Kalkwasser dosing questions

[Mattc123]

Hi all. So due to my pH woes I think I'm going to start dosing kalk. I'm going to get a small container for it, get the brs 1.1ml pump, and hook it up to my apex. I'm going to have the pH limit set but my question is, is any other failsafes I can put into the apex to make sure it doesn't overdose? I'm going to use a relatively small dosing container just in case it does all get dosed at once but I'd like more failsafes if possible. Thanks guys!

 

[bushdoc]

You should be OK, but I just want to point out that dosing pump you are going to use ( I presume it’s BRS pump) it’s not meant to run continuously, so do proper calculations how long you need to run it and if it’s going to be satisfactory for your size tank and your tank Ca and alkalinity requirements.

 

[Cantusaurus]

I’m not super familiar with the BRS dosing pump. But as long as it’s going VERY slow then you shouldn’t have to worry about overdosing it.
And make sure it’s dosed into a HIGH flow area. Put a little tiny cheap return pump or something in the sump if you need to. It helps make sure the other equipment doesn’t get precipitate on it, and it’ll make sure the solution fully dissolves quickly.

I have the Kamoer X1 pro stepper pump and I love it. It’s really easy to use. I’ve heard you can get them very cheap on Aliexpress too. Just will take longer to ship.
But also don’t rely purely on kalk for pH. Also make sure your tank has enough gas exchange, and the room it’s in is getting ventilated so there’s better oxygen levels.

 

[paparoof]

Besides disabling the kalk doser if PH climbs above a set point. How bout a float valve or level sensor that will kill power to the kalk doser if water level gets above a certain point.

 

[Mattc123]

You should be OK, but I just want to point out that dosing pump you are going to use ( I presume it’s BRS pump) it’s not meant to run continuously, so do proper calculations how long you need to run it and if it’s going to be satisfactory for your size tank and your tank Ca and alkalinity requirements.

I used this calculator for figuring out the code for dosing how much I want per day. Any recommendations on a 100 gallon tank for the concentration of the kalk and how many ml per day? I have pH that's in the gutter at like 7.5 and alkalinity at 7 as well. I'll have to check my calcium though.

 

[Cantusaurus]

I used this calculator for figuring out the code for dosing how much I want per day. Any recommendations on a 100 gallon tank for the concentration of the kalk and how many ml per day? I have pH that's in the gutter at like 7.5 and alkalinity at 7 as well. I'll have to check my calcium though.

What’re you using to test pH? Alk at 7 isn’t bad though especially if it stays around there

 

[Mattc123]

I’m not super familiar with the BRS dosing pump. But as long as it’s going VERY slow then you shouldn’t have to worry about overdosing it.
And make sure it’s dosed into a HIGH flow area. Put a little tiny cheap return pump or something in the sump if you need to. It helps make sure the other equipment doesn’t get precipitate on it, and it’ll make sure the solution fully dissolves quickly.

I have the Kamoer X1 pro stepper pump and I love it. It’s really easy to use. I’ve heard you can get them very cheap on Aliexpress too. Just will take longer to ship.
But also don’t rely purely on kalk for pH. Also make sure your tank has enough gas exchange, and the room it’s in is getting ventilated so there’s better oxygen levels.

My sump has pretty high flow in the middle chamber where my reactor return is so that's where I'll be putting it. I have tried everything to fix my ph but nothing works other than opening windows but that still doesn't maintain pH where it should be and I obviously can't keep windows open all the time. I got a CO2 reactor but it seems like it's only giving me about .1 of a pH boost and that's obviously not enough so this is kinda my last ditch effort after trying everything else

 

[Mattc123]

Besides disabling the kalk doser if PH climbs above a set point. How bout a float valve or level sensor that will kill power to the kalk doser if water level gets above a certain point.

I have been thinking about getting an optical sensor. I have the lls right now as well but I'm still figuring out all the things I can use that for.

 

[Mattc123]

What’re you using to test pH? Alk at 7 isn’t bad though especially if it stays around there

I have the apex probe, a brand new Hanna multichecker, and an API kit and they all confirm the same pH. I have been fighting this for months and I just don't know what happened either. My pH used to stay around 8.0 even with me in the room but the last two months or so it tanks every time I'm in the room and even when I'm not it only stays around 7.7-7.8. opening the windows helps but it's still dropping way more than I'd like

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi all. So due to my pH woes I think I'm going to start dosing kalk. I'm going to get a small container for it, get the brs 1.1ml pump, and hook it up to my apex. I'm going to have the pH limit set but my question is, is any other failsafes I can put into the apex to make sure it doesn't overdose? I'm going to use a relatively small dosing container just in case it does all get dosed at once but I'd like more failsafes if possible. Thanks guys!

That’s a very small dose. It’s not enough to strongly impact a 100 gallon tank

 

[Mattc123]

That’s a very small dose. It’s not enough to strongly impact a 100 gallon tank

Hi Randy! First time getting a response from you on here I feel honored like this is a right of passage! It's the 1.1ml brs pump and I was going to have it run for a few minutes a few times a day and adjust accordingly. Will I have to worry about it dosing the same amount whether I'm in the room vs not home and the pH possibly going all over the place based on whether I'm in the room or not? With me in the room and my CO2 scrubber hooked up I'm bottoming out at 7.5ph still and it's driving me insane and that's still with the windows open . I'm hoping with the addition of kalk and higher alk the swings may be lessened

 

[Cantusaurus]

Hi Randy! First time getting a response from you on here I feel honored like this is a right of passage! It's the 1.1ml brs pump and I was going to have it run for a few minutes a few times a day and adjust accordingly. Will I have to worry about it dosing the same amount whether I'm in the room vs not home and the pH possibly going all over the place based on whether I'm in the room or not? With me in the room and my CO2 scrubber hooked up I'm bottoming out at 7.5ph still and it's driving me insane and that's still with the windows open . I'm hoping with the addition of kalk and higher alk the swings may be lessened

Yeah, that is very strange that your pH has dropped that low especially with taking all those considerations. I wouldn't say that higher alk is going to result in less swings, but obviously dosing kalkwasser will increase your alk.
I feel there may be some sort of cause in your tank. Not sure if its bacteria bloom related or some sort of die off to some organism(s) in the tank that might not be obvious.

But that really should not be the case especially with a CO2 scrubber, and doing your best to ventilate the room.
I feel like this is abnormal and there is some sort of weird cause.
I really hope this gets better for you though.
pH really is a key component.
When I finally got my pH on track the corals visually look much healthier and I have had much less issues.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi Randy! First time getting a response from you on here I feel honored like this is a right of passage! It's the 1.1ml brs pump and I was going to have it run for a few minutes a few times a day and adjust accordingly. Will I have to worry about it dosing the same amount whether I'm in the room vs not home and the pH possibly going all over the place based on whether I'm in the room or not? With me in the room and my CO2 scrubber hooked up I'm bottoming out at 7.5ph still and it's driving me insane and that's still with the windows open . I'm hoping with the addition of kalk and higher alk the swings may be lessened

Thanks.

Running full bore it only adds 1.1 mL /min x 60 min/h x 24 h/d. That is only 1.5 liters per day. That is not enough. You’d be wanting closer to 1-2 gallons per day if you want a useful pH boost. Adding that 1.5 liters instantly would nearly be ok since it will only boost pH by about 0.2 pH unit’s, and then it will fall back.

 

[Mattc123]

Yeah, that is very strange that your pH has dropped that low especially with taking all those considerations. I wouldn't say that higher alk is going to result in less swings, but obviously dosing kalkwasser will increase your alk.
I feel there may be some sort of cause in your tank. Not sure if its bacteria bloom related or some sort of die off to some organism(s) in the tank that might not be obvious.

But that really should not be the case especially with a CO2 scrubber, and doing your best to ventilate the room.
I feel like this is abnormal and there is some sort of weird cause.
I really hope this gets better for you though.
pH really is a key component.
When I finally got my pH on track the corals visually look much healthier and I have had much less issues

I hope the kalk helps I can't think of anything in the tank that would cause it but maybe I will at one point. It's just gotten very defeating and annoying at this point because I can't get the corals and fish I'd like. Everything is still alive in my tank right now and has been tolerating the low pH but I know it's less than ideal for them. I'll update when I start dosing kalk!

 

[Mattc123]

Thanks.

Running full bore it only adds 1.1 mL /min x 60 min/h x 24 h/d. That is only 1.5 liters per day. That is not enough. You’d be wanting closer to 1-2 gallons per day if you want a useful pH boost. Adding that 1.5 liters instantly would nearly be ok since it will only boost pH by about 0.2 pH unit’s, and then it will fall back.

I will have to look into a better dosing pump then! Thank you for telling me that before I bought it and letting me know what kind of dosing I would need. This is gonna drive me crazy until I fix it ! Is there a pump and dosing regiment you would recommend then? Maybe the brs 50ml a minute pump? Is there anything else I can do other than dosing that much kalk a day? I'm hoping maybe the CO2 scrubber in conjunction with kalk will keep things stable but I'm not sure what else I can do.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I would dose a consistent amount of kalkwasser everyday. I dose 2 ml a minute continuously from a versa. Do you have enough coral to uptake all this calcium and alkalinity?

 

[Cantusaurus]

I will have to look into a better dosing pump then! Thank you for telling me that before I bought it and letting me know what kind of dosing I would need. This is gonna drive me crazy until I fix it ! is there a pump and dosing regiment you would recommend then? Or anything else I can do other than dosing that much kalk a day? I'm hoping maybe the CO2 scrubber in conjunction with kalk will keep things stable but I'm not sure what else I can do.

I would maybe try and get the Kamoer Stepper Doser since you can do a continuous mode, and you can adjust it up to 0.1 ml a minute. I have a 50 gallon so I need something to dose very slow, and it's continuous which is nice. If it gets unplugged and plugged back in it'll go back to the same continuous setting like nothing happened, so you may be able to use that to your advantage if using a probe along with it and having it work along with your pH levels.

Also the only other thing I can think of is a refugium to help pH, but I know not everyone has the space for that in the sump (I don't).
Maybe try microbubble scrubbing? Might help a tad, all you need is a air pump/stone.
I know it helps clear up organics in and around the rock which can clear out stuff and improve pH.

Also if you have liverock or some sort of hitchikers, something could have died and released a bunch of stuff that really is taking a toll on the pH. But this situation is strange and I hope it gets solved.
I had dealt with Pathogenic Bacteria with my corals for over a year and it was so upsetting and made me want to quit. I lost all so many of my stony corals despite my tank being great parameter/pest wise.

 

[Mattc123]

I would dose a consistent amount of kalkwasser everyday. I dose 2 ml a minute continuously from a versa. Do you have enough coral to uptake all this calcium and alkalinity?

That is one thing I was worried about. At the moment I only have a small GSP which is growing albeit slowly. Obviously I have to fix the pH before I add any other coral to uptake the calcium and alk so I'm presented with quite the paradox. I'm thinking maybe a 50ml/min brs pump a few times a day and seeing where that takes me.

 

[Cantusaurus]

That is one thing I was worried about. At the moment I only have a small GSP which is growing albeit slowly. Obviously I have to fix the pH before I add any other coral to uptake the calcium and alk so I'm presented with quite the paradox. I'm thinking maybe a 50ml/min brs pump a few times a day and seeing where that takes me.

Yeah it's a weird situation since you don't really have corals to uptake the stuff. But I mean the fact you don't have corals means if there are alk swings it is not the end of the world.

 

[Mattc123]

I would maybe try and get the Kamoer Stepper Doser since you can do a continuous mode, and you can adjust it up to 0.1 ml a minute. I have a 50 gallon so I need something to dose very slow, and it's continuous which is nice. If it gets unplugged and plugged back in it'll go back to the same continuous setting like nothing happened, so you may be able to use that to your advantage if using a probe along with it and having it work along with your pH levels.

Also the only other thing I can think of is a refugium to help pH, but I know not everyone has the space for that in the sump (I don't).
Maybe try microbubble scrubbing? Might help a tad, all you need is a air pump/stone.
I know it helps clear up organics in and around the rock which can clear out stuff and improve pH.

This actually sounds like a better option than a 50ml/pump and I'll look into this as well. I have a santa Monica drop 1.2 scrubber but it has never worked properly and I think it's probably because I have an undersized air pump. I'm going to get a whisper 150 and see if that helps. I also just toned down the light cycle on it. It's either that or sell it and go with chaeto but that will probably make a mess. So hopefully between a CO2 scrubber, kalkwasser, and hopefully fixing the algae scrubber the pH will finally be fixed. Luckily my neighbor is a chemist and can get me soda lime and kalk powder for free/almost free!