Switching from Brightwell 8.3 to Kalkwasser

Cheesus · Feb 3, 2022

All,

I have been having some trouble getting alk stable with brightwell 8.3 (liquid). Would it make sense just to switch to kalkwasser? My thought was mix it up in a separate reservoir and use the dosing pump I already have to control the dosing amount.

Would the switch even make sense? Would it help with stability?

Thanks in advance!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 3, 2022

Kalkwasser or a two part is a fine plan. Neither should lead to mor or less alk stability than the other on a dosing pump.

You will need to dose a lot of kalkwasser to match a typical alk supplement, so be sure the dosing pump can pump a lot (like 1% of the tank volume daily).

Cheesus · Feb 3, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Kalkwasser or a two part is a fine plan. Neither should lead to mor or less alk stability than the other on a dosing pump.

You will need to dose a lot of kalkwasser to match a typical alk supplement, so be sure the dosing pump can pump a lot (like 1% of the tank volume daily).

It would be about a gallon a day. I don't think I even evaporate that much. That seems like it could cause an issue.

The 8.3 just doesn't seem to give me much of an alk boost. My tank has been crazy lately, demand will spike and then stop consuming for a week then start back up again.

Last night I does 5.5 mL in the tank, tested this morning and Alk dropped still.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 4, 2022

Cheesus said:
It would be about a gallon a day. I don't think I even evaporate that much. That seems like it could cause an issue.

The 8.3 just doesn't seem to give me much of an alk boost. My tank has been crazy lately, demand will spike and then stop consuming for a week then start back up again.

Last night I does 5.5 mL in the tank, tested this morning and Alk dropped still.

That is the drawback to limewater (kalkwasser). Dosing 1% of the tank volume only adds 1 dKH of alk.

There's nothing special about the Brightwell product. You can equally well use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), sodium carbonate, or other DIY chemicals .

Cheesus · Feb 4, 2022

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That is the drawback to limewater (kalkwasser). Dosing 1% of the tank volume only adds 1 dKH of alk.

There's nothing special about the Brightwell product. You can equally well use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), sodium carbonate, or other DIY chemicals .

Thank you!

Cheesus · Sep 29, 2022

Still havent made the switch, but I think I am going to go with the ATO route if that is still a recommended thing to do. Brightwell is killing me on pricing. I am dosing like 50ml a day to stay stable. My thought is kill the brightwell dosing for a week or two and see where I land with the Kalk.
My main worry is the different evaporation rates depending on the seasons.
Also worry about the effect on the SPS when I switch.

Bad idea? Decent Plan? Just looking for feedback.

Cheesus · Sep 29, 2022

I put it on a doser the doses 50 ml every 30 minutes. Its a high demand 125 so thats like .6 gallons a day. I scaled back the brightwell by 50%. Hopefully thatll let me dial it in more this week.

nereefpat · Sep 29, 2022

That's a good plan. A doser is a better plan than an ATO for kalk.

Cheesus · Sep 29, 2022

nereefpat said:
That's a good plan. A doser is a better plan than an ATO for kalk.

That was my thought.

Cheesus · Sep 30, 2022

I decided to do 25ml every 15 minutes instead of the 50ml every 30. The more consistent I can be the better right?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2022

Cheesus said:
I decided to do 25ml every 15 minutes instead of the 50ml every 30. The more consistent I can be the better right?

Nothing wrong with that.

ukgeoff · Oct 1, 2022

Due to low readings of PH 7.65 in my tank, I started dosing kalk 6 days ago and so far my parameters have followed exactly Randy's guidance on the increase in dKH.

I have a 140-litre tank and started off by dosing my kalk at 700ml and increased it yesterday to 1400ml (extra 700ml dosed at night to level out the nighttime drop in PH). This new increased dose of 1400ml is 0.1% of my tank volume and increased my alkalinity by 1Dkh, from 8.4dKH to 9.4dKH. The increase in dKH was instant - it increased as soon as the kalk was dosed and by the amount Randy mentioned.

I normally run my system at around 8.4dKH, I'm hoping to balance my PH around 8.3. My calcium has also raised about 20ppm since I started dosing kalk. From what I've researched, it seems running at 9.4dKH will be fine and once the system's balanced the corals should start using up excess dKH and calcium and I can dose 2-part if needed.