dripping kalk & refugium Question

[ArchAngel1]

I know it's best to drip Kalk after lights out. My question is, if you have a refugium on reversed photoperiod( or 24\7), does that effect when you should dose the Kalk? Do you dose when the main tank is dark, or when the fuge is dark? If you have this kind of setup can you dose anytime you want?

 

[Mac1]

The idea behind dosing Kalk at night specifically (as opposed to 24/7, or any other time period), is to combat the drop in pH that usually accompany's a system w/ the lights out. Seeing as you have a refugium, that will eat up this excess CO2, you don't _need_ to dose the Kalk during the reefs "dark" photoperiod.
Would it hurt? Nah..
Will it help? Mmmm.. prolly not. IIRC, the action of plating calcium down to create skeleton, happens during the daylight hours for the coral, at night I think they simply respire. So it would make almost more sense, to dose during the day, as this is when the corals are using it. I honestly don't think it matters all that much however. I could be entirely wrong about that skeleton building info as well, my memory ain't what she used to be . FWIW I dose 24/7 via my Kalk Reactor, which is hooked up to a dosing pump that fires every 10-minutes.

- Mac

 

[Anonymous]

There isn't a CO2 problem when dosing Kalk as mentioned before.

A refugium is a good place to dose to because it acts as a buffer zone, ensuring better mixing before the reef.

I run a nilsen reactor 24/7 into a refugium that's lighted 24/7.

My nilsen is a component of my make-up water system. pH is usually at its lowest at dawn. Dosing at night on the reef makes sense, but you cut your dosing period in half when you do so.

Recommend dosing 24/7 with kalk. That way, a constant influx of buffer will help stabilize and lesson the swing of pH.

Make sure the kalk drips into a region of highly turbulent flow.