Using Kalkwasser

[brick-brothers]

I'm trying to understand how to use it.
So first I have to get me alk and cal to the level that its suppose to be.
Then by adding the kalk it will maintain my levels.
My question is,
1. How long do I drip the kalk?
2. If my tank consumes more alk then cal, will the kalk still maintain the levels?
3. If the cal and alk level is below level, do I drip the kalk at a fast rate?
4. Whats the drip count per min?
5. For a 230g total water vol, how much kalk per gallon is good to start off with?
6. I'm have a 20g tall reservoir with a tunze ato. So this is what I plan to put the kalk in. Pros & Cons of this method?

 

[Dan_P]

I'm trying to understand how to use it.
So first I have to get me alk and cal to the level that its suppose to be.
Then by adding the kalk it will maintain my levels.
My question is,
1. How long do I drip the kalk?
Kalkwasser increases the pH of the system. The upper limit of the kalkwasser addition would be the amount required that does not exceed your upper limit of the pH.

2. If my tank consumes more alk then cal, will the kalk still maintain the levels?
This can be answered by measuring how much your alkalinity drops per day or week. Depending on how much kalkwasser is added in that timeframey, ou can calculate the answer. I and others can help with that.

3. If the cal and alk level is below level, do I drip the kalk at a fast rate?
How fast kalkwasser is added is limited by mixing rate and pH change. Add too quickly, and you can get local very high pH and calcium carbonate preciptation. But I am pretty sure your system is not sucking up calcium carbonate that quickly. So, how quickly do you drip in kalkwasser is limited to your evaporation rate. If you are trying maintain your specific gravity, you must not add more kalkwasse than water evaporates.

4. Whats the drip count per min?
This depends how turbulant the water is where you are adding it. If you add kalkwasser to still water you will see a tiny cloud of precipitate form. The goal is to minimize this. Pick your addition location and drip in kalkwasser around one drop per second and see what happens. Slow the rate if you see precipitate. Best not to do this near any living creatures. Also monitor the pH during this adjustment process. Do not increase the rate too quickly u til you see how your system's pH is responding.

5. For a 230g total water vol, how much kalk per gallon is good to start off with?Use your daily evaporation rate. I found under 1 gallon per every 50 gallons did not cause precipitation, but that is with my system's calcium and alkalinity level.

6. I'm have a 20g tall reservoir with a tunze ato. So this is what I plan to put the kalk in. Pros & Cons of this method?

I can't comment on this one but will say that kalkwasser needs to be isolated from the atmosphere or else it will absorb CO2 and preciptate calcium carbonate all over the container and tubing and make a mess.

I wrote this before I decided to answer each question above.

Kalkwasser solutions have very high pH. As it drips into sea water, there will be a localized increase in pH. If the pH is too high, calcium carbonate precipitates. If the drip rate is too fast or into still water, you can see a little cloudy water forming where the drop hits. This effect is minimized by adding to turbulant flow to quickly dilute the kalkwasser.

Another factor that limits the addition rate is the pH of your system. Kalkwasser can temporarily increase the pH beyond what you wish to maintain in the aquarium. I addressed this in the past by conrolling the of kalkwasser addition on pH.

The third consideration is that the fresh water added will lower the specific gravity of the aquarium water. If you control kalkwasser on pH and the system generates a lot of CO2, for example when the lights are off and the pH drops, the system could experience a small decrease in specfic gravity as the kalkwasser is pumped in. Controlling the addition amount on evaporation rate will address this issue but if the evaporation rate is low, you will not add much kalkwasser.

How much fresh water are you replacing every day? As a very rough idea for a starting point, when I exceeded one gallon kalkwasser per 50 gallons of tank water per day, the system precipitated calcium carbonate all over the place.

Start the addition rate at roughly one drop per second into a turbulant flow and adjust up or down from there depending on the pH response of the system. If the pH probe is far from the addition point, do not raise the drip rate too quickly because of the long delay between adding and observing the pH of the mixture.

There are other klakwasser users who will have other good approaches.

 

[polywise]

Hi Manny,
not to hijack your thread - but recently I have been struggling to keep my KH up.
I run a calcium reactor controlled with a PH probe in the first chamber.

I am wondering if a kalkwasser reactor could be fed using the salt water water from the tank versus off of the make up water for evaporation?

 

[Reefinny]

I find the best way is to use it in a Kalk reactor with your ato. That is how I have it set up. I OCCASIONALLY need to bump up my alk, but for the most part have maintained very steady levels. I use it in my top off and I have a calcium reactor.

 

[Jim]

I use it with a Kalk reactor also. But I don't recommend adding it to your top-off water. If your top-off get stuck on you could crash your tank. And my top-off has. I run mine with a doser and add a set amount throughout the day. It's fed with it's own RODI reservoir that I need to fill bi-weekly.

 

[Jhoehlein]

Kalk is powerful stuff, I would start off with a slow drip (drop every 2 seconds or thereabouts) and see how it goes from there. If this isn't enough to increase or maintain levels, up the drip rate. As mentioned above adding it too quickly can spike pH, or cause it to precipitate making it worthless.

For a tank your size I would start with 5 gallons a day. I was using 10 gallons a day on a 300 gallon tank to spike pH in an effort to kill off dinoflagellates (it worked!), so you should need far less if you're just looking to maintain levels.

There are already a few good reasons to not use the ATO method already posted, but my added concern would be the pump. A layer of precipitate settles out to the bottom of the container when you mix kalkwasser, and if the pump is sitting on the bottom it will suck that up either clogging the lines or dumping it into your system.

Finally, adding vinegar to kalk when mixing it cuts back on precipitation and mitigates the pH increase making it more effective and less of a hassle. Here's a little more on the subject: http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/55878-kalkwasser-mixed-vinegar.html

 

[vio]

I use Calcium Reactor, I set up the lower I can , just to be safe , like 7.5 dKH then I use Kalkawasser Stirr (Deltec) then I got 90 min. time set in one double plug timer, I use two 1.1ml BRS doser , one add fresh water to Stirr, one remove water, I end up around 8.4 dKH , that what I want. My PH at night is 7.95 then day 8.1 , I like it . I really don't like the idea to dose the ATO, for may reasons , the main one will be , evaporation, so one day is humid one day is dry, the amount of Kalka depend of your evaporation ratio, so NOT constant. Most of the members they give the good advice, the best will be dose at night ( if u go that way) lot of ppl. don't realize Kalka have the ability to bond, that way I don't like the Kalka reactor, 3 hour ON 3 hour OFF will NOT be , the BEST way, Deltec Stirr have price like $ 600-$ 700, there is a GOOD reason way, like Dan say have to be complete insulate from atmosphere, not only that, water have to be CLEAR , I DONT think 3 hours 6 or 12 will be good for Kalka to precipitate in reactor ,if u add Kalka (very small powder, hard to see by eyes) may bond to sand ,Rocks , the kalka, not only increase Alk. and Ca. have the ability to remove some PO4, then if u add powder (Kalka) one day you will got LOST. List that my opinion. Vio

 

[brick-brothers]

Kalk is powerful stuff, I would start off with a slow drip (drop every 2 seconds or thereabouts) and see how it goes from there. If this isn't enough to increase or maintain levels, up the drip rate. As mentioned above adding it too quickly can spike pH, or cause it to precipitate making it worthless.

For a tank your size I would start with 5 gallons a day. I was using 10 gallons a day on a 300 gallon tank to spike pH in an effort to kill off dinoflagellates (it worked!), so you should need far less if you're just looking to maintain levels.

There are already a few good reasons to not use the ATO method already posted, but my added concern would be the pump. A layer of precipitate settles out to the bottom of the container when you mix kalkwasser, and if the pump is sitting on the bottom it will suck that up either clogging the lines or dumping it into your system.

Finally, adding vinegar to kalk when mixing it cuts back on precipitation and mitigates the pH increase making it more effective and less of a hassle. Here's a little more on the subject: http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/55878-kalkwasser-mixed-vinegar.html

ok lets just say If i was to do 5 gallons a day but my water doesn't evaporate 5 gallons day maybe 3/4. What would be the next step?

 

[brick-brothers]

ok so I finally added kalk to my auto top using my tunze.
Question, If my desire levels starts to drop do I add more kalk per gallon? or do I add cal/alk to bring it back on point??

 

[brick-brothers]

Wheres my Kalk helpers? lol
My ph is at 8.43. Should I start doing something to bring it down? or am im ok for now?

 

[Waleedwale1]

After a certain point I believe 2 teaspoons per gallon the water becomes saturated and cannot hold any more kalk it just sinks to the bottom. Apparently you can add vinegar to the ATO and that will allow the water to hold more kalkwasser before it becomes saturated

 

[brick-brothers]

After a certain point I believe 2 teaspoons per gallon the water becomes saturated and cannot hold any more kalk it just sinks to the bottom. Apparently you can add vinegar to the ATO and that will allow the water to hold more kalkwasser before it becomes saturated

I put 1 teaspoon per gallon just to start off. How much vinegar do you add per gallon? I have a 20g ato reservoir.

 

[Waleedwale1]

Not sure about the vinegar amounts as I haven't tried it myself, I would up it to 2 teaspoons per gallon (slowly of course) before you add the vinegar. Here's a thread I found
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...tch-from-Kalk-Vinegar-in-ATO-to-Daily-dosing-!!!!
But when you dose vinegar, well you dose vinegar lol so it's a carbon source as well and that should be kept in mind.

 

[brick-brothers]

ok cool