Some questions on kalk

How does kalk affect dosing of alk, cal, and mag? Obviously evaporation rates change depending on air movement and temperature. Are the affects of kalk on alk and cal minimal enough to not really matter?

What kalk mixes do you use?

 

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

in the above article Randy covered Kalkwasser or Lime water fully

a common brand of Lime / Kalk used in the US is Mrs Wages Pickling Lime according to some of my US friends who have used that brand

Typically
Kalk made using 1.75 teaspoons of powder to 1 US gallon of water
yeilds 800 ppm calcium and a mixture with an alkalinity of 15 ( from memory)
it has a PH of 12 - so dosing slowly and possibly at night, when other factors (Respiration rather than photosynthesis of plant matter) are driving PH downwards

in an aquarium, with low demand and/ or high evaporation, Kalk has been utilized as a means of maintaining both calcium and alkalinity
although in many cases separate measurement and supplementation of Magnesium is required


you can increase the calcium potential of Limewater/ Kalk by mixing a ratio of 45 mils vinegar to 3 teaspoons of powder and 1 US gallon of water

this will give you a calcium capacity of 1200 ppm and alkalinity pro rata


Steve

 

I want to use it just to keep my pH up a little higher.

Thank you for the link. reading it now.

 

From memory, you were very close Steve, Alkalinity of kalk is 112dKH ;D

As evaporation, I tend to find, within a given season, it really dosn't change much. For me, kalk, even with vinegar dosn't quite keep up and I just monitor and top off the difference with 2-part daily.

For type of kalk, it dosn't matter if you pre-mix the kalk and let it settle overnight, because, as Randy shows, it is self purifying. If you mix and dose right away, then you'll want a good grade, but that can be tough as manufactures don't disclose the amounts of impurities, they just claim theirs is the "best".

Also, keep in mind Randy shows magnesium will not dissolve in a kalk mixture, so, mixtures claiming to have mg as well, may have mg, but it isn't staying in solution.... Usually water changes are enough for mg though, I haven't dosed any in months and maintain high levels.