ACI Kalkwasser Method.... I've watched this video and read a few articles, still not sure the exact method.

[henry89]

This are pics before kalk and after …and it’s not 45 min ph window it’s been since 11am to now 7•24 pm more like 9 in a half hours steady 3.0-3.1ph to me huge difference

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

This are pics before kalk and after …and it’s not 45 min ph window it’s been since 11am to now 7•24 pm more like 9 in a half hours steady 3.0-3.1ph to me huge difference

this is the 45min window I'm referring too, there must be a misunderstanding.

 

[Garf]

I don’t have much faith in hobby pH probes to be honest to control stuff like this. Chris Woods and Chris Meckley go into this on agriscience part 6 (the final installment). Mine only monitors pH and adds fresh air if the pH gets a little higher than I want.

 

[henry89]

this is the 45min window I'm referring too, there must be a misunderstanding.

I don’t have much faith in hobby pH probes to be honest to control stuff like this. Chris Woods and Chris Meckley go into this on agriscience part 6 (the final installment). Mine only monitors pH and adds fresh air if the pH gets a little higher than I want.

I always make sure using my salifert ph test kit . I test the old school way and so far ok with ph but yes I’ve had many issues with probes I agree with you 100%

 

[trevorhiller]

I don’t have much faith in hobby pH probes to be honest to control stuff like this. Chris Woods and Chris Meckley go into this on agriscience part 6 (the final installment). Mine only monitors pH and adds fresh air if the pH gets a little higher than I want.

I'm listening to their talk too. I'm honestly kind of put off simply because they have the YouTube comments turned off. You want to advertise a "new method" but disable the ability for the public to ask questions or have any discourse--why? Even more ironic is they end the one episode with "ask us any questions you want and we'll answer in the next episode." Ok, how do we do that?

I'm slightly skeptical of the motivation to push the method so hard while also shutting down conversation surrounding it.

 

[trevorhiller]

Couldn’t you just use the sodium hydroxide 2-part by Randy and a CO2 scrubber on a skimmer to achieve consistently high, relatively stable pH and stable Alk?
I don’t think you can feasibly ask for more than that in a home aquarium.

This is what I am doing in my 60 gallon cube...
BRS Calcium Chloride 40 ml/day via Versa pump
Sodium Hydroxide 45 mL/day f/Amazon w/a BRS 1.1 mL/min doser connected to EB832
Balling C 90 mL/day manually dosed
Saturated Kalkwasser to evaporation limit dosed lights out to lights on (2,700 mL/day via Versa pump)

I recently installed an ERV in my house, so my indoor CO2 level now is around ~400-600 ppm consistently since installing that. pH is definitely higher since installing that. My alkalinity consumption increased more by installing the ERV than switching from soda ash to sodium hydroxide. I was already dosing Kalkwasser though.

It hasn't been long enough to see any "crazy" growth yet, but the polyps are all out and corals look great. There's also no risk of a haywire pH probe screwing up the tank.

For those interested, I installed the Broan 160 CFM ERV - I highly recommend it. Most importantly for the fresh air benefit for you and your family but also the tank benefits. I monitor CO2 via Air Things CO2/Radon/VOC monitor and a cheap inkbird CO2 monitor (both give very close results to one another).

 

[Batt]

I have been dosing potassium hydroxide. I believe this is only meant for people that are having PH problem while running a calcium reactor. I dose kalkwasser and using C02 scrubber. And my PH would only stay at 8 to 7.8. So I said I'll try potassium hydroxide. I did experiment with it first before using in my tank and this stuff is very Potent. After my test I started with a very low dose. And my ph is now steady at 8.45 if it goes above 8.5 my controller will stop dosing until it goes back down. I have notice no affects in alk and it's been 2 week and my potassium level are at 450. Now I will not disclose what I'm dosing or how tho dose. Try at your own risk. This is very dangerous.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have been dosing potassium hydroxide. I believe this is only meant for people that are having PH problem while running a calcium reactor. I dose kalkwasser and using C02 scrubber. And my PH would only stay at 8 to 7.8. So I said I'll try potassium hydroxide. I did experiment with it first before using in my tank and this stuff is very Potent. After my test I started with a very low dose. And my ph is now steady at 8.45 if it goes above 8.5 my controller will stop dosing until it goes back down. I have notice no affects in alk and it's been 2 week and my potassium level are at 450. Now I will not disclose what I'm dosing or how tho dose. Try at your own risk. This is very dangerous.

Why would you elect potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide?

IMO, it risks raising potassium too much, and sodium hydroxide otherwise works identically (and is the basis for several DIY two part recipes) for alk and calcium supplementation with the max pH boost possible per unit of alk added.

 

[rtparty]

I have been dosing potassium hydroxide. I believe this is only meant for people that are having PH problem while running a calcium reactor. I dose kalkwasser and using C02 scrubber. And my PH would only stay at 8 to 7.8. So I said I'll try potassium hydroxide. I did experiment with it first before using in my tank and this stuff is very Potent. After my test I started with a very low dose. And my ph is now steady at 8.45 if it goes above 8.5 my controller will stop dosing until it goes back down. I have notice no affects in alk and it's been 2 week and my potassium level are at 450. Now I will not disclose what I'm dosing or how tho dose. Try at your own risk. This is very dangerous.

Eventaully you will raise potassium too high unless you are changing lots of water with a lower potassium salt. As Randy said, sodium hydroxide would be more prudent

 

[Batt]

Why would you elect potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide?

IMO, it risks raising potassium too much, and sodium hydroxide otherwise works identically (and is the basis for several DIY two part recipes) for alk and calcium supplementation with the max pH boost possible per unit of alk added.

I went with potassium because Chris has been doing this for 2 year now I believe will great success. As for over dosing potassium. I over dosed potassium back in the days and now what the affects are and how to resolve it. So I'm not really worried about that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I went with potassium because Chris has been doing this for 2 year now I believe will great success. As for over dosing potassium. I over dosed potassium back in the days and now what the affects are and how to resolve it. So I'm not really worried about that.

OK, I know he picked it for unclear reasons, but IMO, sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and Balling Part C is a far better approach.

 

[trevorhiller]

Now I will not disclose what I'm dosing or how tho dose. Try at your own risk. This is very dangerous.

I can't understand why no one using this "Meckley Method" will speak to the details of what they are doing. Lots of smoke and mirrors around the discussion. All this "too dangerous for me to talk about" nonsense. I've heard others say this before and no offense to you, but I get the vibe from many of them it's because they don't know have a deep enough understanding of the chemistry to explain their logic. Concering when others copy the method "because xxx does it" without understanding what they are doing and why.

I'm not sure how versed you are in chemistry, but I agree that it is very dangerous (see Randy's multiple previous posts about rapidly overdosing Potassium).

Eventaully you will raise potassium too high unless you are changing lots of water with a lower potassium salt. As Randy said, sodium hydroxide would be more prudent

^ +1


For those confused, USE SODIUM HYDROXIDE, NOT POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE. Same effect, much safer for reef chemistry balance.

 

[Batt]

I can't understand why no one using this "Meckley Method" will speak to the details of what they are doing. Lots of smoke and mirrors around the discussion. All this "too dangerous for me to talk about" nonsense. I've heard others say this before and no offense to you, but I get the vibe from many of them it's because they don't know have a deep enough understanding of the chemistry to explain their logic. Concering when others copy the method "because xxx does it" without understanding what they are doing and why.

I'm not sure how versed you are in chemistry, but I agree that it is very dangerous (see Randy's multiple previous posts about rapidly overdosing Potassium).

^ +1


For those confused, USE SODIUM HYDROXIDE, NOT POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE. Same effect, much safer for reef chemistry balance.

As for the kalk method Chris Meckley has no problem sharing. His potassium hydroxide method he will not share. His buddy witch is a Chemist that been working in the aquarium field for year been guided him along with this for years. Chris did not want to disclose how to dose potassium hydroxide with me. I understood why. This is a very dangerous substance. It can melt the flesh on your skin and if inhaled will cause lung damage. This is a try at your own risk thing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As for the kalk method Chris Meckley has no problem sharing. His potassium hydroxide method he will not share. His buddy witch is a Chemist that been working in the aquarium field for year been guided him along with this for years. Chris did not want to disclose how to dose potassium hydroxide with me. I understood why. This is a very dangerous substance. It can melt the flesh on your skin and if inhaled will cause lung damage. This is a try at your own risk thing.

I think you can get better chemistry information here. Chris has posted some incorrect chemical info related to what he does, and when I exchanged emails with him, he was unwilling to recognize that fact.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As for the kalk method Chris Meckley has no problem sharing. His potassium hydroxide method he will not share. His buddy witch is a Chemist that been working in the aquarium field for year been guided him along with this for years. Chris did not want to disclose how to dose potassium hydroxide with me. I understood why. This is a very dangerous substance. It can melt the flesh on your skin and if inhaled will cause lung damage. This is a try at your own risk thing.

No need to consider potassium hydroxide. Here's one of the hydroxide recipes that doesn't have potassium balance issues:

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

In a previous thread, I posted a true two part DIY recipe: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/ But some folks may want to just swap the new ingredient into my 2/3 part recipe (as used by BRS, for example). Here's the original recipe link...

www.reef2reef.com

Just to reiterate, the best choice is to use Balling part 3 with the sodium hydroxide and calcium chloride.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This is a very dangerous substance. It can melt the flesh on your skin and if inhaled will cause lung damage. This is a try at your own risk thing.

It is true that hydroxide can be made to very high pH (above 14) and can be hazardous. It is the active agent in many drain clog openers, and it should be treated with same same respect you'd give to a drain opener (e.g., lye).

One should be careful to not spill it on your self, and especially not get it into your eyes.

 

[BAMatter]

Are there any differences between dosing for PH at night, vs a constant drip at night, if both maintain PH between 8.29 and 8.31 using roughly the same amount of kalk, +/- 300mls for an 85 gallon system?

I currently have a schedule to dose every 15 mins if PH is not at the high point, but wondering if I can simplify things and use a continuous duty pump to just work constant those hours instead of PH based, and what any pros/cons would be? I’ve been observing the amount of Kalk dosed PH based and it’s very close on a day to day basis. Considering taking the average and just dripping it…

 

[bbeck4x4]

Are there any differences between dosing for PH at night, vs a constant drip at night, if both maintain PH between 8.29 and 8.31 using roughly the same amount of kalk, +/- 300mls for an 85 gallon system?

I currently have a schedule to dose every 15 mins if PH is not at the high point, but wondering if I can simplify things and use a continuous duty pump to just work constant those hours instead of PH based, and what any pros/cons would be? I’ve been observing the amount of Kalk dosed PH based and it’s very close on a day to day basis. Considering taking the average and just dripping it…

it is what I used to do 10+ years ago and even then it was on a simple float valve that I had to clean often, but it did work

 

[DeputyDog95]

Confirming...

The programming to control the Kalk dosing using an Apex DOS, would be on the DOS head itself and not the power outlet for the DOS?

If so, do you set the slider to Auto?
Also, are there no SET or Fallback lines needed to be added?

 

[trevorhiller]

Confirming...

The programming to control the Kalk dosing using an Apex DOS, would be on the DOS head itself and not the power outlet for the DOS?

If so, do you set the slider to Auto?
Also, are there no SET or Fallback lines needed to be added?

I cannot answer the first part of the question as I don't have a DOS

However, I would definitely have a Fallback OFF set for any dosing pump connected to my tank, especially one with a large volume of alkaline solution that can overflow your tank or send the pH through the roof.

As for the ACI's method, I wouldn't do it personally. Kalkwasser dosed at night works really well and if you want to be hardcore about "maximum growth," sodium hydroxide does the trick.