Kalkwasser

[Hammy1]

Also, how much would calcium rise dosing 15ml of kalkwasser in my 60l. Because the calcium is up for 475ppm to 500ppm. I use Salifert tests

 

[Garf]

My KH has always been around 8 to 10 using around 1 ml of AFR. (10 soft coral frags and 2 lps frags) 7 days ago I tested 9.9 Yesterday I tested 7.7 Today after dosing 15ml kalkwasser I tested 9.5 today. Looks like the 7.7 test was not accurate. So working it out my KH has dropped 0.4 in 7 days.??? Do you think this is the case?

Sounds realistic.

 

[Garf]

Also, how much would calcium rise dosing 15ml of kalkwasser in my 60l. Because the calcium is up for 475ppm to 500ppm. I use Salifert tests

Calcium will be used up in line with alkalinity, almost exactly. Calcium at 500 shouldn't cause issues. If you are doing waterchanges, it will trend towards whatever your new saltwater tests at.

 

[Hammy1]

Calcium will be used up in line with alkalinity, almost exactly. Calcium at 500 shouldn't cause issues. If you are doing waterchanges, it will trend towards whatever your new saltwater tests at.

I use Instant Ocean which 400ppm is stated.

 

[Garf]

I use Instant Ocean which 400ppm is stated.

Tropic Marin Classic is similar, that's what my tank is at. At least, last time I checked, lol.

 

[KStatefan]

Also, how much would calcium rise dosing 15ml of kalkwasser in my 60l. Because the calcium is up for 475ppm to 500ppm. I use Salifert tests

undetectable with hobby test kits

 

[Hammy1]

undetectable with hobby test kits

Yes I see obviously my 7.7 test results MUST have been wrong.
Thank you

 

[Hammy1]

Got a much better understanding of kalkwasser now. Thank you all for your help today

 

[Garf]

Got a much better understanding of kalkwasser now. Thank you all for your help today

 

[TWYOUNG]

20mls AFR per day was maintaining the alk of my lightly stocked 135g tank at 10 dKh. I stopped it to do Moonshiners and I'm now up to 4L kalk per day to maintain 8.0. Kalk just doesn't seem to be very potent to me. 35mls soda ash promptly raised me to 8.0 after dropping to 7.7.

 

[KStatefan]

20mls AFR per day was maintaining the alk of my lightly stocked 135g tank at 10 dKh. I stopped it to do Moonshiners and I'm now up to 4L kalk per day to maintain 8.0. Kalk just doesn't seem to be very potent to me. 35mls soda ash promptly raised me to 8.0 after dropping to 7.7.

It is not very potent compared to two part. Saturated kalk solution has a dKH of 120 where Randy's backing Soda recipe is 2660 dKH and baked baking soda is 5300dKH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have a 70 gal and dosing 720ml of kalkwasser a day and can only get up to 8.05. Im giving up hope on kallwasser

Like saying I ate an apple, and I'm still hungry so am giving up apples?

That's a low dose, the pH is close to normal, and kalkwasser alone at any attainable dose is often unable to give folks as much pH boost as they want.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Also, how much would calcium rise dosing 15ml of kalkwasser in my 60l. Because the calcium is up for 475ppm to 500ppm. I use Salifert tests

Limewater (kalkwasser) is very slightly overbalanced to too much calcium (as is AFR), and calcium will very slowly rise long term if you dose enough to maintain alkalinity against calcification.

That said, 15 mL in 60 liters is an extremely low dose and only boosts alk by less than 0.1 dKH and calcium by less than 1 ppm.

 

[Hammy1]

Limewater (kalkwasser) is very slightly overbalanced to too much calcium (as is AFR), and calcium will very slowly rise long term if you dose enough to maintain alkalinity against calcification.

That said, 15 mL in 60 liters is an extremely low dose and only boosts alk by less than 0.1 dKH and calcium by less than 1 ppm.

I have been dosing more and more all week, it's now on 160ml a day of full saturation. Still with no difference to my ph. I have now added kalkwasser to my ATO but I don't get much evaporation, so not too hopeful there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have been dosing more and more all week, it's now on 160ml a day of full saturation. Still with no difference to my ph. I have now added kalkwasser to my ATO but I don't get much evaporation, so not too hopeful there.

I'm not surprised. It takes a large amount of hydroxide to overcome aeration with high CO2 air.

 

[Hammy1]

I'm not surprised. It takes a large amount of hydroxide to overcome aeration with high CO2 air.

I am also getting the skimmer air from outside and using a co2 scrubber.

 

[KStatefan]

I have been dosing more and more all week, it's now on 160ml a day of full saturation. Still with no difference to my ph. I have now added kalkwasser to my ATO but I don't get much evaporation, so not too hopeful there.

Why dose and add to your ATO?

 

[Pntbll687]

I have been dosing more and more all week, it's now on 160ml a day of full saturation. Still with no difference to my ph. I have now added kalkwasser to my ATO but I don't get much evaporation, so not too hopeful there.

Kalk in the ATO is generally not a great idea, as evaporation can vary a good degree, and so the dosing may be different from day to day.

I'd go through the following
1. Know your alkalinity consumption for 24hr. Test your alk everyday at the same time for 3 days to figure out how much alkalinity your tank is using
2. Go here https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html , enter your system info. Use 8.0 as the starting alkalinity, and 8.0 + your 24hr consumption as your desired alk. The actual values do not matter, just that the difference from starting alk and desired alk is how much your tank consumes in a day
3. Pick "saturated limewater" as product
4. This will give you a dose that is needed for 24hrs. You can dose how you want, but spread the dose out, don't dose it all at once

You then can adjust dosage from there.

You may or may not get to the desired ph with kalkwasser, there's only so much kalk you can dose.

 

[Hammy1]

Why dose and add to your ATO?

The way I am looking at it, is it can have a steady dose of 20ml every 3 hours day and night (at the moment) and what ever the ATO puts in too

 

[Pntbll687]

What is double strength kalk and you do that a day? I just dont have a container big enough for that and I dont want an eye sore container next to my tank.

How high your pH gets?

You can add vinegar to dissolve more kalkwasser into solution.

You can also keep the kalkwasser constantly mixing in a container (with a powerhead) and add as much kalk as you want, you then dose this as a "slurry" solution.

I dose 1.3ml a minute of 2x concentrated kalkwasser (4tsp per gallon) from 8pm to 8am. You can tell the difference in the ph graph when the dosing happens, ph falls much slower than without.