Kalkwasser Drip or Dose.

[mjcoussens]

@branbray07 I am really sorry for hijacking this thread as it relates to pH but this is Kalkwasser adjacent info.

​

@legalizedreefer I am referring to using this $10 solenoid coming off of a T close to the skimmer intake. The resistance of airflow through this 1/2" valve has got to be less than that of the CO2 scrubber. A friend of mine gave me a Neptune DC24V to bare wire connector that I will solder on to the solenoid.

FYI, this valve will require a minimum of 0.02mPa or ~3 PSI to operate. I have no idea what the draw is on a skimmer, or how this may impact its performance.

 

[branbray07]

Sounds like you've got it all worked out. I hope I can settle in around 8.5-8.6 pH with a recirculation line on my skimmer air. Right now I have it pulling air in from outside, then through a CO2 scrubber at about 8.3pH.

I do have a solenoid at home to T off of the skimmer airline and wire in to the Apex. I plan to just use the APEX pH control option to open and close the solenoid with a pH high (8.6) and low (8.5) value. Maybe @ChumminghamsReef can chime in. I think this is the same process that he uses.

Note: I chose 8.5-8.6 because it's most likely where my pH will top out. Will go higher if Kalkwasser and recirc take me there.

I to use a Recirculating CO2 Scrubber with @FishOfHex skimmer attachment, however im thinking of scrubbing outside air instead. I already ran the line outside, but been to lazy to connect since i need to build a little carbon container to get pollutants out. 8.5 8.6 that is reallllly high ph. Chris Mecley from ACI says in one of his vids, that he didn’t see a benefit to run ph above 8.3. As of now im getting about 9 days even with recirc of media

@branbray07 I am really sorry for hijacking this thread as it relates to pH but this is Kalkwasser adjacent info.

​

@legalizedreefer I am referring to using this $10 solenoid coming off of a T close to the skimmer intake. The resistance of airflow through this 1/2" valve has got to be less than that of the CO2 scrubber. A friend of mine gave me a Neptune DC24V to bare wire connector that I will solder on to the solenoid.

Hey man no worrys. This hobby is about learning, if your getting mad because someone is dropping some knowledge that could be beneficial to you or anyone else then this hobby aint for you.

- Scrubber media is so expensive compared to a bucket or sack of Calcium Hydroxide.

-Tying kalk dosing to your pH has the added benefit of automatically adjusting for increased consumption; either from excess dissolved CO2 or from coral growth.

- There's no more titrating to find the sweet spot or need to make manual adjustments.

- If the circulation pump in the bucket stops working, then it just doses saturated kalk until you can get the pump working again.

- 2(3)-part has the ionic balance to contend with, raises salinity, and needs 3 dosing pumps to automate.

It was a no-brainer for me to ditch 2(3)-part and switch over to slurry and stop buying scrubber media. I went from storing reagents in 4x 5 gallon buckets to 1.

There are lots of ways to accomplish the same task here. This method works for me and happens to provide exceptional value. Something that is rare in this hobby.

Cheers,

Matt

Excellent read.

avast kalk stirrer, peristaltic pump at a constant rate for 24 hours. I use about 2 cups of kalk totally gone by two weeks.
My pH bumps up .1 to .2 when I refill it.

I have a trick to remove volume from my tank, so I can drip Kalk at a higher rate than the evaporation rate.

Umm what trick is that? I run my fans if i want to evap more.

 

[FishTruck]

Umm what trick is that? I run my fans if i want to evap more.

If a person had an automatic water change system… removes tank water each day. That volume is replaced with kalkwasser, high salinity brine, and then whatever RO/DI is needed to maintain steady tank volume and Salinity. This leaves of room to add more kalkwasser, without the volume of a tank increasing.

In my actual case, I’m using a dialysis system, which is set to remove more volume than it replaces. Brine is added to keep the salinity at 35PPT by Apex controller. The rest of the water is added by a standard auto top off system.

 

[branbray07]

If a person had an automatic water change system… removes tank water each day. That volume is replaced with kalkwasser, high salinity brine, and then whatever RO/DI is needed to maintain steady tank volume and Salinity. This leaves of room to add more kalkwasser, without the volume of a tank increasing.

In my actual case, I’m using a dialysis system, which is set to remove more volume than it replaces. Brine is added to keep the salinity at 35PPT by Apex controller. The rest of the water is added by a standard auto top off system.

Oh my thats a heck of an idea

 

[FishTruck]

Oh my thats a heck of an idea

It's a fun experiment. I only dump salt in pale every week - fiddle with the peristaltic pump delivering the kalkwasser - run the dialysis system for a certain number of minutes at a certain waste to product setting... and let the apex sort it all out.

 

[Daveobrien]

I run 100% of my ATO is through Kalk reactor. From midnight to 7am, DOS up to 5 gallons of ATO (stopped early if sump level sensor tripped) Approx 400 gallons of total system capacity, established tank, mostly SPS.

In addition, Calk Reactor is controlled by Trident measuring Alk. If Alk > 9, Ca Reactor is off. ATO/Kalk runs every day, not matter what Alk is.

 

[branbray07]

I run 100% of my ATO is through Kalk reactor. From midnight to 7am, DOS up to 5 gallons of ATO (stopped early if sump level sensor tripped) Approx 400 gallons of total system capacity, established tank, mostly SPS.

In addition, Calk Reactor is controlled by Trident measuring Alk. If Alk > 9, Ca Reactor is off. ATO/Kalk runs every day, not matter what Alk is.

Thats fire man .

 

[rknapp]

i couldn’t even imagine 2500 ml. I understand it’s relative to tank size but that’s a ton! Do you supplement with anything else or just kalk?

The system does have a CalcRX on it as well. I originally started adding dosing Kalc to my regimen 15 months ago to help keep my pH up between 8.2 and 8.3 and doing this has done that fairly successfully. It's a standard BRS Kalc mix of 2 tsp per gallon of RO water. I have a 6-gallon bucket and dose about 5 gallons per week into the system. During the cooler months, my Alk levels run between 8-9, and I noticed much better growth last year. My Calcium levels live permanently at 500+ on the Salifert test kit. I am now noticing that during the warmer summer months, when the system hangs out between 80-82 degrees, my Alk levels slowly rise to between 10-11, so I will need to watch this carefully and may need to back off some during those months. This year I also ended up with a pretty heavy hair algae outbreak due to backing off too far on some maintenance tasks, so at the moment, I am freaking out my tank a bit while dealing with that. My corals still appear mostly OK, but I suspect their current Alk uptake is slightly reduced.

 

[rknapp]

Dang . I imagine that no where near your evap right?

Depends on the time of year. I have a separate ATO reservoir run by a Tunze Osmolator. I will pull about 5-10 additional straight RO water gallons out of that each week less in spring and fall, more in winter and summer.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I to use a Recirculating CO2 Scrubber with @FishOfHex skimmer attachment, however im thinking of scrubbing outside air instead. I already ran the line outside, but been to lazy to connect since i need to build a little carbon container to get pollutants out. 8.5 8.6 that is reallllly high ph. Chris Mecley from ACI says in one of his vids, that he didn’t see a benefit to run ph above 8.3. As of now im getting about 9 days even with recirc of media

Hey man no worrys. This hobby is about learning, if your getting mad because someone is dropping some knowledge that could be beneficial to you or anyone else then this hobby aint for you.

Excellent read.

Umm what trick is that? I run my fans if i want to evap more.

You are going through scrubber media every 9 days? I’ve had mine in there for months and it hasn’t changed colors yet…

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

- Scrubber media is so expensive compared to a bucket or sack of Calcium Hydroxide.

-Tying kalk dosing to your pH has the added benefit of automatically adjusting for increased consumption; either from excess dissolved CO2 or from coral growth.

- There's no more titrating to find the sweet spot or need to make manual adjustments.

- If the circulation pump in the bucket stops working, then it just doses saturated kalk until you can get the pump working again.

- 2(3)-part has the ionic balance to contend with, raises salinity, and needs 3 dosing pumps to automate.

It was a no-brainer for me to ditch 2(3)-part and switch over to slurry and stop buying scrubber media. I went from storing reagents in 4x 5 gallon buckets to 1.

There are lots of ways to accomplish the same task here. This method works for me and happens to provide exceptional value. Something that is rare in this hobby.

Cheers,

Matt

- If the circulation pump in the bucket stops working, then it just doses saturated kalk until you can get the pump working again

So you just put a wave maker in a 5G bucket and dose then entire mixture to a high flow area of the tank? What is the benefit? What is the risk?

 

[mjcoussens]

- If the circulation pump in the bucket stops working, then it just doses saturated kalk until you can get the pump working again

So you just put a wave maker in a 5G bucket and dose then entire mixture to a high flow area of the tank? What is the benefit? What is the risk?

Correct. The benefits for me are:
-my pH never drops below 8.28.
-it is dirt cheap to implement (Calcium Hydroxide, a powerhead, and continuous duty dosing pump)
-it autocorrects and doses in line with your system's growth.
- 2 gallons of 4% slurry currently lasts me around 8 weeks.

Risks?
-I've had a couple of Calcium Hydroxide spills to clean up.
-Calcium Hydroxide powder is a respiratory irritant.
-Seeing your alk swing way up and down can be nerve-wracking. I've gone from 6.3 to 12.5 dkh with a houseful of guests, the tank doesn't skip a beat.
-Mind stories of alk spikes causing the direct loss of coral.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

- If the circulation pump in the bucket stops working, then it just doses saturated kalk until you can get the pump working again

So you just put a wave maker in a 5G bucket and dose then entire mixture to a high flow area of the tank? What is the benefit? What is the risk?

I'm not a fan of dosing a slurry for a few reasons:

1. No settling of undesirable impurities takes plae.
2. You have to assume the particles fully dissolve before precipitating calcium carbonate or landing on or getting into delicate organisms.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

-it autocorrects and doses in line with your system's growth.

How does it do that?

 

[Estonian Reefer]

I prefer continuous dosing with a doser at night time rather than having something to drip it and guess the drip rate. Dosing in my mind is safer option. Gives more control over it.

 

[Troylee]

You are going through scrubber media every 9 days? I’ve had mine in there for months and it hasn’t changed colors yet…

It’s bad if it’s been that long.. my ice cap media never changed either! I switched it after a week cause my ph had dropped significantly and it shot back up.. I bought a large bag on Amazon for half the price and it changed colors in a few short days so I gave it up and went a different route so it don’t break the bank.. lol

 

[mjcoussens]

How does it do that?

Unless I'm missing something here, if pH demands increase (the more frequently it drops below 8.28) the controller kicks on the slurry pump to compensate accordingly.

I haven't seen any ill effects from this in the last year. Others that I trust have implemented similar setups for far longer with the same results and their ICP testing hasn't raised any issues with contaminants.

It's not for everyone, but it works well for me and I'm comfortable enough with the risks to run my system this way. I have a single 5-gallon bucket for dosing this instead of 4 buckets to dose 3 Part. It certainly grows coral well.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Unless I'm missing something here, if pH demands increase (the more frequently it drops below 8.28) the controller kicks on the slurry pump to compensate accordingly.

I haven't seen any ill effects from this in the last year. Others that I trust have implemented similar setups for far longer with the same results and their ICP testing hasn't raised any issues with contaminants.

It's not for everyone, but it works well for me and I'm comfortable enough with the risks to run my system this way. I have a single 5-gallon bucket for dosing this instead of 4 buckets to dose 3 Part. It certainly grows coral well.

Cheers,

Matt

If the dosing is pH controlled, I'm not sure how that autocorrects for growth. It just corrects for pH changes, which may have nothing to do with growth.

If it was alk controlled, then obviously it would.