Would kalkwasser work well for me?

[Philipgonzales3]

I'm talking about dosing it via my ATO System. I evap between 64 and 128oz a day.

My plan is mostly softies and LPS. I'm just trying to prepare for the future. Not necessarily start dosing yet. I'm 5 frags in at the moment.

I've read it's good if you have good calcium and alk levels already. Since its balanced it will raise both yeah?

Any tips?

Or should I just 1 part or 2 part dose? Of course I want what will be easiest but what works also of course.

Parameters
PH:8
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5
Phosphate:.006
Salinity: 1.026
Alkalinity:8.4
Calcium:390
Magnesium:1420 (may be a high reading last reading was 1360)

 

[Sod Buster]

Do small water changes. What salt are you using? Ca is a little low. Any skeleton frags or coralline algae explosion?

 

[mrtian97]

I don’t see why not, maybe start lower concentration of kalk solution, such as 1 teaspoon per gallon of RODI. I am still using kalk solution with my ATO and I supplement it with daily dosing of 2 parts (my tank is heavy sps), but I started with just kalk solution then gradually increase as the Ca and Alk uptake in my tank increased

 

[Dkeller_nc]

For now, yes it will, especially since you have very little calcium and alkalinity demand. Kalkwasser doesn't have a tremendous amount of calcium and alkalinity in it per volume because calcium hydroxide (kalk powder) is so insoluble in water. However, it's easy to do, and doesn't require any equipment beyond the ATO that you already have. Just be absolutely sure that you don't get kalk powder sucked in through your ATO pump into your tank. Some folks suspend their ATO pump above the bottom of the ATO container, and simply stir in the kalk powder, let it settle for an hour, and turn the ATO back on. This is risky, however, because if the ATO pump were to slip into the undissolved kalk powder (and therefore pump it into the tank), it will jack the pH up well past 9, and nuke the entire tank.

A better plan is to mix a couple of teaspoons of kalk powder with your RODI in a 5 gallon plastic bucket, let it settle for a few hours, and pour off the clear liquid into your ATO reservoir.

 

[Sod Buster]

With your current setup, get a solid acrylic tube for your homer bucket and keep it a inch off the bottom. If you want a bulkhead and solid pipe, give me a pm.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Do small water changes. What salt are you using? Ca is a little low. Any skeleton frags or coralline algae explosion?

I do weekly 10% water changes. I use Instant Ocean salt currently. I am open to switch or to stay on IO. Whatever is easier and works lol. No corraline algea yet. Not sure what a skeleton frag is.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

For now, yes it will, especially since you have very little calcium and alkalinity demand. Kalkwasser doesn't have a tremendous amount of calcium and alkalinity in it per volume because calcium hydroxide (kalk powder) is so insoluble in water. However, it's easy to do, and doesn't require any equipment beyond the ATO that you already have. Just be absolutely sure that you don't get kalk powder sucked in through your ATO pump into your tank. Some folks suspend their ATO pump above the bottom of the ATO container, and simply stir in the kalk powder, let it settle for an hour, and turn the ATO back on. This is risky, however, because if the ATO pump were to slip into the undissolved kalk powder (and therefore pump it into the tank), it will jack the pH up well past 9, and nuke the entire tank.

A better plan is to mix a couple of teaspoons of kalk powder with your RODI in a 5 gallon plastic bucket, let it settle for a few hours, and pour off the clear liquid into your ATO reservoir.

My pump says it's kalkwasser safe. It's a metastatic pump if that means anything to you.



Should be good to go right?

 

[KrisReef]

I don't like dosing kalk in top off water. I found that it tends to precipitate out of sol'n and over time it could clough your arteries pretty quickly. I can't decant easily like others mentioned. I usually end up with with a cloud in my tank. Call me clumsy.
I do mix baking soda in my top off and I have not noticed the same precipitation problem. This helps keep the Dkh up, but doesn't help with calcium any.
Either way, if you get a proper dosing pump for all your additives it is easier to adjust (in theory) to the requirements in your tank. Just letting evaporation drive your dosing isn't necessarily going to provide the right amount of elements that you need to replace due to consumption by your live stock.

I have a calcium reactor running 24/7. When Alk falls behind (and it will) then I add a dash of baking soda to my top off water and measure the next day to see if I need another dash.

 

[Sod Buster]

Yes, I have that same spectrapure. You don't need kalkwasser yet. An acan has a skeleton. You will see a calcium and alkalinity drop from coralline algae growing first.
Worry about kalk or dosing when 10% water changes can't keep up with consumption.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Yes, I have that same spectrapure. You don't need kalkwasser yet. An acan has a skeleton. You will see a calcium and alkalinity drop from coralline algae growing first.

My torch skeleton won't consume calcium quickly? Also I have this branching coralline macro algea frag. I think it grows slow though.





So once I start to see coralline I will likely be close to needing to dose? I'll keep measuring The big 3 weekly to make sure. Just trying to plan out how it should work. Would IO salt be good for dosing kalkwasser or are there better salts for This?

 

[Philipgonzales3]

I don't like dosing kalk in top off water. I found that it tends to precipitate out of sol'n and over time it could clough your arteries pretty quickly. I can't decant easily like others mentioned. I usually end up with with a cloud in my tank. Call me clumsy.
I do mix baking soda in my top off and I have not noticed the same precipitation problem. This helps keep the Dkh up, but doesn't help with calcium any.
Either way, if you get a proper dosing pump for all your additives it is easier to adjust (in theory) to the requirements in your tank. Just letting evaporation drive your dosing isn't necessarily going to provide the right amount of elements that you need to replace due to consumption by your live stock.

I have a calcium reactor running 24/7. When Alk falls behind (and it will) then I add a dash of baking soda to my top off water and measure the next day to see if I need another dash.

I'm just wondering if kalkwasser would be easiest since I don't think my calcium consumption will be high as I plan for no SPS. But that's just a guess because this is my first time around doing this. Sounds like 2 part won't be terribly hard. Especially since I'll have a new cabinet to mount the dosing pumps in.

 

[Sod Buster]

Kalk is easy, it is just pickling lime. Mix it in the ato bucket to saturate the water, the rest settles to the bottom. Fire the ato up an hour after you mix it and don't suck up the bottom sediment. That's why a bulkhead with a solid tube on the sucker is a good thing. Put a zip tie on the line you shoved into the rubber on that pump for safety please.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Kalk is easy, it is just pickling lime. Mix it in the ato bucket to saturate the water, the rest settles to the bottom. Fire the ato up an hour after you mix it and don't suck up the bottom sediment. That's why a bulkhead with a solid tube on the sucker is a good thing. Put a zip tie on the line you shoved into the rubber on that pump for safety please.

Ok, I will put one on it tomorrow. You lost me at bulkhead. They make a bulkhead for RODI tubing?

 

[Sod Buster]

 

[Sod Buster]

That is a bulkhead with clear acrylic tube attached for your bucket.
I can ship to Texas

 

[Gonebad395]

If you don’t have anything depleting your calcium no need to dose you can replace trace elements with water changes. Dosing just to dose is kinda like a waste of money

 

[Hemmdog]

I’d just do 2-part, less issues & maintenance overall. Your branching coraline & torch will consume alk, cal, and the torch will consume mag as well. Not a ton, but I think kalk would just be a hassle and I think it will easily cause the big 3 to be over dosed accidentally due to rapid evaporation and summer coming up.
I don’t want evaporation dictating what elements my tank needs. It just needs pure RODI to keep the elements where they are at.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

If you don’t have anything depleting your calcium no need to dose you can replace trace elements with water changes. Dosing just to dose is kinda like a waste of money

I didn't mean now. I'm just planning my path forward before I get there. That way I can have an idea of what I need to buy. What the plan is going to be etc. The plan is to continue testing until consumption brings down my levels and then start dosing.

 

[dwest]

I didn't mean now. I'm just planning my path forward before I get there. That way I can have an idea of what I need to buy. What the plan is going to be etc. The plan is to continue testing until consumption brings down my levels and then start dosing.

I think you have a good plan. Keep doing 10% weekly water changes with IO salt. Then, when you can’t keep alkalinity above 7 or 8, start adding a small amount of calcium hydroxide (like about 1/4 tsp per gallon rodi makeup) to your ato. I used that spectrapure pump on my ato for about 15 years, so it’s great. You can increase the amount of kalk to about 2 tsp/gallon of makeup when you need to maintain alkalinity. As others have mentioned, it’s very important to not pump the sludge in the bottom of the kalk mix to your tank. Elevating the feed line off the bottom of your ato container a couple of inches is the way to go. I think the bulkhead with acrylic tube will work great for that.

 

[MrObscura]

Wait until weekly water changes can't keep Alk from dropping less then 1dkh a week, then start with 1/2tsp kalk per gallon of rodi in your ato.

I'm using kalk in my mixed reef, everything from acros to Rics, and it does the job. It's not as precise as 2 part, due to variations in evaporation rate, but I target 8.4dkh and my Alk stays between 8-9 with no more than a few point deviation over 24 hours.

But again, don't start dosing anything until you need to.