Kalk dosing.... Drip vs ATO vs dosing pump

[b4tn]

I am getting ready to start Kalk dosing and I cant decide which method to use. I have determined I have 50 gallons of water volume in my 75 with sump. My current demand is 5ppm of calcium and .4 DKH of Alkalinity in a 24 hour period and approximately 1 gallon a day evaporation. What I cant find is how much different saturation levels of Kalkwasser will add to the tank. That being said I have some questions.

What are the pros and cons of adding kalk to the ATO? I have an aqua lifter pump so that should not be an issue. But what concerns me is that when my ATO kicks on it usually stays on for a good 30-60 seconds until my float switch closes. Is this going to cause a big PH swing every time it kicks on? ATO seems like the easiest method.

What about dripping? I still run into trying to figure out how much to drip but I kind of like this idea because once it is dialed in it is constant so there will be no PH swing.

Lastly I have a doser that I could use. I believe it can dose 5 times a day per channel. Also trial and error till I get the right amount and I dont think I want to mess with it.

Can anyone with similar volume and consumption give me a starting point? Am I over thinking this and just need to throw in 1/2 tsp per gallon to my ATO and see what happens?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I don't like running limewater in an ATO, for several reasons (I dose mine on a dosing pump).

The first is that you can't control the dose. If your alkalinity starts going up because the limewater is too potent, you have no choice to dump your ATO and mix a less concentrated batch. If you're dosing limewater on a dosing pump, all you need to do is cut back on the daily dose.

The second is that ATOs are not precise. They're good at keeping your water level relatively stable over a period of days, but they're not good at dosing the same amount of solution at the same time every day. I prefer something more precise like a dosing pump, which doses the same amount every day. This also takes care of your potency question. Always mix up fully-saturated limewater, then dose more or less as the demand goes up and down.

The third is that ATOs just really aren't reliable dosers. Dosing pumps fail too, but they don't seem to stick on as often as ATOs do.

Dripping is also an okay way to dose, but the problem is you need to mix up limewater every day or every other day. With a dosing pump, you can mix up really any quantity you want and dose it over a period of days or weeks. I currently mix up one gallon at a time, but I recently made a 5 gallon bucket reservoir that I'm going to implement next time I need to mix limewater.

 

[b4tn]

I am really leaning toward either drip or dosing. I have a PH probe in my return chamber and my controller is set to turn off my dosing pump if the PH goes to high. I cant seem to get the web page to load at work but http://reef.diesyst.com/ has a calculator that can tell you how much saturated kalkwasser is required to raise calcium based on tank volume and required consumption. Only issue I see using my doser is that if I recall it was more than a liter a day which will be hard to spread out on a doser that can only dose 5 times a day.

 

[ZoWhat]

I use a radical new method studied at many Ivy League schools like Yale and Harvard..... Its called the "teaspoon method" of dosing

 

[b4tn]

That also reminds me of another question. How much saturated Kalk can be dosed at one time and still be effective? I read putting in to much at once can make it not as effective.

 

[Emery]

I recently bought the Avast Kalk stirrer and their 1.1ml perisaltic dosing pump. The pump takes water from my fresh ATO water and pushes it thru the Kalk stirrer at a drip rate of just under a gallon per day. This is just under my daily evap rate, so now my ATO kicks on once every 2-3 days instead of 2-3 times per day. I fill the Kalk stirrer with 3/4 a cup of Kalk every other week. It’s really helping my tank stable out.

 

[Billldg]

I currently use kalk in my ato and for a while it was fine, but now that my corals r consuming larger amounts of alk and cal I had to up the amount of kalk and aim a pump towards the top of the tank, kalk in a ato is dependent on the amount of evaporation u have, the higher the evaporation the more it dumps in, problem with this is it can be inconsistent, also, the more kalk u put in the higher your ph, if u already have high ph, like me, this becomes a problem. I will be switching to a doser as its isn't affected by these problems and is far more consistant. Starting off it will work fine, but were do you see your tank in a year or 2 down the road, will your consumption go up and will u have to make drastic changes in the amount of kalk you will have to use to maintain the parameters u want?

 

[nereefpat]

In 50 gallons, it will take 0.17 gallons of saturated limewater to raise 0.4 dKH.

 

[NS Mike D]

I use a radical new method studied at many Ivy League schools like Yale and Harvard..... Its called the "teaspoon method" of dosing

I went to a state school - probably explains why I use the capful method.

seriously, I have a jar of kalk, an ATO and a 5 gallon reservoir. My alk needs are just about a capful a day - I dose 2 part. It's part of my morning routine before I leave - along with checking to make sure nothing blew up over night and the pumps are running.

Maybe if I can a fast growing SPS tank with higher alk demands I'd automate, but for now the capful in the morning routine is simple and effective for me

 

[NS Mike D]

In 50 gallons, it will take 0.17 gallons of saturated limewater to raise 0.4 dKH.

so approximately 1/5th fully saturated at 1 gallon a day - or he can be exact using 0.17

fully saturated is 2 level teaspoons per gallon (I learned that from Randy Holmes-Farley), so 1/2 tsp = .25 strength 1/4 tsp = .125 strength

having fun?

I would dose a 1/4 tsp and the half a 1/4 tsp and keep testing and adjust accordingly.


(someone please check my math)

 

[rmoore311]

I just started dosing Kalk via my Smart ATO on my two nano tanks. So far it seems like a great way to maintain the two main elements on a budget. I just started the brs two part to get my levels up and will be continuing on with the Kalk to maintain them as much as possible. The only bad thing i have heard about is the change in evap. throughout the seasons, causing more or less of your ATO to trigger. For now, I plan to keep testing on a regular basis and see how it goes. For the future I plan to get a couple dosing pumps but things start to get expensive with multiple tanks.

 

[NS Mike D]

That also reminds me of another question. How much saturated Kalk can be dosed at one time and still be effective? I read putting in to much at once can make it not as effective.

I am not sure I am following the question , but perhaps this helps

as for mixing: 2 level teaspoons per gallon of fresh water is generally considered the saturation point. Any more kalk than that and it will just settle at the bottom.

As for how much to dose: it's not a matter of how much is effective but rather keeping alk steady. I've read that .5 dkh rise per day is safe. more and your corals might stress.

 

[esse]

In 50 gallons, it will take 0.17 gallons of saturated limewater to raise 0.4 dKH.

this might not be correct - I recall 0.0125 * water volume will add 2.8 dkh
Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[nereefpat]

this might not be correct - I recall 0.0125 * water volume will add 2.8 dkh
Please correct me if I'm wrong

Not sure on the math for that. Is that kalk volume or tank volume? It seems like maybe we're missing a value, or maybe I'm not following.

The calculator I use shows that a 1 dKH increase takes 0.87 gallons of saturated kalk per 100 gallons.