Kalkwasser Questions

dbg · Feb 16, 2015

Hi All,
I've recently decided to start dosing kalkwasser, and though I have read quite a bit about it (online articles and some articles from Randy here at R2R), I am still a bit weary on where to start! If anyone has advice/kalkwasser experience they would like to share, please do.

It seems to me that you should establish your alkalinity and calcium level using a buffer, and then use kalkwasser to maintain the levels, but I am not positive.

I plan to use a drip system to get kalk into my 55g reef, but am unsure of how to start...

zesty · Feb 16, 2015

You want to start by finding out what your current Ca/ALK is now, then test tomorrow, the day after, the day after that and then one more day. By doing that, you should see a gradual decrease in a week's time.

That will give you what your system is using. Then you can start working on how to add your Kalk. How do you plan on adding your kalk, thru top-off or reactor?

sawdonkey · Feb 16, 2015

It's pretty much as simple as you just stated. Depending on how much alk your tank is taking up, you'll have to mix the solution stronger or weaker. You'll also have to mix it stronger or weaker depending on the season if you're doing it through your ato (more evaporation in the winter). You'll want to test your all often when you first get started. A Hannah checker will be your friend.

zesty · Feb 16, 2015

One thing that I want to add is if you are running a higher alk, make sure your NSW for water changes matches what your tank is. The same going in as the same coming out!

heathd.hd · Feb 16, 2015

I've been using kalk for 2 months. I started by mixing 1 tbls per gallon in my Rodi top off water. I also seen the opportunity to start vinegar dosing in the process. So I went 5 tbls and 1/3 cup vinegar in 5 gallons of top off water. I Than tested daily to see if my tank held my peramiters. I was a little short on keeping my alk up where I wanted it so I would manually dose it back up above 9 and next time I mixed my kalk water I added 1 more tbls. Until my tank stayed happy. I know there's calculators and Yada Yada but I just shot from the hip and kept testing.

DFW · Feb 16, 2015

Get the levels where you want them by using the alkalinity, and calcium products of your choosing! Then approximate your initial dosing of lime water by how much of the other products you were using to maintain your tank's requirements! You can use an online dosing calculator. I use the one by JDieck. You only need to test for alkalinity with lime water dosing. If you go over, or under according to your testing, dose less, or more the next day. Do this until you have found the sweet spot that maintains parameters! It will get to where you might only test every few weeks when things are smoothing out. Use a siphon drip jug! Mix up your nightly dose a couple of hours, or more before you start the drip so that the particles can settle to bottom of jug, and so not be added to tank! Check drip jug in morning to make sure that all has finished dripping! Make marks on drip jug showing 1/4 gallon increments, or ounces if using smaller container. If test indicates dosing 1 gallon saturated solution, add 2 teaspoons lime to 1 gallon ro/di water, and shake for a couple of minutes to dissolve. These marks will make it easy to change amount dosed as needed. Just multiply the gallons by 2 to get number of teaspoons lime used! 1/2 gallon of saturated lime water needs 1 teaspoon lime - 1/2 X 2 = 1. Keep up with magnesium! Magnesium can be used up more quickly using lime water than with other dosing products. It's a waste of time to dose lime water, or any other calcium, and alaklinity products if you don't maintain magnesium levels!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 17, 2015

Are you going to use it in an ATO or some other method?

dbg · Feb 18, 2015

Thanks so much for the info, everyone-- that definitely will help me out a lot! I plan on using the drip method with a 2.5g bucket suspended above my sump tank for now; however, I would like to eventually upgrade to having a reservoir connected to an ATO. I read on melevsreef though, that if your reservoir and sump are right next to each other, and your reservoir water line is higher than your sump water line, that your reservoir will empy until the two tanks have equal water levels. This poses a problem for me, as I do not have much space under my stand for a wide, short reservoir next to my sump; in order for me to have an ATO reservoir, I would have to have a narrow and tall reservoir, and this would obviously have a higher water line than my sump would...

dbg · Feb 18, 2015

not a whole lot of space to the right of the sump for a reservoir, unless it is tall and narrow.. a 5 gal bucket fits there, just to give an idea of the dimensions of that space.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 18, 2015

dbg said:
Thanks so much for the info, everyone-- that definitely will help me out a lot! I plan on using the drip method with a 2.5g bucket suspended above my sump tank for now; however, I would like to eventually upgrade to having a reservoir connected to an ATO. I read on melevsreef though, that if your reservoir and sump are right next to each other, and your reservoir water line is higher than your sump water line, that your reservoir will empy until the two tanks have equal water levels. This poses a problem for me, as I do not have much space under my stand for a wide, short reservoir next to my sump; in order for me to have an ATO reservoir, I would have to have a narrow and tall reservoir, and this would obviously have a higher water line than my sump would...

Depends on the pump type, but it is generally best to not allow that. The drip end of the limewater should be above the sump water line, and could be well above it to solve that issue. It could drop several feet through air, or at least from the ceiling of the cabinet.

dbg · Feb 20, 2015

Great, thanks Randy. So, I think I will use a drip bucket w/ siphon and then order a valve to control the drip rate, an alk and ca product (to set the initial levels of each), alk/ca test kits, kalwasser, and a magnesium supplement.

Does that sound about right?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 20, 2015

Sounds good. You may find that you do not need much calcium and alk other than the limewater unless you have a lot of SPS. Magnesium may also not be needed since some salt mixes start with so much.