Kalkwasser guidance please

[scrappy35]

I am getting ready to start dosing soon and think I would like to use calc ( demands are low at the moment). I just switched my 75 out for a 120 and my ph runs 7.95 to 8.1. working on my tracking for alk and calcium usage now.
Question: I have a kamoer x1 pump and want to know the best way to mix and dose. I have read what I could find, but feel I am still missing a piece of the puzzle.
How do you mix and dose saturated kalk? Will my pump work?
thanks
shane

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I am getting ready to start dosing soon and think I would like to use calc ( demands are low at the moment). I just switched my 75 out for a 120 and my ph runs 7.95 to 8.1. working on my tracking for alk and calcium usage now.
Question: I have a kamoer x1 pump and want to know the best way to mix and dose. I have read what I could find, but feel I am still missing a piece of the puzzle.
How do you mix and dose saturated kalk? Will my pump work?
thanks
shane

Kalk Stirrer from Avast Marine. You can do a do it yourself with a magnetic stirrer if you want. The trick is that you have to keep the Kalk in suspension. So you have to stir up from time to time. The old 'in the ATO' really doesnt work anymore.

Kalk Stirrer

The motor driven design of our stirrer gently mixes your calcium hydroxide 24 hours a day. This ensures that you are always dosing the freshest possible kalkwasser to your system. Since the undissolved particles are always kept at the bottom and the clear liquid is always at the top, this is the...

www.avastmarine.com

 

[scrappy35]

Just looked at the link and like the idea, but I’m still missing something: would I use my dosing pump to pump ro water in, then let it drain into a high flow area of the sump? How much kalk do you use to mix a batch and keep it saturated?

 

[Illini_Drew33]

Kalk Stirrer from Avast Marine. You can do a do it yourself with a magnetic stirrer if you want. The trick is that you have to keep the Kalk in suspension. So you have to stir up from time to time. The old 'in the ATO' really doesnt work anymore.

Kalk Stirrer

The motor driven design of our stirrer gently mixes your calcium hydroxide 24 hours a day. This ensures that you are always dosing the freshest possible kalkwasser to your system. Since the undissolved particles are always kept at the bottom and the clear liquid is always at the top, this is the...

www.avastmarine.com

Agreed love the avast kalk stirrer. I use a doser with my stirrer and test to understand my usage bc every tank is different. I'm doing about 3000 ml per day at the moment in my 180 and I supplement with 2 part to keep the levels of Calc and alk at 8.5 and 425.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Agreed love the avast kalk stirrer. I use a doser and test to understand my usage bc every tank is different. I'm doing about 3000 ml per day at the moment in my 180 and I supplement with 2 part to keep the levels of Calc and alk at 8.5 and 425.

I have a very low dosage right now. I am only dosing about 800 ML. And I am actually using my Kamoer to do the dosing. Outstanding and easy set up. Once you get dialed in...Ron Popeil it....set it and forget it!!

 

[FishyFishFish]

I am not an expert in this but I understand that the first question to know the answer to is how much Kalk you want to add and how much room you have available. I don't have a big demand and I'm adding about 12oz of solution per week to my 13g Nano. If you have similar demands in a 120g tank then you would be looking at almost 10 times that (i.e. 0.75 usg a week). That can go up significantly if you have a high demand. So, the first question is 'how much fluid can you add to your tank before it overflows?'

The second question is how much space do you have for a reservoir and how often will you replace it?

The third question is how much can your dosing pump supply, without wearing out/failing?

If you have loads of space and/or can replace it regularly then you don't need the stirrer in the link above. You can just mix up your solution, keep it in a container, and dose it. The reason the ATO method is sub-optimal is because the amount dosed is a bit unpredictable, as it depends on how much evaporation there is, and it wears out the ATO pump.

The stirrer linked above is useful if you have a lack of space or can't replace the kalk solution often enough. You have a heap of Kalk at the bottom and feed water through the top. The stirrer keeps that solution mixed and saturated, as you are constantly adding new water (which is why it doesn't need to be stirred if using a simple container).

I just use a container and a dosing pump (no stirrer).

 

[RobB'z Reef]

If you're just starting out with it keep it simple, until you're comfortable and committed to the process before investing too heavily into it. Any container will do. First and most important thing, know your daily alkalinity consumption. Second, know your approximate evaporation volume. You can't exceed that in your kalk dosage. It's unlikely you will if you have a tank with low demand but it's worth mentioning. Set your doser to drip it in over the course of the day, or just the evening to help with dirunal pH drop. There are calculators out there to tell you how much to dose based on your tanks daily consumption. You can mix up as large or small a batch as you like based on your setup constraints or personal preference. Larger volume equals less maintenance frequency. It won't fall out of solution so don't worry about that.

Mix two teaspoons approximately or to be more precise 1.73g/L is the max that will go into solution at 25 degrees Celsius. Just dump it in and stir it. Some may settle out to the bottom, that's fine just leave it there. Keep your draw tube just above the level of the bottom so you don't draw that up.

The Kamoer pumps are a bit limited in there control and while you can control dose rate in continuous mode is unlikely a continuous slow dose rate at a low consumption will work out. Even at 1ml/min that's a gallon a day. You also don't want to dose overly fast either as you could experience localized abiotic precipitation. A simple smart power switch could be configured to limit dosing times. Overall it's a pretty simple and safe way to replace calcium and alkalinity in your tank

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

If you're just starting out with it keep it simple, until you're comfortable and committed to the process before investing too heavily into it. Any container will do. First and most important thing, know your daily alkalinity consumption. Second, know your approximate evaporation volume. You can't exceed that in your kalk dosage. It's unlikely you will if you have a tank with low demand but it's worth mentioning. Set your doser to drip it in over the course of the day, or just the evening to help with dirunal pH drop. There are calculators out there to tell you how much to dose based on your tanks daily consumption. You can mix up as large or small a batch as you like based on your setup constraints or personal preference. Larger volume equals less maintenance frequency. It won't fall out of solution so don't worry about that.

Mix two teaspoons approximately or to be more precise 1.73g/L is the max that will go into solution at 25 degrees Celsius. Just dump it in and stir it. Some may settle out to the bottom, that's fine just leave it there. Keep your draw tube just above the level of the bottom so you don't draw that up.

The Kamoer pumps are a bit limited in there control and while you can control dose rate in continuous mode is unlikely a continuous slow dose rate at a low consumption will work out. Even at 1ml/min that's a gallon a day. You also don't want to dose overly fast either as you could experience localized abiotic precipitation. A simple smart power switch could be configured to limit dosing times. Overall it's a pretty simple and safe way to replace calcium and alkalinity in your tank

I am actually switching over the the 1ml a minute kamoer FX doser...problem is that at 1ML a minute..it is more than the consumption of my tank right now..so gotta wait for the consumption to move up until I get into the continuous dosing.

 

[scrappy35]

Ok let me see if I have this straight, thanks for the patience! I loose about a gallon or so a day to evaporation. I can easily fit a 1 gallon container in my stand ( 2 actually). Put 2 tsps in the gallon, calculate my needs, set pump to deliver small amounts at several intervals dosed into my return area of sump. Dose that about cover it. Currently needing .2 Alk a day. Still testing for the week though.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I am actually switching over the the 1ml a minute kamoer FX doser...problem is that at 1ML a minute..it is more than the consumption of my tank right now..so gotta wait for the consumption to move up until I get into the continuous dosing.

That's why I mentioned you'll need a timer to control the dosing period. In general my opinion of Kamoer pumps is really low for applications outside of continuous dosing or for alkalinity replacement due to my experience that you cannot control dose rate on a scheduled plan. It's a really big gap IMO, which is really sad because the pumps themselves are outstanding for their price.

 

[Buffalou]

Avast Kalk stirrer has been working flawlessly for me!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Ok let me see if I have this straight, thanks for the patience! I loose about a gallon or so a day to evaporation. I can easily fit a 1 gallon container in my stand ( 2 actually). Put 2 tsps in the gallon, calculate my needs, set pump to deliver small amounts at several intervals dosed into my return area of sump. Dose that about cover it. Currently needing .2 Alk a day. Still testing for the week though.

You got it. The basic formula I go by for replenishment is adding 1.25% of your total system volume of saturated kalk will add 1.4 dKH of alkalinity. So for example, if your system volume is 100 gallons at .2dKH consumption/day you'd add .25 gallons or 946ml of saturated kalk.

 

[ectoaesthetics]

You got it. Pump would pump RO into the kalk reactor. They are suuuper easy and cheap to make. A circular OXO container and a conversion kit from BRS. To keep them saturated I highly recommend just sitting it on a $30 mag bar stirrer and putting that stirrer on a timer to run for a min 2x a day. Key here is to put a piece of glass on the bottom of the OXO container. Otherwise the stirrer will eventually eat through the plastic! Way cheaper than anything commercial and works a lot better IME.

I use more kalk than needed it just sits at the bottom until there is less in solution then eventually dissolved into the container keeping it potent.

 

[scrappy35]

Ecto got a pic of your setup?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, dosing from a settled reservoir is often a better choice.

Many folks think they are getting saturated limewater from a reactor, but when they measure it they find they are not. I suspect some manufacturers do not even know the problem with their devices.

 

[Seymo44]

IMO, dosing from a settled reservoir is often a better choice.

Many folks think they are getting saturated limewater from a reactor, but when they measure it they find they are not. I suspect some manufacturers do not even know the problem with their devices.

I’ve been wondering about this very thing. If the Kalk settles out, wouldn’t that mean that the mixture is at its max saturation point? Meaning whether continually stirred or not, the solution has a certain capacity for Kalk.

Please correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[MnFish1]

I am getting ready to start dosing soon and think I would like to use calc ( demands are low at the moment). I just switched my 75 out for a 120 and my ph runs 7.95 to 8.1. working on my tracking for alk and calcium usage now.
Question: I have a kamoer x1 pump and want to know the best way to mix and dose. I have read what I could find, but feel I am still missing a piece of the puzzle.
How do you mix and dose saturated kalk? Will my pump work?
thanks
shane

There are a lot of reports that trying to use a dose for Kalk is problematic. People mostly - just use Kalkwasser for their ATO solution. If you need more - you can always add more