Kalkwasser question?? help please.

jaguars4263 · Sep 1, 2012

I am just starting to dose my reef tank with kalkwasser.I bought a 2 1/2 gallon kent marine jug that has a UV type drip line.How should i drip it about 1 drop a second?Or a couple drops a second?Also is it ok to let it drip all day and night? Im going to keep testing the water to make sure things dont go out of control.Any help will work with this:wink:

Thanks Don

Loki · Sep 1, 2012

The best way would be to mix it up and put it in an auto top off. If you dont have one then I would drip it very very slowly. It can very quickly do more damage than good. You can drip it constantly and that should be fine.

OurReef · Sep 1, 2012

Depends, are you going to use it to top off your water or just help. If you want it to top off you need to match evaporation if it's just to supplement a drop every 3-5 seconds should work. It's really something you need to play with until you find the magic spot for you though.

jaguars4263 · Sep 1, 2012

No its not going though an ATO.

jaguars4263 · Sep 1, 2012

I dont have an ATO yet thats the next thing on the list. I top off my water by hand everyday.So would a steady drip be bad??

Loki2902 said:
The best way would be to mix it up and put it in an auto top off. If you dont have one then I would drip it very very slowly. It can very quickly do more damage than good. You can drip it constantly and that should be fine.

Loki · Sep 1, 2012

I would add it slowly. It is best when added to match evaporation rate which is slow. If you can get it to drop once every several seconds it will be a lot safer than once a second. I really think once per second would be to much kalk. But everything depends on your system if you are able to watch your ph and make sure it doesn't spike up when adding a dose of kalk you should be fine. I would start it and then in about an hour test to make sure your ph hasn't gone up more than .01. If it did go up more than that it would be a really good idea to slow the drip down.

Kalk is very a high base somewhere around 12 if I remember correctly. With a large fluctuation in ph in a short amount of time it could do damage to your tank. As long as you keep an eye on that you will be fine

jaguars4263 · Sep 1, 2012

Thanks for the help:bigsmile: So its fine to let it drip day and night??

Loki2902 said:
I would add it slowly. It is best when added to match evaporation rate which is slow. If you can get it to drop once every several seconds it will be a lot safer than once a second. I really think once per second would be to much kalk. But everything depends on your system if you are able to watch your ph and make sure it doesn't spike up when adding a dose of kalk you should be fine. I would start it and then in about an hour test to make sure your ph hasn't gone up more than .01. If it did go up more than that it would be a really good idea to slow the drip down.

Kalk is very a high base somewhere around 12 if I remember correctly. With a large fluctuation in ph in a short amount of time it could do damage to your tank. As long as you keep an eye on that you will be fine

Loki · Sep 1, 2012

Yes day and night. Depending on how you mix it up it may clog whatever tubing you have. Just make sure to keep the line as clean as possible.

jbannick18 · Sep 1, 2012

It's been awhile since I've read the exact numbers.

But topping off 1% of your tanks evaporation with kalk at full 2tsp/gallon (full saturation) will add 7ppm calcium and 1.2dkh of alkalinity.

In my experience, in which I had great results with kalk over a year period is to treat it just like part a and b. Use it as ATO in a still reservoir so that you are able to control exactly how much gets dosed instead of guessing on dripping. You also want to spread out your dose so that you do not spike your PH.

kmaintl · Sep 1, 2012

yep, don't dose too much at once as it can cause a wipepout if it's way too much. Underdosing is better than overdosing.

OurReef · Sep 2, 2012

I have mine set up with my auto top off on my display and on my frag I have it set to about 1 drop every 3 seconds or so to combat evap. No spikes in either tank.