How to use Kalkwasser correctly

[reefguy565]

I have a 30 gallon tank and my alk is always 6.7 after a water change and goes down to about 6.3 within a few days. Tank is up for 3 months and have some zoas , Acans and very few sticks like 5 lol. I am going to try dossing kalwasser and see if I can raise my alk. My PH is at 8.17 during peak and about 7.91 all other times. I am going to use a dosing pump and use a 1 gallon jug to dose the kalk into the tank.

Question is when i mix my new batch and i run low, do I add more kalk or wash everything out dump the bottom stuff and start fresh? Also can i shake the bottle or just stir in the kalk and let it settle?

 

[Brad Miller]

At 3 months old, dosing should be the last thing on your mind

 

[reefguy565]

At 3 months old, dosing should be the last thing on your mind

yea I get that ... but you did not provide me a solution, when I am doing water changes (using fritz salt) and my alk is at 6.7 and within 3-4 days i am at 6.3.. what you suggest ? and I am doing 35-40% water changes every 2 weeks. I have tried weekly and same thing.

 

[biophilia]

Kalkwasser should be used for dosing to maintain alk, not to raise it (because raising your existing alk with kalkwasser will spike pH a lot).

So, do a water change or add two part slowly to get your alk to where you want it to be and then maintain that with kalkwasser. It sounds like you have an alk draw of only 0.2DKH per day or so so an easy solution would be to use an online calculator to figure out how much fully saturated kalkwasser that takes and drip that over the course of every evening. That'll help keep your pH up at night and also replenish the days alk/calcium consumption.

When mixing up a batch of kalk, the residue at the bottom is often precipitate (if you're adding less than the 2 tsp./gallon needed to fully saturate the solution) so it's best to either discard it every few batches or (ideally) every new batch. I'm lazy so I mix up a new batch in a 1 gallon jug and pour it into my kalk reservoir to top it off on top of the precipitate gunk at the bottom -- and only empty and rinse completely every third time or so.

 

[reefguy565]

Kalkwasser should be used for dosing to maintain alk, not to raise it (because raising your existing alk with kalkwasser will spike pH a lot).

So, do a water change or add two part slowly to get your alk to where you want it to be and then maintain that with kalkwasser. It sounds like you have an alk draw of only 0.2DKH per day or so so an easy solution would be to use an online calculator to figure out how much fully saturated kalkwasser that takes and drip that over the course of every evening. That'll help keep your pH up at night and also replenish the days alk/calcium consumption.

When mixing up a batch of kalk, the residue at the bottom is often precipitate (if you're adding less than the 2 tsp./gallon needed to fully saturate the solution) so it's best to either discard it every few batches or (ideally) every new batch. I'm lazy so I mix up a new batch in a 1 gallon jug and pour it into my kalk reservoir to top it off on top of the precipitate gunk at the bottom -- and only empty and rinse completely every third time or so.

thanks man I appreciate the feedback. I will look into the 2 part and start adding that slowly and wait for things to stabilize before adding kalk into the mix. Do i keep dosing 2 part with kalk or dose only 2 part to get the alk to where I want it then stop dosing 2 part? you said dose at night you mean overnight only? or all the time except when it rises?

 

[biophilia]

You'd only use two part to get the alk to where you want it and then switch to using kalkwasser from there. Way in the future you may find that your tank consumes more than kalk alone can keep up with in which case you'll do both (I do both on my tank) but for now just kalk will cover your needs.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

I'd dump it out everytime, its easier to be consistent with the dosing that way.

 

[biophilia]

Here's a good calculator to use:
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Put your actual tank volume in (something like 75% of your tank size to account for the rock) and choose Fully Saturated Limewater.
If you mix two tsp. kalk into a gallon of RODI to make fully saturated solution, that'll tell you how much to add in per day. Mix it up for a few minutes, then let the gunk settle to the bottom. Throw out the gunk before refilling. Easy as that!

 

[reefguy565]

Here's a good calculator to use:
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Put your actual tank volume in (something like 75% of your tank size to account for the rock) and choose Fully Saturated Limewater.
If you mix two tsp. kalk into a gallon of RODI to make fully saturated solution, that'll tell you how much to add in per day. Mix it up for a few minutes, then let the gunk settle to the bottom. Throw out the gunk before refilling. Easy as that!

i thought it was 2 tablespoons to get fully saturated limewater? good to know its teaspoon