Kalk Vs. 2 Part

Danielhung1994 · Feb 19, 2016

Hello guys, planning on adding kalk or 2 part solution. I know most people will do both since kalk is not enough, but where would you start?

Water change every week, 75 gallons mixed reef pretty stock.

Please recommend a good 2 part solution, doser, and also a talk stirrer or whichever method you guys use to add.

Thanks!

Davereefman · Feb 19, 2016

I use kalk regularly and have to add way less calcium and alk. I bought a Jebao doser on eBay for $60 and made some cool containers (no stirrer). Let me know if you wanna see some pics or more info.

Danielhung1994 · Feb 19, 2016

Davereefman said:
I use kalk regularly and have to add way less calcium and alk. I bought a Jebao doser on eBay for $60 and made some cool containers (no stirrer). Let me know if you wanna see some pics or more info.

I would love to see your setup bro, thanks a lot. So you use kalk and add less calcium? What do you dose?

Davereefman · Feb 19, 2016

I would use seachem to stabilize, then just dose kalk nightly. I adjust every week instead of every day. I used these container because my wife thought they looked cool on the mantle. Just silicones a drip tube into the sump.

Danielhung1994 · Feb 19, 2016

Davereefman said:
I would use seachem to stabilize, then just dose kalk nightly. I adjust every week instead of every day. I used these container because my wife thought they looked cool on the mantle. Just silicones a drip tube into the sump.

Cool cool thanks buddy!

Davereefman · Feb 19, 2016

Sorry for the stupid spell check grammar.

Downbeach · Feb 20, 2016

I think your best method is to start with kalk, and migrate to two part if/when it's no longer enough to keep up with your demand. In my case I started by adding 1 tsp per gallon of Mrs. Wages in my top off, using a Tunze Osmolator ATO, and increased it to full saturation (2tps per gallon) as the need increased. As time went on, and my needs exceeded the capabilty of the fully saturated limewater, I started using a DIY two part solution from BRS, along with their dosers (1.1mL/min.). Ultimately, I started to dose the fully saturted limewater with another BRS doser(50mL/min), and used the ATO to make up the difference in evapotation, going back to plain RO/DI water for top off. I didn't have a "contoller", so I used digital timers for the dosing. The containers I used for dosing were simple 1 gal. vinegar jugs I had, and drilled a hole in the cap.

Rybren · Feb 20, 2016

Kalk alone can be fine for many tanks. I ran my old 75G for about 6 years with kalk alone without needing to supplement alk/ca . The tank was heavily stocked with coral (mixed SPS/LPS/Soft) and I still didn't need to even run a fully saturated Kalk solution. My current 120G is only a few months old but has many of the corals from the old tank plus a lot of new frags. 1 tsp of Kalk powder per gallon of water in the ATO is holding the system at 9dKH and 460ppm Ca.

I believe that RHF only uses Kalk in his system as well.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 20, 2016

Danielhung1994 said:
Hello guys, planning on adding kalk or 2 part solution. I know most people will do both since kalk is not enough, but where would you start?

Water change every week, 75 gallons mixed reef pretty stock.

Please recommend a good 2 part solution, doser, and also a talk stirrer or whichever method you guys use to add.

Thanks!

I use just limewater ion my tank, but iot is not SPS heavy.

If you already have a suitable ATO, I'd consider limewater in that.

But it is also perfectly reasonable to just go the two part route, and my DIY recipe (like BRS or Dr Foster and Smith sell the ingredients for) is a fine way to go. B-ionic is a good commercial choice.

The practical differences are small. Limewater will help keep the pH higher, and the two part will slowly increase salinity, but both lead to great tanks.

peter fumo · Feb 20, 2016

Would you know why when I mix my limewater it stays cloudy, a mixing it with RO/DI in a 5 gallon bucket, a mixing a very light solution of 2 teaspoons to 5 gallons I stir it in and then I pour into another 5 gallon bucket and back into the original 5 gallon bucket it sit for 24 hours and get a slight film on top when I pour the mixture off the top it's still cloudy when I put it in my ATO. I even tried adding a capful of vinegar to the water that didn't help either I don't know why it's it's not turning clear I have enclosed pictures of the product I'm using my automatic top off and my mixing bucket and I do put a cover on my mixing bucket and my automatic top off any help would be greatly appreciated thank you

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I use just limewater ion my tank, but iot is not SPS heavy.

If you already have a suitable ATO, I'd consider limewater in that.

But it is also perfectly reasonable to just go the two part route, and my DIY recipe (like BRS or Dr Foster and Smith sell the ingredients for) is a fine way to go. B-ionic is a good commercial choice.

The practical differences are small. Limewater will help keep the pH higher, and the two part will slowly increase salinity, but both lead to great tanks.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 20, 2016

The solids that do not dissolve are mostly calcium carbonate (formed from lime plus CO2 from the air) and some magnesium hydroxide.

The film on the top is calcium carbonate forming by reaction with air, so just keep it covered to reduce this, but it still forms.

None of these are harmful. Just let it settle out and ignore it.

Oksana Kudina · Feb 20, 2016

Ok, so sort of a newbie questions I have. How do you know if kalk is enough or not? Do you test for calcium, magnesium or anything else?
I used kalk in the past. The drip method didn't work for me (lime water has tendency to clog up the equipment and creates disaster when away), so I switched to AB little fish three times a week. My lps and chalices are doing great but my monti started to bleach out after two years of good growth. I stopped testing five years ago when tank stabilized but last week I added beautiful corals from JFox and thinking that I need to get back to testing the water because AB three times a week might not be enough for harder corals.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 20, 2016

Dose limewater based on the alkalinity in the aquarium. Nothing else.

Pick a starting dose and adjust up or down as needed.

If you are using a two part, do the same with equal parts dosing, and over time adjust the calcium part up or down as needed to keep it where you want it.

I can suggest starting doses of either if you describe what is in the tank.

FlyinBryan · Feb 20, 2016

Use 2 part to get it correct levels. Use kalk to keep stable. Not vice-versa.

Oksana Kudina · Feb 20, 2016

FlyinBryan said:
Use 2 part to get it correct levels. Use kalk to keep stable. Not vice-versa.

So, you mean once the calcium at the correct level, you stop adding AB and maintain it with kalk?

peter fumo · Feb 20, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The solids that do not dissolve are mostly calcium carbonate (formed from lime plus CO2 from the air) and some magnesium hydroxide.

The film on the top is calcium carbonate forming by reaction with air, so just keep it covered to reduce this, but it still forms.

None of these are harmful. Just let it settle out and ignore it.

thank you

DannyB · Feb 20, 2016

I recently started using 2 part with dosers and found it is a lot easier for me to keep my alk stable.

I ran kalk for over a year and could keep the alk fairly stable but there was still fluctuation for some reason and my calcium basically climbed over 500ppm.

I am not saying one is better than the other. Both methods work great which makes this mostly a preference thing.

Kalk is definitely the less expensive route and is what I would recommend because if it ends up not being the solution which suites you best, you won't be out very much money switching to dosing, especially with dosers, rather than the other way around.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 20, 2016

DannyB said:
I ran kalk for over a year and could keep the alk fairly stable but there was still fluctuation for some reason and my calcium basically climbed over 500ppm.
.

Calcium will very slowly rise with limewater as it boosts calcium just a little bit more than the alkalinity due to magnesium getting into deposited calcium carbonate in place of some of the calcium, while limewater replaces calcium and alkalinity in a ratio that does not account for such substitution. That is why a low calcium mix, like IO, is well suited for limewater.

DannyB · Feb 20, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Calcium will very slowly rise with limewater as it boosts calcium just a little bit more than the alkalinity due to magnesium getting into deposited calcium carbonate in place of some of the calcium, while limewater replaces calcium and alkalinity in a ratio that does not account for such substitution. That is why a low calcium mix, like IO, is well suited for limewater.

Makes sense. Have been using red sea coral pro. The doser has kept the alk in check. Hasn't deviated from 160ppm more than 5ppm.