kalk and top off

[acasden]

does anyone add a little kalk to the top off water, just a little, i recently put in an auto top off pump and added a little kalk to it , my pH tends to be on the low side, and thoughts???

 

[Anonymous]

Some people top off exclusively with kalk water - just make sure you drip it in.
I run an auto top off system that goes through a kalk reactor before it hits the tank.

 

[Ben1]

I also use a kalkreactor. I have used both goes and MRC ones. I perfer the mixing pump instead of the mixing bar. The pump needs impeller change about every 3-4 months but it goes through alot of kalk and they are cheap. My MRC kalkreactor kept having the bar stick and wouldnt restart after not mixing for a bit.


In anycase adding some to a perlistic (sp?) pump that adds in small doses over the day doesnt hurt.

The point of the kalkreactor is that it prevents atmospheric C02 mixing with the kalk until it reachs the tank water. So it is always good and since it is mixing on and off it is always saturated before it goes to the tank.

HTH

 

[bradl.]

I saturate my top off with Mrs.Wages.Very simple

 

[acasden]

the auto top off adds maybe half a gallon quickly, no dripping, if it is very dilute with the kalk is that okay??

 

[Anonymous]

Take a PH reading before and after. If there is a detectable difference then it's too fast.

The problem comes from removing all the CO2 in the water. This quickly raises PH (stressful) and then the hydroxide fails to produce enough Bicarbonate which can cause a precipitation event (doubly stressful).

If your limewater solution is very dilute as you indicate then it should be fine but I wouldn't suggest adding 1/2 a gallon of saturated limewater to a 75 gallon tank.

 

[acasden]

thank, agreed, i take a few ounces of saturated lime water from a jug and add it to several gallons of ro/di water top off , i do not add the kalk directly to the top off water. sound good??

 

[Anonymous]

Yep. I have not experimented at all so you should. I would quess that you could add as much as a pint of saturated lime water to the tank at a time safely. It depends on the CO2 concentration though. In theory, night would be safer than daytime.

 

[Anonymous]

IMO, it's just easier to set up a drip and run it at night, when the kalk does you the most good. That way there are no worries about precipitation or rapid rise in PH. For the longest time I used a simple DIY drip system to drip kalk each night I made using a 2 qt plastic jar, an air control value and rigid and flexible airline tubing. It worked, but what a pain to start the suction, and if I did it wrong kalkwasser went everywhere. Since my tank looses a little more than a gallon a day I also had to put in straight top off water. What a pain!

Finally broke down and bought one of those 2.5 gallon Kent dosers for $25.00 and it works fine.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=KM2513

 

[acasden]

this is just a lazy way of avoiding the kalk drip, i am looking for the easy way out, i have done the drip and it is a pain each night.

 

[Anonymous]

this is just a lazy way of avoiding the kalk drip, i am looking for the easy way out, i have done the drip and it is a pain each night.

What's more of a pain? Doing a drip every night knowing it's not going to jack the ph or precipitate out and possibly nuke the tank; or taking a chance cutting corners and saving what, five minutes extra a day ?