KALK USERS HELP

[arman]

Hi my friend.Its about 3 months that im using kalk for stabling the calcium and alkanity in my tank.I am doing well with the parameters but there is a problem with that and that is my corals health.I just saw my corals not doing well as before using kalk in my tank.And i stopped dosing kalk and it was the problem,the corals got much better while stopping the process.
So i wanted to know what can be the reason for this?
I dissolve about 1.5 spoon of kalk in 10 litr of water and let it stand for a while and then start dosing it into my tank with a dosing pomp system.The dosing pomp system's program is set for 50ml of dosing every hour of the day(that will be 24 times a day).
I really liked this method because it was really easy,i dont want to change my method,so plz help me.

 

[Mr Hughes]

Hi my friend.Its about 3 months that im using kalk for stabling the calcium and alkanity in my tank.I am doing well with the parameters but there is a problem with that and that is my corals health.I just saw my corals not doing well as before using kalk in my tank.And i stopped dosing kalk and it was the problem,the corals got much better while stopping the process.
So i wanted to know what can be the reason for this?
I dissolve about 1.5 spoon of kalk in 10 litr of water and let it stand for a while and then start dosing it into my tank with a dosing pomp system.The dosing pomp system's program is set for 50ml of dosing every hour of the day(that will be 24 times a day).
I really liked this method because it was really easy,i dont want to change my method,so plz help me.

Following along as I am interested. What were your parameters before, during, and after dosing?

 

[MIchael10101]

What was your pH and the size of your tank?

 

[arman]

I dont have a digital ph meter but with sera it was above 8.The tank is about 300 litr.

 

[Tahoe61]

Need alk, cal and magnesium values as well.
What types of corals specifically?
Can you post a pic?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When you stopped the limewater, what did you begin to do to replace calcium and alkalinity?

What exactly changed on the corals appearance?

Where do you dose into the system?

What is the source of the water for the limewater?

 

[arman]

Need alk, cal and magnesium values as well.
What types of corals specifically?
Can you post a pic?

Alk is 7.5 and ca is 410 or 420, mg dont have a kit.
I keep mostly LPS and some softies.

 

[arman]

When you stopped the limewater, what did you begin to do to replace calcium and alkalinity?

What exactly changed on the corals appearance?

Where do you dose into the system?

What is the source of the water for the limewater?

I didnt replace any thing.I just stopped that for 2 or 3 days to see what happens.My consumption is not that high that it causes problem.
The corals tissue were decreasing.My hammer just opened much more and more colorful.My clam just was opening much better.And i have a chalice top left of the pic if u see and it was dieng but i think he is going to be much more better.

 

[arman]

AS you can see the skeleton of the coral just appears through the corals tissue and algae covers it.I had this problem before because of really low nutrients but with kalk it got worse.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Maybe what the corals prefer is slightly lower alk to go along with the low nutrients?

 

[Myka]

What are NO3 and PO4 at? I wonder if PO4 has been binding to Calcium carbonate precipitation from using kalk and has taken low PO4 to extremely low or "zero" PO4? What do you think about this hypothesis @Randy Holmes-Farley ? The photos look to me to be either really high phosphate or really low phosphate (symptoms are really similar).

If that's the case, then the solution may simply be the addition of more clean up crew to keep algae (at bay and prevent it) from using up all the nutrients. I do see a fair bit of microalgae in the tank.

 

[arman]

Maybe what the corals prefer is slightly lower alk to go along with the low nutrients?

I havent raised the alk so high its just 7.5.I dont think they dont like this.The nutrients is now 15ppm nitrate and about 0.5 phosphate.
I have to mention that i dose po4 and no3 to my tank too.Because if i dont, they bleach so quickly.

 

[arman]

What are NO3 and PO4 at? I wonder if PO4 has been binding to Calcium carbonate precipitation from using kalk and has taken low PO4 to extremely low or "zero" PO4? What do you think about this hypothesis @Randy Holmes-Farley ? The photos look to me to be either really high phosphate or really low phosphate (symptoms are really similar).

If that's the case, then the solution may simply be the addition of more clean up crew to keep algae (at bay and prevent it) from using up all the nutrients. I do see a fair bit of microalgae in the tank.

There is alot of macro in my ref. Should i rogue them?

 

[arman]

I was talking to a friend he was claiming that kalk should be dosed during night,because it can raise the ph so high during day light.
Whats yr ideas my friends?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was talking to a friend he was claiming that kalk should be dosed during night,because it can raise the ph so high during day light.
Whats yr ideas my friends?

It may, but it didn't in my tank. Have you measured pH?

 

[arman]

It may, but it didn't in my tank. Have you measured pH?

I dont have a digital one.But with sera it was more than 8.
Im really confused.Every time i think ive found my tank's problem sth else will make a problem.

 

[Jongalt26]

Like Myka mentioned your NO3 or PO4 could be too low. Do you use biopellets, carbon dosing or GFO or any other nutrient removal in addition to the KW?
My old set-up was using a nilsen reactor with a dosing pump but i also used GFO and my alk was too high. Ended up with some alk burns, got that corrected and then learned PO4 was too low.

 

[arman]

I had low nutrients issues and i have solved it by using neo phos and NaNO3.I just have a weekly 5% water changes and a 30 ltr macro algae ref.I changed the metal h lamp but it didnt work as much as i thought.

 

[Myka]

The photos look to me to be either really high phosphate or really low phosphate (symptoms are really similar).

If that's the case, then the solution may simply be the addition of more clean up crew to keep algae (at bay and prevent it) from using up all the nutrients. I do see a fair bit of microalgae in the tank.

The nutrients is now 15ppm nitrate and about 0.5 phosphate.
I have to mention that i dose po4 and no3 to my tank too.Because if i dont, they bleach so quickly.

There's the answer! If you didn't make a typo, 0.5 ppm PO4 is more than 10x too much. You should aim for 0.02-0.08 ppm. NO3 is also too much IMO - I'd suggest 1-5 ppm.

Also, try feeding the LPS in the evening when the feeder tentacles are out - the Donut, Duncan, Bubble, and Chalice would appreciate it. Feed one or two in an evening so each one gets a feeding a once or twice a week, but don't feed them all at once because that's too much food going into the tank.

 

[arman]

I really want to reduce my po4 and nitrate and i can,but every time i tried this the corals started to bleach.