Kalkwasser problem

[Lee belk]

Hi I've been using kalkwasser for 9days now and my alk and cal has dropped
I added mag kh and cal to my tank 9 days ago to bring them up to my desired target
Mag 1350
Kh 8
Cal 450 I dose 1,218 ml over 7 days 174ml a day but my readings are
Mag 1350
Kh 7.3
Cal 440 I havnt got a clue how much more to dose per day to keep them from fluctuating when I dose alk I dose it as my tank is 200 liters because of rock and sand and it seems to always be on point could someone help me out I don't fancy having to test for a week again to find how much of a drop it is with the kalkwasser switched off

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The amount you added is VERY small, even assuming it is saturated at 2 teaspoons per freshwater gallon.

You are only adding about 0.1 dKH per day.

You might need to add 10 times as much each day.

 

[Shooter6]

I have a larger system then you but as an example, I dose almost 5gal of kalkwasser a day, and 20ml of tropic marin all for reef.
Kalkwasser is a great system but you need to dose it accordingly. How much evaporation do you have per day? That is the ceiling for your ability to dose kalk. Once you hit that ceiling you will have to find an additional dosing system. Tropic Marin afr is my choice since it's cal,alk,mag +17 trace elements in one liquid. I use the powder and mix up 3gal at a time. As uptake increases in my system
, I will increase hourly doses as needed.

 

[Lee belk]

I use a doser it delivers a total of 174ml a day its fully saturated as well

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I use a doser it delivers a total of 174ml a day its fully saturated as well

Too little to make much effect.

 

[Lee belk]

I checked to see if it was actually delivering the right amount its bang on with no blockage

 

[Lee belk]

Too little to make much effect.

I used tge reef calculator after a week of testing it give me these number would I be best to double the dose

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I checked to see if it was actually delivering the right amount its bang on with no blockage

Right for what? Right at what you intended? Still way too little.

 

[nereefpat]

Randy's math, as we would expect, checks out. 170 mLs to 200 Liters would only be 0.1 dKH.

 

[Lee belk]

Right for what? Right at what you intended? Still way too little.

Sorry I was meaning I checked the dosing pump to make sure it was delivering the amount of tank washer I programed it to

 

[Lee belk]

The amount you added is VERY small, even assuming it is saturated at 2 teaspoons per freshwater gallon.

You are only adding about 0.1 dKH per day.

You might need to add 10 times as much each day.

I see i didn't read this properly kids hanging off my legs haha

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see i didn't read this properly kids hanging off my legs haha

No problem. I have a dog that sometimes snores loudly during work zoom meetings. lol

 

[MichaelReefer]

I use a doser it delivers a total of 174ml a day its fully saturated as well

Thats not much, I dose over 10 times that.

 

[Lee belk]

So I've just got tge paper out from when I was testing to see how much my tank was depleting each week
23 10 21
M 1380
Kh 8
C 450
29 10 21
M 1380
Kh 7.3
C 450 tge calculator said use kalk at 1,220ml per week I tgen did a water change got all the three back to where I wanting them and then started to add kalk

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I've just got tge paper out from when I was testing to see how much my tank was depleting each week
23 10 21
M 1380
Kh 8
C 450
29 10 21
M 1380
Kh 7.3
C 450 tge calculator said use kalk at 1,220ml per week I tgen did a water change got all the three back to where I wanting them and then started to add kalk

Just add more if you want to offset the decline. Such let it drop tests are not ideal predictors, since alk demand drops as alk drops, and the pH boost from the limewater (if any) will increase demand. A preferred method is to pick a dose, and adjust it up or down after a few days to a week based on alk measurements.

Be sure to add it to a high flow area away from organisms.

 

[Lee belk]

Just add more if you want to offset the decline. Such let it drop tests are not ideal predictors, since alk demand drops as alk drops, and the pH boost from the limewater (if any) will increase demand. A preferred method is to pick a dose, and adjust it up or down after a few days to a week based on alk measurements.

Be sure to add it to a high flow area away from organisms.

I see ill dose them back to the levels I was wanting then start to adjust the amount by how much of an increase would you start with if it was you double the amount or is that going to far with it thank you again all

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see ill dose them back to the levels I was wanting then start to adjust the amount by how much of an increase would you start with if it was you double the amount or is that going to far with it thank you again all

I'd personally double the dose you are using, then adjust again after 5-7 days based on the tank alkalinity.

 

[Shooter6]

I use a doser it delivers a total of 174ml a day its fully saturated as well

174ml is obviously not enough. As an example theres roughly 3800ml per gal and I'm dosing just under 5 gal per day 18000ml + , I use the kamoer x1 pro t. Your going to have to up your dosing quite a bit if you want to use kalk alone, or add tropic marin all for reef on a seperate doser .
There's other options like 3 part or calcium reactors you could add if you don't want to increase kalkwasser dosing for some reason

 

[nereefpat]

I'm dosing just under 5 gal per day 18000ml

That system must be several hundred gallons.

 

[Shooter6]

That system must be several hundred gallons.

Currently it's a 400g display, 300g sump,
Another 320g display is waiting to go online along with 2 50g lowboy frag tanks.

I'm using an avast marine kalk stirrer. Leaves about 1g a day for my ato to run.