Newbie to lime water, help please

[cfgenesis]

I am trying to filter out a number of pieces of advice regarding using lime water. I do not have a reactor or an ATO. I lose about 1/2 gallon a day in evaporation. What would be the effect of just adding a teaspoon of lime to my daily top-off and dosing it all at once, versus in little increments throughout the day?

[allsps40]

I would not use kalk/lime water unless you have an ATO you can cause ph and alk spikes by dosing to much kalk at once. ATO are cheap and are very useful to keeping SG in check.

[nanojg]

i would not use kalk/lime water unless you have an ato you can cause ph and alk spikes by dosing to much kalk at once. Ato are cheap and are very useful to keeping sg in check.

+1

[Enzel]

What kind of lime water are you planning on using? I was thinking of this one but I'm not sure if we can just mix this with ro/di water and just use it from a ATO

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/calcium-alkalinity-magnesium/kalkwasser-calcium-hydroxide/5-gallons-bulk-kalkwasser-calcium-hydroxide-for-aquariums.html

Can this be used just like pickling lime and how much should be used per gallon?

[cfgenesis]

I was hoping to try grocery store pickling lime which I've heard can be used the same way. My space is limited for an ATO - I have a 4' tank in a fully finished area so all my equipment has to go in the cabinet below and it is mostly full with my sump/refugium and GFO/Carbon Reactor. I will have to figure something out to accommodate an ATO tank.

[HighlandReefer]

Randy has stated in his kalk article:

"Adding 1.25% of the total tank volume with saturated kalk water will boost pH by an unacceptable 0.6 to 0.7 pH units."

If your total water volume were 75 gallons you are adding close to half that amount of kalk. So adding 1/2 gallon at once will raise your pH up by about 0.3 pH units. The recommended high amount to increase your pH is around 0.2 pH units. I would not recommend adding 1/2 gallon all at once even though you are only using 1/2 saturated lime water.

Perhaps dripping the half saturated kalk water over night would provide the best increase of pH when you need it the most or perhaps adding only 1/4 gallon at night and then 1/4 gallon in the morning would be another alternative. This is for using 1 teaspoon kalk for gallon. ;)

[HighlandReefer]

Using food grade pickling lime is fine. It is calcium hydroxide (kalk). ;)

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, kalk water is saturated at 2 teaspoons per gallon of rodi water and no more will dissolve. ;)

[Larz_1]

This is how I used to drip Kalk before I got my Kalk reactor.
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/674-diy-kalk-doser-video-podcast-episode-44-a.html

[cfgenesis]

This is how I used to drip Kalk before I got my Kalk reactor.
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/674-diy-kalk-doser-video-podcast-episode-44-a.html

Larz,

Where do you get the valve for the airline tubing?

[RA]

Larz,

Where do you get the valve for the airline tubing?

You don't have to use a valve. You could simply tie a knot in the tubing and adjust the tightness of it to get it to drip like you want.