KALKWASSER DOSING QUESTION

[acrocapital]

Kalkwasser newbie here, I have always thought the idea was cool and finally I am going to implement this on my own system.
The method I plan on using is going to be through my auto top-off system.
I took a 10-gallon reservoir I had laying around, added a Tunze Osmolator for the feed pump, and a small AC powerhead pump for mixing the kalkwasser.
I plan on running the mixing pump for 5 minutes every hour through the apex. (see below configuration)

And the Tunze Osmolator would be powered by the ATO system at the evaporation rate.
The output is going to be right next to the calcium reactor effluent output.

My questions are if anyone has any concerns based on the idea I have planned out so far?
And what kalkwasser brands would you guys recomend? I am reading Mississippi Lime seems to be the go to.

(see below images)

 

[MoshJosh]

Think if you are dosing Kalk through ATO you only want to mix it once (the initial mixing) and mount your ATO pump slightly off the base of the reservoir so that you are not dosing the junk off the bottom. . . At least I never mix my kalk. . . I guess if you are trying to dose a slurry greater than max saturation, but if that is the case I don't think doing through ATO is the way to go. . .

 

[acrocapital]

Think if you are dosing Kalk through ATO you only want to mix it once (the initial mixing) and mount your ATO pump slightly off the base of the reservoir so that you are not dosing the junk off the bottom. . . At least I never mix my kalk. . . I guess if you are trying to dose a slurry greater than max saturation, but if that is the case I don't think doing through ATO is the way to go. . .

Interesting point, the Tunze pump is probably the worst one for this application with the inlet being on the very bottom lol. I will print something to mount it inverted and higher up. I don't intend on doing a high-saturation mix. The calcium reactor is going to be doing most of the heavy lifting.
About the mixing pump then, you say to only mix it at the initial dose. This gives me an idea I can finally use the break-out board I've had lying in a box forever now. I'll set up a button to mix for 5 minutes when I add the kalk.
Thank you for your advice on this.

 

[MoshJosh]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

I have tagged The One, cause he will have more info than I do haha

But I just mix my kalkwasser, add it to the ATO reservoir, and leave it alone until it's time to refill.

 

[anthonymckay]

Interesting point, the Tunze pump is probably the worst one for this application with the inlet being on the very bottom lol. I will print something to mount it inverted and higher up. I don't intend on doing a high-saturation mix. The calcium reactor is going to be doing most of the heavy lifting.
About the mixing pump then, you say to only mix it at the initial dose. This gives me an idea I can finally use the break-out board I've had lying in a box forever now. I'll set up a button to mix for 5 minutes when I add the kalk.
Thank you for your advice on this.

You def dont need to mix for 5 minutes... lol. If you overmix kalk you'll actually lose saturation.

 

[piranhaman00]

Also your ato could trigger during a mix cycle which would add a slurry and cause problems

 

[acrocapital]

Also your ato could trigger during a mix cycle which would add a slurry and cause problems

You def dont need to mix for 5 minutes... lol. If you overmix kalk you'll actually lose saturation.

I agree with you guys 5-minutes is way too much. I ordered this button on Amazon I am going to have that turn on the pump for 5 minutes (once every other day for now) when I manually add Kalkwasser into the reservoir in the mornings (every other day for now).
I will also have the button disable the ATO to avoid any accidental slurry being dosed.

I've measured my evaporation is around 5 gallons/day right now, and that rate will probably be closer to 10 gallons once summer comes around and fans are running.
I plan on tying in a solenoid valve to allow RODI to only refill the reservoir in the mornings (An hour before I add Kalkwasser every other day for now) to keep saturation from diffusing throughout the days.

The more research I do on this topic it seems an actual Kalk Stirrer is the best way to go about this. Well for now ATO method will allow me to get my feet wet and comfortable before going that route.
What do you guys think about Mississippi Lime?
Thanks again for everyone's input! Greatly appreciated.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I do this with fantastic results. I dose 2 part on top of the kalk in my top off to keep everything steady. Don’t over think it. I use the tunze ATO pump and it works very well. I zip tie the pump to a piece of pvc pipe to keep it an inch off the bottom. The pump lasts a long time despite being in lime water and is only $30 to replace if it fails. I only stir it every few days. I use a 50 gallon brute as my top off, after initial mix I only touch it when I add 5 gallon buckets of water and more kalk. This method keeps my ph steady and high, and significantly reduces the amount of 2 part I need. Coral growth is fantastic. I keep everything high… ph, alk, calcium, nutrients, and lights and it seems to be working well. I use to do the same thing minus the kalk, and I can say that growth and color is better with the kalk. As for brand of kalk, I buy it in bulk off Amazon, any lab grade is fine. I’ve heard people say it had to be from a reef specific supplier but my ICP’s can’t tell the difference.

 

[acrocapital]

I do this with fantastic results. I dose 2 part on top of the kalk in my top off to keep everything steady. Don’t over think it. I use the tunze ATO pump and it works very well. I zip tie the pump to a piece of pvc pipe to keep it an inch off the bottom. The pump lasts a long time despite being in lime water and is only $30 to replace if it fails. I only stir it every few days. I use a 50 gallon brute as my top off, after initial mix I only touch it when I add 5 gallon buckets of water and more kalk. This method keeps my ph steady and high, and significantly reduces the amount of 2 part I need. Coral growth is fantastic. I keep everything high… ph, alk, calcium, nutrients, and lights and it seems to be working well. I use to do the same thing minus the kalk, and I can say that growth and color is better with the kalk. As for brand of kalk, I buy it in bulk off Amazon, any lab grade is fine. I’ve heard people say it had to be from a reef specific supplier but my ICP’s can’t tell the difference.

This gives me confidence! Thank you for your input.
Do you have a way of measuring the concentration in the kalk mix? I am considering adding a PH probe to my RO reservoir.

 

[acrocapital]

Buttons came out amazing!
Left Button:
Turns on the mixing pump in my RO Reservoir for 5 minutes
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If KALK CLOSED Then ON
Defer 005:00 Then OFF
Turn's off the ATO pump for 5 minutes to avoid an accidental dose of high slurry.
Fallback ON
Set ON
If KALK CLOSED Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON
Middle Button:
Turns on my Kessils Blues if they arent already on and turns off my T5s and Kessil Tuna Suns for what I call "photo mode"
Right Button:
I havent programed yet but I am going to have it turn on my AFS's once those come in.

I also added a solenoid valve to only add RODI water into my reservoir in the morning before I add Kalk to the reservoir.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 06:00 to 07:30 Then ON

 

[Beefyreefy]

This gives me confidence! Thank you for your input.
Do you have a way of measuring the concentration in the kalk mix? I am considering adding a PH probe to my RO reservoir.

You can do that and I have done that, but at the current time I don’t. I have found that if you mix it to saturated and aren’t worried about dosing slurry, you don’t need to measure the ph. I mix mine in a a 50 gallon brute and have a lid sitting on top and that’s it. Because I make up the difference with 2 part I’m not worried about having super saturations, and even if it loses slight potency I don’t notice a significance in any of my levels in my display tank.

 

[piranhaman00]

randy will chime in that pH is not a good way to measure saturation. Conductivity is the answer.

 

[anthonymckay]

This gives me confidence! Thank you for your input.
Do you have a way of measuring the concentration in the kalk mix? I am considering adding a PH probe to my RO reservoir.

What's your goal with adding the pH probe to an RO resivoir? Also, why 5 minutes of mixing?

 

[sternla]

I am building a diy simple stirrer with dosing container on top of a magnetic stirrer. Right now calcium needs are pretty minimal in a newly s

 

[sternla]

I am building a diy simple stirrer with dosing container on top of a magnetic stirrer. Right now calcium needs are pretty minimal in a newly set up mixed reef. Alk drops about .25 per day but cal needs are much lower so far. So I will start slowly. Currently debating gravity dripping vs dosing pump. I have various jaebo including the new WiFi 4,4 not yet available in the us (order on AliExpress). and a two different kaomer fx-stp2 (also ordered on AliExpress and got here very fast 8 days). There is also a really cheap kaomer peristaltic only $38 on Amazon. I will try out each one to see what I like best. I’ve heard negative things on gravity drip and of course the clogging issues if you pump it.

 

[acrocapital]

What's your goal with adding the pH probe to an RO resivoir? Also, why 5 minutes of mixing?

PH probe to measure “concentration” because this is ATO based dosing and this system is in my garage so evaporation rate will fluctuate depending on the seasons. I just want to be extra sure the concentration remains relatively consistent.
Although it seems conductivity probe is the way to go…
As far as the 5-Minutes for the mixing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ seems like an adequate amount of time in my mind it’s a pretty small powered pump.
Do you think I should shorten the time? You had mentioned in a previous post, 5-minutes is way too much, I thought you were referring to when I had it going every hour was the excessive part.

 

[acrocapital]

I am building a diy simple stirrer with dosing container on top of a magnetic stirrer. Right now calcium needs are pretty minimal in a newly set up mixed reef. Alk drops about .25 per day but cal needs are much lower so far. So I will start slowly. Currently debating gravity dripping vs dosing pump. I have various jaebo including the new WiFi 4,4 not yet available in the us (order on AliExpress). and a two different kaomer fx-stp2 (also ordered on AliExpress and got here very fast 8 days). There is also a really cheap kaomer peristaltic only $38 on Amazon. I will try out each one to see what I like best. I’ve heard negative things on gravity drip and of course the clogging issues if you pump it.

That is quite the setup! I am excited to see the results, seems simple enough and accomplishes everything an off the shelf kalkwasser stirrer would.
Do you have link to Amazon Kamoer?

 

[sternla]

That is quite the setup! I am excited to see the results, seems simple enough and accomplishes everything an off the shelf kalkwasser stirrer would.
Do you have link to Amazon Kamoer?

Even cheaper, I meant $28. The pump comes with a 24v power supply, but if you get a 12v one ($6) then it slows the speed down in half. My initial impression is that even at half speed it’s still way to fast for doing kalk. I can get the fx-stp2 to run a lot slower. You can get those at basically 50% off on AliExpress. So far my initial impression of AliExpress is that it was than I expected (8 days) and condition and quality were a+. Some say they are seconds etc, but I didn’t detect that on this first order. Small sample size but I have a second order coming in soon.

 

[sternla]

Even cheaper, I meant $28. The pump comes with a 24v power supply, but if you get a 12v one ($6) then it slows the speed down in half. My initial impression is that even at half speed it’s still way to fast for doing kalk. I can get the fx-stp2 to run a lot slower. You can get those at basically 50% off on AliExpress. So far my initial impression of AliExpress is that it was than I expected (8 days) and condition and quality were a+. Some say they are seconds etc, but I didn’t detect that on this first order. Small sample size but I have a second order coming in soon.

The $28 kaomer is tiny. I’d call it a nano pump, it’s about 3” tall. The wall wort is about as big as the pump. Note replacement heads are only about $5.

 

[IPT]

I used to dose Kalk in my ATO and it went haywire once and roasted the tank with crazy high PH. Also, know that Kalk dosing affects the PH, but also both ALK and Ca levels too (I imagine you know this though).

What I do now (based on several readings and youtube videos) is to dose my Kalk solution. This maintains my Kalk and CA levels all on it's own. I am currently using a non saturated solution to allow more volume to be dosed but I will just increase the volume as my Alk needs require up to the point it exceeds my Evap rate. Then I will just increase the saturation level. This was my dosing of Kalk is precise, measurable, consistent and repeatable. I then use the ATO to adjust for evaporation rates which may fluctuate depending on many variable.

If you are confident the ATO is always consistent, and don't mind messing up the pump (a dosing pump doesn't care if the solution has Kalk because it never actually touches the fluid itself) then the ATO may be the way to go. Make sure you test your Alk levels especially if you are stirring up (supersaturating) the Kalk!

Good luck with it all. Adding Kalk is a great thing to do for a tank!