Looking to step up my game

[Evan West]

Just ordered a Milwalkee PH controller, Kessil a80 Refugium light, a gal of Kalk, and a Bubble Magus Doser!

 

[Centerline]

That last guy there makes me a bit jellous lol, trach right? So your doing 2 part and kalk?

Ya, its about 10" across - Yes sir, 2 Part and kalk. As you know, you will hit a point where kalk alone doesn't cut it. I have some pretty nasty PH swings early AM so I dose kalk to straighten that out to degree and it works fairly well. But honestly I have always ran kalk because I think the tank just looks healthier with it. Maybe its the ph bump or it could be unicorn dust - I don't know but I get better polyp extension with LPS and SPS and fast coralline growth (I like coralline), the few zoa I have seem to like it as well.

I'm not sure if you covered how your planning to drip Kalk but here are a few thoughts that might be useful.

When dripping as your PH approaches say 8.3 there is a good chance that it could well hit 8.4 even if you stop at 8.3. So whatever your target is you might want to check and see if that happens with your tank. Personally I would figure out what my daytime average is and go for that. I assume you will drip as your PH starts falling and attempt to stabilize it towards your daytime average.

Using a container to drip with works fine but can be a pain if your plan is as stated above - attempting to stabilize towards daytime averages and your lows happen at 3 am.

I have owned several different kalk stirrers and generally advise purchasing a good one even if oversized if you see yourself using it long term. Personally I like the Precision Marine KR620 that I recently purchased for my tank at home best - $280. Its a big reactor and seem to be well thought out, use a pup to mix the kalk and that takes about 60 seconds. On my office tank I run a Reef Octopus KS100 that uses a stirring bar - $250. It works fine but the motor has a life expectancy of 1500 hours and because it stirs the kalk very slowly it takes about 10 - 15 min to saturate the water (ph of 12.4). It is certainly not as polished as the PM unit. I have also owned an Aqua medic 1000 - $300. As soon as I opened the box I felt a little ripped off. The stand didn't feel wide enough, a little wobbly and the whole thing felt cheep - that may have changed though.
Lastly you may want to take a look at the Two Little fishies - $85 bucks and a little grumbling on the reviews but for the price it would be pretty hard to grumble too much as it appears to do the basic job.

Hope that helps.

 

[Evan West]

Ya, its about 10" across - Yes sir, 2 Part and kalk. As you know, you will hit a point where kalk alone doesn't cut it. I have some pretty nasty PH swings early AM so I dose kalk to straighten that out to degree and it works fairly well. But honestly I have always ran kalk because I think the tank just looks healthier with it. Maybe its the ph bump or it could be unicorn dust - I don't know but I get better polyp extension with LPS and SPS and fast coralline growth (I like coralline), the few zoa I have seem to like it as well.

I'm not sure if you covered how your planning to drip Kalk but here are a few thoughts that might be useful.

When dripping as your PH approaches say 8.3 there is a good chance that it could well hit 8.4 even if you stop at 8.3. So whatever your target is you might want to check and see if that happens with your tank. Personally I would figure out what my daytime average is and go for that. I assume you will drip as your PH starts falling and attempt to stabilize it towards your daytime average.

Using a container to drip with works fine but can be a pain if your plan is as stated above - attempting to stabilize towards daytime averages and your lows happen at 3 am.

I have owned several different kalk stirrers and generally advise purchasing a good one even if oversized if you see yourself using it long term. Personally I like the Precision Marine KR620 that I recently purchased for my tank at home best - $280. Its a big reactor and seem to be well thought out, use a pup to mix the kalk and that takes about 60 seconds. On my office tank I run a Reef Octopus KS100 that uses a stirring bar - $250. It works fine but the motor has a life expectancy of 1500 hours and because it stirs the kalk very slowly it takes about 10 - 15 min to saturate the water (ph of 12.4). It is certainly not as polished as the PM unit. I have also owned an Aqua medic 1000 - $300. As soon as I opened the box I felt a little ripped off. The stand didn't feel wide enough, a little wobbly and the whole thing felt cheep - that may have changed though.
Lastly you may want to take a look at the Two Little fishies - $85 bucks and a little grumbling on the reviews but for the price it would be pretty hard to grumble too much as it appears to do the basic job.

Hope that helps.

Well for now I was just gonna stay simple, hand mix the kalk in RO watter then use the doser to dose it (I know about the whole not stirring it after thing when using this method). Go slow at first and dial in the amount I need to dose each day.

 

[Centerline]

Well for now I was just gonna stay simple, hand mix the kalk in RO watter then use the doser to dose it (I know about the whole not stirring it after thing when using this method). Go slow at first and dial in the amount I need to dose each day.

That will work fine.