Calcium IV drip help

The used tank i just received came with a calcium IV drip jug/setup and a huge bottle of kalkwasser. The guy at the LFS said i needed to be very careful with it. Is there any advice anyone on here can give me. How far apart should i make the drips? I just hooked it up and it's currently doing one drip about every minute into the return reservior.

 

correction

it's doing one drip every 5 minutes at the recommend mixture on the back of the kalk jug. Is this to much or not enough? is there a better way to do it?

 

We need alot of info about the tank to help with this question - size, occupants, test results, etc

 

what you can do is test your Ca, and try to dial in the drips so you have a constant level of about 400, to compensate for the Ca being used up by your corals. If its lower, gradually increase the amount of drips obviously and visa versa. Anybody could of really told you this. Be careful though, kalk can effect pH too. But i don't think a drip like this would do any damage. Good Luck!!

 

i started doing the same thing on my tank and unless you have your mag and alk on track you will have a mess from the kalk not going into solution,mine started snowing but after talking and getting TANGSTERs cal my tank perameters are perfect, im not saying you cant do it but i had trouble with it, just my 2 pennys worth?

 

Make sure you read up good on putting limewater in a aquarium. With the pH levels being around 12 of the mixture you can wipe a tank out if your not careful. I run all my makeup water thru kalk (limewater) but I also have a controller on the tank that will shut it off it the pH gets too high.

Be careful and do your research.

 

Point is. You might want to set it aside until you have good knowledge of what it does. You can do more damage than good. chances are, if you dont have a reef, than you dont need it.

 

Here are some good articles that cover the basics of using kalkwasser and understanding reef chemistry overall. Check out the links at the bottom of the articles for more information as well.

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
A Simplified Guide to the Relationship Between Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

These links are wonderful. I've saved them so i can go back later to get a better understanding as questions pop up. Thank you for posting them.

 

I pulled it out of the tank last night until i can figure out what the best method is with the least amount of maintence. The article in the first link posted above says the guy spends 3 minutes with his every 3 weeks.