trying kalkwasser for the first time

[bigkai]

well i bought some brightwell kalk +2 last night i mixed 1 gallon with 1tps and im going to let it sit till the lights go off tonight and do a slow gravity feed over the night. so is their any add vice how slow should i drip it in the sump. is their any thang i should watch out for? couse i have never tryed using kalk before

 

[milkman]

You do not want the solids that settle to the bottom of your container to be dripped into your sump. Just be sure your drip is set correctly so you don't dose to quickly. The idea with Kalk is just to replace your evaporated water each day.

 

[bigkai]

im slowly driping kalk now i was just wanting to know how slow do yall drip kalk? for those of you that are not using a reactor. couse i do not want to dose to much at one time and i have to add 1 gallon of water for evaporation a day. so i made a 1 gallon mix and adding it buy it self. right now its set to about 2 drops a minute. i tested the water monday night and it was. CAL 480. ALK 12. PH 8.4 im not sure yet if it is hold their from the water change or the kalk lol. but i going to test tonight and see how much it has changed in 3 days.

 

[mobatic]

Kalkwasser is the best thing that happened to reefing, next to skimmers!

 

[reefcandy]

I use Kalk now but I still need to add a/b part for the day and night to keep it up. I don't know did everyone do the same. kalk is good but only good for lps and soft corals or maybe few of the sps if your tank is all sps kalk I will help but still need a/b part.

 

[florida reef]

Kalkwasser is the best thing that happened to reefing, next to skimmers!

Agreed. I started a while back and things have never been so colorful or fast growing. The only problem I had was I think I was mixing it too strong bc my calcium and mag was extremely high.

 

[FaviaFreak]

when I started topping off with kalk that's when my stony coral growth really took off..I agree kalk is a genius reefing tool

 

[bigkai]

just test water in my tank its now at CAL 420. ALK 10. PH 8.2. i turned the drip up to 8 drops a minute. i just dont want to have a PH spike. is it ok to drip kalk all day as long as the PH does not get to high or should i only do it at night?

 

[bigkai]

well im still playing with the kalk trying to see how i like it. but i did buy a jbj ato and a Aqua Lifter pump to dose with and im using a empty oceanic salt bucket and holding right at 5 gallons. how much kalk should i start out with in 5 gallons? and how far up should i put the hose from the bottom of the bucket.

 

[_sludgefactory]

well im still playing with the kalk trying to see how i like it. but i did buy a jbj ato and a Aqua Lifter pump to dose with and im using a empty oceanic salt bucket and holding right at 5 gallons. how much kalk should i start out with in 5 gallons? and how far up should i put the hose from the bottom of the bucket.

I was thinking about doing the exact same thing but I'd have to buy a container.

Im thinking fill it with the five gallons of water and top it off with 3 gallons at a time. Then put the pump intake for the stirring pump at the 2 gallon mark and the line for the aqua lifter there also.

I just don't understand how much kalk to put in. Do you just add a bunch so the water is saturated to the point that it won't dissolve anymore and then add more kalk as needed?


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[bigkai]

lol i realy dont have any idia what im doing with it either. I just put 4 tps in my 5 gallon bucket i use for top off and have been watching the tank every thang is open and doing good. i will have to test the water and see if i need to add more or less but so far so good.

But now i have another question can you just add water back to the sludge when the water runs out or do you have to clean it out and start over with new?
couse i know that with a kalk reactor you put it in their and only add when its all gone.. ??

 

[caudill187]

just test water in my tank its now at CAL 420. ALK 10. PH 8.2. i turned the drip up to 8 drops a minute. i just dont want to have a PH spike. is it ok to drip kalk all day as long as the PH does not get to high or should i only do it at night?

I used to drip kalk at about 1 drop/second 24 hours a day in a 120 without any issues. I don't know how big your tank is but my experience has been that you can drip kalk much faster than you would think without any problems.

 

[caudill187]

lol i realy dont have any idia what im doing with it either. I just put 4 tps in my 5 gallon bucket i use for top off and have been watching the tank every thang is open and doing good. i will have to test the water and see if i need to add more or less but so far so good.

But now i have another question can you just add water back to the sludge when the water runs out or do you have to clean it out and start over with new?
couse i know that with a kalk reactor you put it in their and only add when its all gone.. ??

I have found that 1 tablespoon is about all that will dissolve in one gallon, so if you are using more than that you can probably add more water to the sludge and get more to dissolve. I would suggest only using 1 tablespoon per gallon if mixing with just RO water.