Kalkwasser and Bleaching Corals

[Reefen]

I want to go back to using kalkwasser, every time I have started to use kalkwasser I have had coral bleaching, so I know I have to start very slow, as I read other post I dont see this as a concern with other aquarist, is coral bleaching from kalkwasser normal or is it just me?

 

[piranhaman00]

I haven’t tried kalk but I would imagine if you have a lot of evaporation with little update your dkh and pH could rise quickly causing bleaching

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you adding it and how much are you adding?

 

[Reefen]

its been a long time but i would drip it in 24/7 fully saturated would start out 10ml a day for a few days then 20ml for about a week then 30ml I think. my tank is 120 gal

 

[vetteguy53081]

Why are you adding Kalk and what is your goal ??
Are you testing levels as you are adding ?

 

[Reefen]

I want to get more constant alk and calcium values for less coral stress and better growth

 

[Reefen]

I want to get more constant alk and calcium values for less coral stress and better growth

I want to get more constant alk and calcium values for less coral stress and better growth

I am testing

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

its been a long time but i would drip it in 24/7 fully saturated would start out 10ml a day for a few days then 20ml for about a week then 30ml I think. my tank is 120 gal

That will accomplish nothing. It will boost alkalinity by less than 0.01 dKH.

You need to be dosing more like 1% of the tank volume.

 

[Reefen]

yes, i would start out slow and have to use other means to boost alk and calcium but would get the coral bleaching

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

yes, i would start out slow and have to use other means to boost alk and calcium but would get the coral bleaching

Either it was coincidence, or what you added was not kalkwasser of any reasonable purity.

 

[Reefen]

ESV kalkwasser, It has happenes to me every time I have tried to does kalkwasser, 4 separate occasions over the last 20yrs

 

[Reefen]

looking into some other options, but kalkwasser seems to be less expensive

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I guarantee that 20 mL of ESV kalkwasser made from 2 teaspoons solids per gallon of fresh water did not itself cause bleaching, unless it was perhaps because you stopped other dosing and alkalinity got too low, or if you dosed the 20 mL directly onto a coral.

Most folks (myself included) dose hundreds of times more kalkwasser to their tank, and do not get bleaching.

 

[deerhunter06]

I put in kalk in my ATO and as of right now it is maintaining my alk. 3 regular spoon fulls in a 5g bucket. I have mostly sps frags around 20 in my 90g. Coralline is also exploding. My tank is fairly new. Idk if this helps you at all.

 

[Reefen]

I am going to try this again, thanks you guys

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am going to try this again, thanks you guys

How do you drip it?

 

[Reefen]

How do you drip it?

dosing pump

 

[neiltus]

I dose 2L mixed at saturation a day. And that is nothing vs others.

 

[Backreefing]

You could drip it in , or make uses ATO . But dripping is safest.