Kalkwasser Drip or Dose.

[branbray07]

Greetings guys
Question to you kalk dosers out there. Do you dose or do you drip. Just curious to know what method you guys are using. We all now the benefits or pros of kalk, best of all the ph boost. I have to say i have tried both, however i feel like dripping it better for stability with a continuous doser. But thats just me, and only dosing or dripping during the night.

Here is a picture of my apex. Dont mind that huge drop. I lost power that day at night, so no dosing was done.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

Greetings guys
Question to you kalk dosers out there. Do you dose or do you drip. Just curious to know what method you guys are using. We all now the benefits or pros of kalk, best of all the ph boost. I have to say i have tried both, however i feel like dripping it better for stability with a continuous doser. But thats just me, and only dosing or dripping during the night.

Here is a picture of my apex. Dont mind that huge drop. I lost power that day at night, so no dosing was done.

I continuously drip over 24 hours with a vectra pump and that has always worked well for me. Only issues I had were getting a buildup on the end of the dosing tube in the tank. I just made sure to clean it every few months. Another popular option is to dose when your lights are off to offset the PH drop, but I never did it this way.

 

[branbray07]

I continuously drip over 24 hours with a vectra pump and that has always worked well for me. Only issues I had were getting a buildup on the end of the dosing tube in the tank. I just made sure to clean it every few months. Another popular option is to dose when your lights are off to offset the PH drop, but I never did it this way.

I have the same issue. Just have to remember to clean it every month and drip rate should be good. I forgot to mention, that i drip/dose on a reverse light cycle to account for the drop or at least minimize it. Currently using a Kamoer Stepper at 4.5ml /min from midnight to noon. Plus my refugium.

 

[PocketGoose]

I use my apex to dose throughout the day. 140 ml (on a 14 gallon) 0:00-6:00, 9:00-12:00, and 13:00-23:59. However, I'm using it more to keep alk/ca stable and any increases in pH are just a benefit..

 

[Gill the 3rd]

I have the same issue. Just have to remember to clean it every month and drip rate should be good. I forgot to mention, that i drip/dose on a reverse light cycle to account for the drop or at least minimize it. Currently using a Kamoer Stepper at 4.5ml /min from midnight to noon. Plus my refugium.

That makes sense and sounds like a great way to do it.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

I use my apex to dose throughout the day. 140 ml (on a 14 gallon) 0:00-6:00, 9:00-12:00, and 13:00-23:59. However, I'm using it more to keep alk/ca stable and any increases in pH are just a benefit..

Same here, I dose over 24 hours to keep my alk steady more so than a PH boost.

 

[PocketGoose]

Same here, I dose over 24 hours to keep my alk steady more so than a PH boost.

Do you see much of a difference in your pH? My house is packed 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs haha so were sealed up for summer..but I have a hard time keeping it off the floor (<7.8) when were all in the house. Curious to see what happens in a month or so when we can get some airflow through the house.

 

[branbray07]

I use my apex to dose throughout the day. 140 ml (on a 14 gallon) 0:00-6:00, 9:00-12:00, and 13:00-23:59. However, I'm using it more to keep alk/ca stable and any increases in pH are just a benefit..

Very nice. Is that enough to keep your alk and calc stable?

 

[Gill the 3rd]

Do you see much of a difference in your pH? My house is packed 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs haha so were sealed up for summer..but I have a hard time keeping it off the floor (<7.8) when were all in the house. Curious to see what happens in a month or so when we can get some airflow through the house.

Honestly, not really. Same here - 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs lol and my sump is in the basement. My PH would stay steady around 7.9 even if I increased my kalk dosing rate. I did recently add a CO2 scrubber and my PH now is around 8.1.

 

[branbray07]

Do you see much of a difference in your pH? My house is packed 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs haha so were sealed up for summer..but I have a hard time keeping it off the floor (<7.8) when were all in the house. Curious to see what happens in a month or so when we can get some airflow through the house.

Same here. Well exept for 3 kids , and two large German Shepperds furballs. Unfortunately i live in South Florida, so our ac is on all day!. Not much fresh outside air. I do however open the doors every day for about 10 mins to get some fresh air in. I do use a scrubber on my tank, but media last about 7 days.

 

[Ef4life]

I use a doser to dose it from midnight to noon.

 

[branbray07]

I use a doser to dose it from midnight to noon.

How much are you dosing, and do you see a difference in ph, stability, growth etc

 

[PocketGoose]

Very nice. Is that enough to keep your alk and calc stable?

As of right now yes, I started with 70ish mL throughout the day and have incrementally increased as needed. Decent amount of SPS/LPS in a small tank..I'm anticipating I'll have to supplement in the future, at the point I think I'm gonna give AFR a shot. Only have one dosing head left.

I almost want to try switching to dosing all the kalk after lights out, but I also don't wanna change things haha. When I tinker things go south..

 

[exnisstech]

I drip kalk 50 minutes on 5 minutes off 24/7 using a brs dosing pump on a timer. I have to add small amount of 2part 25ml on aprox 220g total volume to keep alk where I want it.
I still don't under stand the pH boost people always mention. The tank I drip kalk in maintains pH identical to a tank 10ft away that gets no kalk

 

[legalizedreefer]

As of right now yes, I started with 70ish mL throughout the day and have incrementally increased as needed. Decent amount of SPS/LPS in a small tank..I'm anticipating I'll have to supplement in the future, at the point I think I'm gonna give AFR a shot. Only have one dosing head left.

I almost want to try switching to dosing all the kalk after lights out, but I also don't wanna change things haha. When I tinker things go south..

FWIW:

I’m currently the inverse of you. Dosing A4R with consideration to also do kalk for ph boost.

I’m VERY happy with all for reef. Like extremely happy.

I dose it based on alk consumption. I rarely test calcium but when I do it’s always between 440-470 which I’m happy with.

The odd time, I’ll test magnesium and it’s a bit low so periodically I’ll do a correction dose with Red Sea mag.

I’m currently deciding if I need to complicate my system by adding in kalk.

 

[branbray07]

I drip kalk 50 minutes on 5 minutes off 24/7 using a brs dosing pump on a timer. I have to add small amount of 2part 25ml on aprox 220g total volume to keep alk where I want it.
I still don't under stand the pH boost people always mention. The tank I drip kalk in maintains pH identical to a tank 10ft away that gets no kalk

I noticed, that when i dose 24/7 my high would get higher yea but thats it. My low was still like 8.0-8.1. Now that im dosing only at night the full evaporation like the aci method, my low is higher and so is my average .

 

[branbray07]

FWIW:

I’m currently the inverse of you. Dosing A4R with consideration to also do kalk for ph boost.

I’m VERY happy with all for reef. Like extremely happy.

I dose it based on alk consumption. I rarely test calcium but when I do it’s always between 440-470 which I’m happy with.

The odd time, I’ll test magnesium and it’s a bit low so periodically I’ll do a correction dose with Red Sea mag.

I’m currently deciding if I need to complicate my system by adding in kalk.

Seems everyone i know with AFR is extremely happy.

 

[PocketGoose]

I’m currently the inverse of you. Dosing A4R with consideration to also do kalk for ph boost.

I’m VERY happy with all for reef. Like extremely happy.

I dose it based on alk consumption. I rarely test calcium but when I do it’s always between 440-470 which I’m happy with.

The odd time, I’ll test magnesium and it’s a bit low so periodically I’ll do a correction dose with Red Sea mag.

I’m currently deciding if I need to complicate my system by adding in kalk.

Ahhh, I'm glad to know you like it. I've heard good things. I can say kalk is super easy, whatever method you decide to use to get into the system, I love it. Just keep an eye on your alk in the initial phases of introducing it. I overshot my dosing schedule and shot mine up to 10 from 8.3 within the first couple weeks of dosing it. After frags started growing and utilized more alk/ca, I had to increase to keep up with demand.

I will say I am now a firm believer in the higher pH thing. I went away on vacation for a week last month and with nobody in the house I was seeing 8.1 pretty consistently, usually 8-7.8. I was stunned by my SPS growth upon my return, a clear noticeable difference.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Ahhh, I'm glad to know you like it. I've heard good things. I can say kalk is super easy, whatever method you decide to use to get into the system, I love it. Just keep an eye on your alk in the initial phases of introducing it. I overshot my dosing schedule and shot mine up to 10 from 8.3 within the first couple weeks of dosing it. After frags started growing and utilized more alk/ca, I had to increase to keep up with demand.

I will say I am now a firm believer in the higher pH thing. I went away on vacation for a week last month and with nobody in the house I was seeing 8.1 pretty consistently, usually 8-7.8. I was stunned by my SPS growth upon my return, a clear noticeable difference.

what it comes down to for me is every time I watch a YouTube video of a tank that I admire or strive to have, it almost always either uses kalk or some other pH boosting measure. I’m happy with my growth rate but I love experimenting

 

[branbray07]

Ahhh, I'm glad to know you like it. I've heard good things. I can say kalk is super easy, whatever method you decide to use to get into the system, I love it. Just keep an eye on your alk in the initial phases of introducing it. I overshot my dosing schedule and shot mine up to 10 from 8.3 within the first couple weeks of dosing it. After frags started growing and utilized more alk/ca, I had to increase to keep up with demand.

I will say I am now a firm believer in the higher pH thing. I went away on vacation for a week last month and with nobody in the house I was seeing 8.1 pretty consistently, usually 8-7.8. I was stunned by my SPS growth upon my return, a clear noticeable difference.

Yea i had the same issue when i first started dosing kalk. Chris from ACI mentioned it’s perfectly normal when you start to do it. Mine shot up to from 8.5 to 9.5.