kalkwasser

i want to start dosing kalk to try to incourage my dwindling coralline algae. i usually evaporate about a half gallon of water a day from my 55 reef. i top off twice a day. if i keep a one gallon jug of ro/di water and mix in a teaspoon of kalk, and do my top off with that water ( 1/4 gallon twice a day into my sump) will that be ok for my tank. i really dont want to attempt a drip system right now. also what is your experience with kalk/ coralline algae? im hoping my growth will explode using kalk

 

Well i just got some kalkwasser yesterday and i just opened up a bottle of distilled water, put 2 teaspoons in the jug, and i am now waiting a couple hours to see what happens. First time for me too!

 

The best way to use kalk for top off IMO is to mix some in ro/di, let the particulates settle out to the bottom for 24 hours and add a small amount of the clear solution to the top off and adjust amount appropriately per parameters. You really have to watch the pH and alk intially to see if your parameters are ok. The solution needs to be covered as well.

Starting slow with kalk is a must.

 

+1^^^ slow is definitely a must.

I started drip Dosing a two teaspoon to one gallon mixture that I allow to settle for no less than 24hrs after mixing in RODI. I drip about 1 quart over the span of 8 hours. KH and Ca have been "very" slowly increasing so once I hit my targets I'll try and maintain with maybe 1 teaspoon to a gallon. To early to tell the effects on everything as I've only been doing this for the last four days. My PH remains a rock solid 8.1-I woke up in the middle of the night to test. Start the dose after lights go out when the ph is already sitting at 8.1. If things go well I'll eventually find some way to automate this using a larger container of mixture to reduce the amount of mixing.

 

I've dripped kalk for years, I use to go through ~8 gallons (2 tsp per gallon) a week. It worked great for maintaining my pH (8.1-8.3) and my alk at ~10 dkh, CA ~400-420 and my corals responded well to it. However, it was a lot of work maintaining the system. I always used a resperator mixing it but one day after mixing it I felt my nose burning, when I wiped it with a napkin there were streaks of blood.....that along with the work involved in replacing it every few days did it for me, no more kalk.

I invested in a CA reactor but as a result my pH runs a bit lower at 7.8-8.1. In my opinion kalk works great, just test to make sure you actually need it and go slow, make sure you mix it in a well ventelated area and use a resperator. If your parms are OK, dosing kalk could quickly increase pH and alk causing problems so make sure you test, I wouldn't do it just to increase coraline algae, that stuff comes with time and maturity of your system. good luck.

 

i just started using kalk in my ato system. i mix it in a 2.4 gallon container ( i mix 3 at once) that has a lid. put the kalk in it shake it leave it sit with the lid on till its needed, when needed i take it and pour into a 5.5 gallon ato tank, turn the ato off for one hour, to let the kalk settle in the 5.5 gallon container which has 2 pieces of egg-crate at the bottom to keep the sentiment safely away from the pump line which is stuck to the side of the ato tank bottom, pointing upward from the bottom. i use the aqualifter pump. it pumps the top off/kalk in slow (into the skimmer section of the sump, not the return line section) when the water level in my sump drops slightly.
i mix enough for 5-6 days. so far this has been keeping my ph were i want it. without daily dosing. i feel my xenia is spreading faster than it was. my dkh is 14 i know high but it goes with the cal at 460. im now adjusting the kalk to a little less. looking for the perfect amount to keep all in line. instead of one teaspoon per gallon of water, im using a bit less now. my tanks evaporation is very high so my ato comes on more than most.