Dosing kalk....

[SPotter]

What's the best frequency to dose kalk? A little at a time thru out the day or once at night?

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[bertoni]

IMO, the best way is to use it as ATO, if you have a peristaltic pump or a similarly slow pump.

[allsps40]

Yep^. I dose through my ATO with a MiniJet 404. ATO kicks on several times a day and adds small amounts of kalk water.

[SPotter]

right now i have it set up so that the kalk is controlled by my apex and ph level. If the ph level drops to a certain point it turns and then when it reachs a certain point it turns off.

[tmz]

The kalk provides alkalinity and calcium. On/off methods can cause inconsistent alkalinity which is more of a concern than ph variations within acceptable ranges in my opinion. Dosing over as long a period as possible is preferable,imo. Personally I dose 24/7 from a still reservoir via perstaltic pump which delivers 150 equal amounts over a 24 hour period.

[SPotter]

The kalk provides alkalinity and calcium. On/off methods can cause inconsistent alkalinity which is more of a concern than ph variations within acceptable ranges in my opinion. Dosing over as long a period as possible is preferable,imo. Personally I dose 24/7 from a still reservoir via perstaltic pump which delivers 150 equal amounts over a 24 hour period.

Tom,
I'm using a kalk stirrer and an aqualifter pump. Can you tell me what your timer/program looks like? It would appear to me that you are dosing 6 times per hour is that correct?

Steve

[bertoni]

It's best if the limewater is delivered as drops, rather than a stream, to reduce the likelihood of a pH spike. The tank is fairly small, so I'd be cautious.

[SPotter]

It's best if the limewater is delivered as drops, rather than a stream, to reduce the likelihood of a pH spike. The tank is fairly small, so I'd be cautious.

Jonathan,
The i'm using the aqualifter dosing pump and that pumps about 3.5 gallons per hour. If I ran it for 5 minutes an hour do you think that would be too much?

[Chris27]

Use the Reef Chemistry Calculator to help you out....

For example, measure your Alk at night @ 9:00 PM and note the results. The following day don't dose anything, simply measure Alk at 9:00 PM again and note the results. The difference is the daily drop which can be used to determine how much product to add. Simply take the product volume/measure and break that up over the course of 24 hours.

Let's say you have about 40 Gallons of total water volume, and a daily drop of 1 DKH....

You would need approximately 45 oz. of Limewater. Split that up to dose about 2 oz. per hour the following day and you'd be good to go. 45 oz. is about 1/3 Gal, so you can see why people use Limewater as top-off water....

[tmz]

5mins an hour @ a 3.5 gallons per hour rate would be about 1/12th or .3 gallons per hour. Assuming full saturation 2tsps per gallon , that dose would equate to around .6 tsps of kalk powder per hour for your 59 gallons. Typically, a safe level to avoid ph spikes is ,25 tsps per hour per 50 gallons (per Sprung and Delbeek The Reef Aquarium Vol 3)).Further if you turn that pump on 24 times for 5 minutes and it pumps 3.5 gallons per hour you'll dose about 7 gallons in 24 hours exceeding your top off needs which are probably around 5 gallons per day.

I use a still reservoir and a liter meter pump. I set the dose for 24 hours in liters. The pump's internal timer breaks it up into 150 equal increments over the 24 hurs.

[tmz]

I'm not clear on how you use the stirrrer and how you use it with the aqua lifter. If the kalk is dosed soon after stirring it will likely hold undissolved kalk from the bottom along with impurities. If left unstirred in a loosely closed container it will hold it's strength for weeks without stirring enabling a dose of clear kalk water.

[SPotter]

I knew I should have paid closer attention in Chemistry class! Sorry, I meant to write that I am using a Kalk Reactor which has a pump that I have turn on 4 times a day for 5 minutes based on the manufacturer's directions. The aqualifter then pulls water from RODI reserve and pumps it thru the reactor and then finally into the sump. I am using a separate pump for my top off. I will have to do some calculating to get this right.

[Chris27]

If you are using a Kalk stirrer and associated reservoir, then you should just use it as your ATO and see if it keeps up with your alk/calcium demands.