 1.5 gal of Kalk and its dirt cheap. I do have the GHL2 dosers hooked up and can also use 2 part but its really not needed at the moment. My Alk is at 8.3 and hasn't budged for for a couple months.

I did notice a few misconceptions a few post back someone said they keep a powerhead in their Kalk reservoir to prevent slurry? This is how you keep a over saturated water column and keep slurry unless your just not using the correct amount of Kalk per gal of ro. I mix 55gal at a time and only need to mix for a 24hr period and then never again till a new batch is made. If you want super saturated (a slurry) then by all means stir away but if your just wanting to dose the natural amount that the water column can hold then once its mixed you need not stir.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you want super saturated (a slurry) then by all means stir away but if your just wanting to dose the natural amount that the water column can hold then once its mixed you need not stir.

In fact, assuming it is not a reactor type of system, you are better off not stirring limewater after the initial mixing, IMO. Stirring drives CO2 into the water, forming calcium carbonate and depleting it, and prevents impurities from settling out.

 

[Mrx]

+1 its just a 55gal barrel, mix it for 24 then just dose till its almost gone then rinse and repeat....always drawing from the open water column about 6 inches up.....and I forgot to add in that I shut off dosing from the container during its mixing period and manually dose that day

 

[FlyinBryan]

I am thinking of starting to use kalk to help keep my ph up. I am wanting to add it to my top off water but my concern is keeping alk steady. When evaporation rates change I see it using more sometimes than others, which would lead to fluctuations. How are you keeping your alk steady using kalk?

For me in my 150g tall, the evaporation rates weren't that significant enough to adjust kalk amount in ATO. And I live in the Chicagoland Area.

I love kalk it's the best stuff for tanks. Easy to use, very affective, and inexpensive! I use it in all my tanks and always will.

IMO, fluctuations are going to happen, and for me, they have had absolutely no impact on coral growth at all. As long as alk, ca, and mg are in the tank at sufficient amounts, they're happy and grow! If it goes low they don't grow as fast, but the still look great. Add elements back in and they start growing!
Imo, coral stress is overrated.

Good luck!

 

[RudyB]

I have been using the Tunze calk dispenser 5074 on my 150g mix reef tank for about a year now. I live in Florida as well and the fluctuations are not as much as you may think. Just keep the air on a steady temp and your evaporation will be about the same. I currently evaporate just under a gallon a day. Even if it goes up by another 1/4 gal it will not make much of a difference. That way all your top off water is with calk and will maintain itself. By the way that line has to be from outside the house not your garage. The air in the garage will get very hot specially during the summer with very little usable O2 for the tank. Using an O2 scrubber specially here in Florida will get costly as you will have to change the media often.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have been using the Tunze calk dispenser 5074 on my 150g mix reef tank for about a year now. I live in Florida as well and the fluctuations are not as much as you may think. Just keep the air on a steady temp and your evaporation will be about the same. I currently evaporate just under a gallon a day. Even if it goes up by another 1/4 gal it will not make much of a difference. That way all your top off water is with calk and will maintain itself. By the way that line has to be from outside the house not your garage. The air in the garage will get very hot specially during the summer with very little usable O2 for the tank. Using an O2 scrubber specially here in Florida will get costly as you will have to change the media often.

I'm not convinced the air temp is any concern with respect to gas exchange, but a running car or other gas motor in the garage will boost the CO2 a lot.

 

[roberthu526]

I would strongly suggest a CO2 scrubber. I bought two from BRS and the change is undeniable.

 

[Jongalt26]

I would strongly suggest a CO2 scrubber. I bought two from BRS and the change is undeniable.

Out of curiosity, what was your ph before installing the scrubber and what is it after? Do / did you use KW at all? And lastly, how long does your media last?