I have raised my Kalk to2 teaspoons per gallon and alk is still dropping after 1 1/2 more weeks. Does this mean Kalk isn’t for me and my tank?
2 teaspoons per gallon is the maximum solubility of kalk in water, but to keep the solution saturated, there should always be some undissolved kalk on the bottom of the container.
If your evaporation rate is low and you have a fair amount of stony corals, kalk in top off water likely won't do the job alone.
You could always look at a kalk reactor.i have never used one, but on came with my new to me set up- I plan on connecting and dosing from my apex for more precise dosing, but they can run via ATO pump and always have saturated limewater. You set them to mix the kalk that settles out to the bottom.
This is exactly what I did. I tried putting kalk right in the ATO reservoir at first. This becomes really messy really fast, with calcium carbonate forming a crust on the water surface, then collapsing and floating down toward the bottom. I also had concerns about premature pump failure and clogging of the anti-siphon valve, either of which would be bad news.
So I got the TLF KW300 kalk reactor. It has no electrical stirrer; it stirs whenever water is being pumped through it, keeping the solution saturated. I hooked it up to my Apex and ATK. It doses kalk for 10 seconds every 30 minutes, which is slightly higher than my evaporation rate, with limits set by the ATK optical sensors. I also put a solenoid in the line to act as protection against a pump malfunction or siphon.
Yeah but I don’t see the point in using Kalk if I’m gonna have to dose 2 part also. My ph hasn’t really changed since dosing Kalk.
You know, I really expected my pH to rise when I started dosing kalk too. And it did, briefly, but then came back down to the previous range. It has allowed me to cut back on my two part use somewhat, but I was really hoping to see some persistent pH rise as well. ;Meh
