Kalk Reactor : How many corals can it support

[ks_reeftank]

anyone have an idea on the number / types of corals i should be able to keep just using a kalk reactor. dont want to get into dosing and trying to keep it simple. would like a few nice lps corals, maybe a small clam. getting ready to purchase 2 led fixtures from reef radiance soon, already have a wp25 pump. using reef crystal salt, salinity at 1.025 now, could bump that when i get coral a point or two. i have meters and test kits, just curious as to everyones exsperience with this, thanks

 

[ks_reeftank]

75g tank, 29 sump.

 

[bobbyrobot]

I think it depends on how much it doses. If you have a lot of evaporation and it is constantly adding kalk water. It may support a decent amount of stony corals at least until they get larger or depends on how fastthey are utilizing calcium. It gets to a point where you can't add enough kalk to keep up.

 

[creefer]

Agree with bobbyrobot. I'm starting to have to add calcium while topping off with kalk. I've got a small tank with mostly SPS and calcium consumption is such that I need to add 2-part to support kalk. I should note that my primary reason for staring kalk was the pH benefit. I have low pH water and the kalk helps offset that.

 

[jedimasterben]

Basically, calculate exactly how much your evaporation rate is. From there, you can calculate how much kalk you can add via water (supersaturated kalk is 3tsp/gallon, requiring some vinegar to get it to dissolve past 2tsp/gal). You can also add kalk powder directly to the water, but I woudln't really recommend that -any impurities in the kalk will wind up in the tank, versus precipitating out of solution and not being dosed.