Kalk dosing with apex

So santa (AKA my wife) gave me a new apex controller for christmas with all the trimmings. And my birthday is next week. I currently dose 2 part and I am looking to supplement it with Kalk to raise my PH. So I was thinking of buying a Kalk stirrer for my birthday, and using the ph probe to control it for my ato. I figured if ph is below 8.3 then use pump A to dose Kalk through a reactor if it is 8.3 or above then use pump B to use regular rodi. My question is does this make sense or will it not work? Just trying to get rock solid parameters. Any idea what this will do to my alk/cal levels? I evaporate about 2.5 gals a day on a 90 gallon. My ato is on a dual float switch with redundancy for protection, as well as if I decide to do this I will get a second ph probe for redundancy.

 

I use my Apex to control my Kalk, but I simply use a separate pump and dose equal amounts per day through my kalk reactor.

 

Are you saying there is no suck thing as santa wahhhhhh lol jkjk

yea that sound like it would work really well nice idea

 

Why not just mix kalk in a second container, with a pump that the ph probe controls. This would save money on a kalk stirrer. Then take that money and treat santa to a nice thank you dinner.

 

i dose kalk to keep my ph up and stable. i have it in my ato water, i use my apex as a back up, it turns power to the the ato pump off if the ph reaches 8.35 rarely has the ph reached 8.35 it only happens once in a great while when i add to much kalk to my water.(ooopppss) my tank evaporates 1.5 to 2 gallons a day.

 

Just thinking of space or lack their of. My ato container is about 20 gals so I figured why not just grab a second pump

 

Does that kind of evaporation keep the ph pretty stable for you? also are you dosing 2 part as well?

 

yes it has been working great for me, but as with any thing in this hobby, you have to tweak your maintenance to suit your tank. my tank is only 35 gallons with a 25 gallon sump, so its a lot less than a ninety gallon tank.
i put 2 teaspoons of kalk into my 5 gallons of water. i could up the kalk but this is what has been working for me. its what i have adjusted the amount of kalk to to stay between 8.1 and 8.3 ph
i no longer have to dose any of the 2 part. the kalk seems to keep the ph and alk stable. not to mention the calcium.

if you go for the kalk stirrer i would love to hear what your thoughts are on it after its running a bit.

 

how every you decide to do it, kalk is one of the best ways to keep ph, alk and cal stable. and i find it to be the easiest. dosing 2 part daily was a pain. and the ph was never stable, it would always drop right back down.
i mix the kalk right in the ato container,i have been doing it this way for a year now. i have egg crate at the bottom of the container so no way the pump can fall into the settled kalk. i use my apex to time when the kalk should be settled after mixing. the apex than turns the ato back on.

LOVE my apex controller!

AND! Congrats on your great xmas gift, I'm sure you will be very happy with it.

 

thanks pink I just bought a Kalk stirrer on ebay today I will let you know how it goes