Thinking KALK to start what's your opinion?

[Epic Aquaculture]

I use Kalk Reactor + Calcium Reactor together

That's my plan once my Alk uptake is too much for just my Kalk reactor... which I hope is soon

 

[mrtian97]

I use both Kalk in my ATO and also dose 2 parts. I have Redsea Reefer 350 with lots of SPS colonies. I have to dose about 250mL of Ca daily and about 210mL of Soda Ash solution

 

[twreefer]

I dump kalk in my ATO every time I add water. Turn on a pump which stirs for a couple of hours then automatically turns off to let effluent settle so less is pulled in to my sump. My ATO is nasty. My sump return area gets kalk floating in it. I don't like it, but I keep doing it. It's been the best pH fix for my tank, but I don't keep too many corals, so check Ca irregularly. I need an easier hobby! :-D

 

[Reefcowboy]

Lots of times calcified sand could mean low Mg. A Kalk reactor in theory is nice and for many the only solution to a low Ph(calcium reactor users).

My issue with is it it requires lots of maintenance and attention. Not to mention it is hands down the biggest threat to killing everything in your tank in one shot, if Murphys Law decides to get even with you someday.

If you have to do it, by all means get a reactor hooked to your ATO.

 

[rossco]

I would like to hear what you think is best, why and what are you using please!

I posted this in a different thread a while back, might give you a visual idea. Rather than dripping Kalk like I did before I would definitely go with a Kalk reactor, and then add the Calcium Reactor when you can’t keep up with Kalk alone. For what it’s worth, I am running a Geo KR618 Kalk Reactor along with a Geo CR818 now.

“Back in 2008 with my 75 gallon, dripping saturated Kalk 24/7 to replace evaporation took me from this:

To this, in one year. By this time I had to supplement the Kalk with extra alkalinity and calcium and changed to a Geo 618 calcium reactor.”

 

[mknightryder]

I use a combination of kalk and BRS 2-parts in my well stocked 150g. They key to kalk is dosing a set amount of Limewater a day. Trying to let an ato handle this task will have your head spinning and numbers bouncing around a bit..I used to fight it, but because of different evaporation rates and other factors the ato method was not as accurate as I wanted.
I picked up an Avast Marine K1 stirrer and their 25ml Avast Marine peralstaltic dosing pump. The pump never touches any limewater so it last longer than if it were having to dose the satuarated kalk solution... My tank gets 3800 mls of limewater dosed through out the day. I catch the remaining slack that the kalk doesnt get with BRS sodium bicarbonate and calcium chloride. Dosing pump is dosing 140mls daily of Sodium Bicarbonate to keep my alk steady... If testing shows an increase or decrease in alkalinity then I just adjust my Sodium Bicarbonate dosing accordingly.. once a month in rinse out the kalk stirrer and add 2 cups of fresh kalkwasser. I could probably stretch it to 5 or 6 weeks, but I dont push the issue.. I do see Alk fall a little towards end of month when the 2 cups is close to being exhausted...
My tank usually evaporates around 4,600 mls a day, so dosing 3,800 mls of limewater is under that. My Tunze ato catches the remaining ato slack through out day to keep salinity and water level stable. This method has been the only kalk method that I've tried that kept parameters dead on and doesn't cause premature wear n tear on pumps either... Once you get it figured out it's pretty easy to maintain and know what other params will do if more or less is added.. My pH stays between 7.90 and 8.1 max... Hard to believe that it's on the lower end of scale with all that limewater being dosed through our day... HTH

 

[Stigigemla]

I believe 2 part and a log is the way to go. The log is important because with that You can loook back to see what You have added. It is so easy to forget - at least for me.
There are some nice logs You can download for Your handy.
Start a new thread asking which Handy log book is best. (Personally I have too thick and dry fingers for a handy)

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Kalk stirrer with a dosing pump or slow feed ato pump. Along with a calcium reactor. I use an Aquamedic KS 1000 stirrer and set the controller on the Tunze ato to nano so it reduces head pressure. Keeps your ato tank clean and when kalk gets low you just add another cup of powder to the stirrer. Since the stirrer is closed to the air you don't get the crust like you do when you add to top off water. You just need to make sure when doing maintenace that you shut it off or you might get a shot of pure kalk powder. I use Vertex calcium reactor which I have good luck with. My parameter stay consistant, but I recently lost interest for a while and ran out of co2, wave pumps were not working ect. you know letting a tank go for over 9 months except for adding to top off water. So now back on track.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Lots of times calcified sand could mean low Mg. A Kalk reactor in theory is nice and for many the only solution to a low Ph(calcium reactor users).

My issue with is it it requires lots of maintenance and attention. Not to mention it is hands down the biggest threat to killing everything in your tank in one shot, if Murphys Law decides to get even with you someday.

If you have to do it, by all means get a reactor hooked to your ATO.

My Kalk reactor requires very little maintenance. I just add more Kalk every few weeks, and clean it out on a quarterly basis. If you use a peristaltic pump to feed it, there's very little chance of failure. I would say there are many other things that are a much bigger threat to a tank than a properly set up Kalk reactor.

 

[rossco]

I would say there are many other things that are a much bigger threat to a tank than a properly set up Kalk reactor.

I agree. A controller will greatly minimize the risk as well. I had one failure with my ATO, and it wasn’t the ATO’s issue.

My overflow got partially blocked which raised the water level in the tank, which lowered the level in the sump. Then the ATO tried to fill the tank, but I have my ATO programmed to shut off via Apex at a tank PH of 8.15, which is .05 higher than the tank naturally hits during the day. Crisis averted.

 

[SteadyC]

I’ve used Kalk for going on 5 years, in my ATO, in separate container than main ATO, and now stirrer. No doubt, the skirrer is best. I run mine on a constant schedule, using BRS 51ml / min pump. So, not based on evap rate, but calculated to where it doesn’t add too much. Been on this schedule for about 2 years, working great. I do have to dose an additional 8ml of carbonate per day as kalk doesn’t keep up with alk alone, but does maintain calcium alone.

 

[Paul B]

One of the times my tank looked really lousy was when I dosed Kalk. I dosed for a few months and threw it out.

I use two part which I buy and mix myself. It cost less then $20 bucks a year.

 

[Bob Lauson]

I use a home made Kalkwasser Stirrer/storage tank that holds about 5 gallons of the mixture. I use the pH probes (two for redundancy) to drip it in with the peristaltic pump. The mixture is supersaturated and I have the stirrer programmed to come on 30 seconds prior to the pump starting. The result is a very concentrated mix of Kalk going in the tank so I don't run into issues of having to added so much that it over runs the top off water. The system has worked great for me for years. About every 4 to 6 weeks I added about 1 to 1.5 cups of kalk to the tank. I know its no that conventional but I can control the alkalinity to around 8 dkh by holding the pH to 8.25 to 8.35.

 

[gtrider]

i'm not doing either.

My tank is 6mo old and i have ~10 mixed SPS (mostly monti and acro) frags and 6 or so mixed LPS. Weekly water changes have been keeping my CAL~ 425 and ALK ~ 9.3 DkH, so i'm not at the point where i need to supplement.

I have been documenting the day, time and measurements of water changes, ALK and CAL over the past 6mo period.

My plan is to calculate loss over a specific period of time and use the calculator on BRS to figure out how much 2-part to dose.

I'm not sure this is the correct approach but it seemed good to me lol

Happy Friday!

 

[Ferrell]

I started out with kalkwasser in ato and got wild swings seasonally and could not maintain stable Alk, not to mention a myriad of pump malfunctions, sensor crud etc. sooooo I began dosing it with a doser around the clock and now supplement with 2 part as required. Much better method and less maintenance. Kalk for sure with all the ph benefits and it’s easy depending on your load

 

[Nano sapiens]

One of the times my tank looked really lousy was when I dosed Kalk. I dosed for a few months and threw it out.

I use two part which I buy and mix myself. It cost less then $20 bucks a year.

That is very unusual as most report success with Kalkwasser (especially if the tank runs a naturally low pH). But, as we know, each tank is unique.

 

[Adam G]

Interesting reading through all of the different techniques you all are using. I have been using BRS 2 part for the past 8 years or so. I do struggle a bit with low PH so have long considered a Kalk stirrer.

My hesitation has been concerns with calcified equipment. From what I have gathered here in this discussion folks are having success with 2 part and a Kalk stirrer with just enough Kalk dosing to mange PH and then the rest with 2 part.

I like the idea of light Kalk dosing and then managing with 2 part. I may give that a try on my new build,

 

[shred5]

Kalk is nice if you run low PH. It can also be good if your other methods can not keep up but other that that I wouldn't.

It messy, pain to dose and can nuke a tank if something goes wrong.

I use it on my downstairs system because of lower ph.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Kalk is nice if you run low PH. It can also be good if your other methods can not keep up but other that that I wouldn't.

It messy, pain to dose and can nuke a tank if something goes wrong.

I use it on my downstairs system because of lower ph.

My PH never gets above around 7.6! So kalk could actually be good. That being said my sps are doing really well without it currently but growth is ramping up!

 

[jda]

Kalk can be great if you are good with the details. It can be bad if you are not. It can have the same effect on your tank in an overdose as Muratic Acid can - in the opposite direction.

If you really want to be safe, then you need 2 ways to measure pH, or even three... never trust just one pH probe when using kalk.

It can be a good idea to keep a bit of Muratic Acid around in case of an overdose... you do not need much, but it can lower alk and ph in a jiffy if you are in big trouble. This is a "break the glass in case of emergency" type of deal if you come home and your tank has a pH of 8.8, or something.

If you stay good at growing those acropora, then kalk might not keep up long term - I would have to dose about 5x what I can evaporate in a day and I am not a fan of doing unsettled kalk since the impurities do not settle out.