Scary Kalkwasser/ATO incident

[moreef]

I just installed avast marine k1 kalk stirrer inline with my Tunze osmolator on my Nuvo 16g tank and my pH jumped from 7.25 to 8.6 in matter of 15mins. I only have a pair of clowns and cleaner shrimp along with a couple snails and hope they all live to see the morning. I immediately added vinegar once I noticed the Apex display reading 8.5 and climbing, ouch. I was worried about adding the kalk stirrer with the ato, but it seems this is what most people have. I only added 1/4 cup of kalk and figured my tank already runs around 7.8-8.0 and wanted it closer to 8.2 but that was crazy. I thought about dripping slowly at night a few times to stabilize pH but would rather use with ato and skip the added pump. Any ideas on how I can safely do this? I have heard about adding vinegar to the kalk stirrer, but how much and should I use another pH probe in stirrer to control it with the Apex? Please any advice is much appreciated. Eric

 

[cdness]

Just use electronic valves that open and close based on your PH... Single pump goes to splitter (T). on each line out of the splitter (T) you install an inline valve. After the valves, one line goes to the stirrer and the other goes to the sump. This way if the PH is high, it will just open the bypass valve. When it is low, the ATO will go through the kalk stirrer and increase the PH.

Clear as mud?

 

[Tecdiverfl]

that is a really small tank to us a stirrer on. Even adding a small amount of kalk topoff to a tank that size will cause a huge jump in PH

 

[RacinRevo0818]

Yes dosing kalk with a kalk stirrer on 16g might be a bit much. Tunze doesn't warranty the pump if you run the pump in kalk but there only like $20. If it was me I would just add the kalk to my top off water. I would also start with no more then 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons and then monitor the Ph change when pump activates. You will see a rise of Ph for a moment but don't overreact to quick. I would give it about 5 to 10 min to circulate in your tank. I've been running kalk thru my tunze for over a year without a problem. Just elevate pump slightly so your not sucking the kalk off bottom of container. Some peoples tanks run perfectly fine with the Ph of 7.8 or even lower so don't worry to much if everything is happy. Most people who end up chasing there Ph seem to do more damage then good. Try using your Ph as a monitor of your system instead of something to adjust. If it is always 7.8 and suddenly goes to 7.5 try and find the problem then.

 

[mcarroll]

That's a huge load of kalk for a small, low/no demand tank. Did that stirrer come with no loading guidelines?

I'm a fan of Tunze's 5074 kalk dispenser - which does come with guidelines - and you probably need no more than a teaspoon in there. Maybe even less.

Also, if you search for "reef calculator" and use that, it can help you select the correct dose of lime too. You will need a current alk test result to plug in.

Good luck!

-Matt