Kalkwasser

[townjas]

When using kalk you are saturating the water with the lime, so you really don't need to measure. When I fill my ATO I add some lime to the ATO tank pour some RO into my sump so that my ATO will not kick on for a few hours and then dump RO into the ATO tank. This mixes the lime and water and gives time for the solids to settle out.

 

[cmcoker]

When using kalk you are saturating the water with the lime, so you really don't need to measure. When I fill my ATO I add some lime to the ATO tank pour some RO into my sump so that my ATO will not kick on for a few hours and then dump RO into the ATO tank. This mixes the lime and water and gives time for the solids to settle out.

If you are using a saturated solution, you are correct...

But, you can use a lower concentration solution if tank alkalinity demand allows. Measuring is then useful to allow some control of alk levels.

 

[john.m.cole3]

So, I have a total system volume of about 80 gallons. 10 pieces of monti (one is pretty big), 7 SPS frags, about 15 LPS (3 small colonies 1 large) and about 4 soft corals. I use aquaforest salt that mixes to 7.7 kh for this batch and i use 1/2 teaspoon per gallon through my tunze 3155 ATO. I measure 4 gallons of water, add 2 teaspoons of kalk, stir for 30 seconds, then siphon water to my 10 gal ATO reservoir. I don't keep an air tight cover on it but it's a cover none the less. This keeps my alk at 8.3. If it strays from that I test and usually dose mag. My calc also stays around 440. I'm happy. My alk went up yo 9.9 b/c i started adding 1 tsp/gal... I could see the negative change in my corals , so I dialed it back to 1/2 tsp/gal. I enjoy dialing things in and letting them run. Try to test more and change dosage amounts less

 

[alten78]

When using kalk you are saturating the water with the lime, so you really don't need to measure. When I fill my ATO I add some lime to the ATO tank pour some RO into my sump so that my ATO will not kick on for a few hours and then dump RO into the ATO tank. This mixes the lime and water and gives time for the solids to settle out.

I do it along the same lines since im at that saturation level, dump about 1/2-3/4 cup into the 5g ATO bucket. It will last a few rounds of just adding more water to the bucket before I need to add more powder.

On a side note, how caustic is this stuff? I've been using it for a few years and never paid much attention until I read the label not long ago. I guess I never really noticed the powdery yet faint cloud after adding it to the bucket in the stand which sits in the living room. My littlest one (14 mo) likes to "help" with everything and is right on your hip so I stopped mixing it until I was alone and even then I try to be careful not to let it go airborne which is easy to do!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do it along the same lines since im at that saturation level, dump about 1/2-3/4 cup into the 5g ATO bucket. It will last a few rounds of just adding more water to the bucket before I need to add more powder.

On a side note, how caustic is this stuff? I've been using it for a few years and never paid much attention until I read the label not long ago. I guess I never really noticed the powdery yet faint cloud after adding it to the bucket in the stand which sits in the living room. My littlest one (14 mo) likes to "help" with everything and is right on your hip so I stopped mixing it until I was alone and even then I try to be careful not to let it go airborne which is easy to do!

I would avoid breathing the dust. It is irritating.