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View Full Version : How long to wait to put kalk in ATO?


Lynnmw1208
04/17/2011, 12:01 AM
I want to eventually put kalkwasser in my ATO reservoir to keep my calcium and such stable. when do people usually start doing this? Right now the tank is about a month and a half old. water params are great: ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are 0, and I have 4 coral frags: 1 sps, 1 ricordea, 1 zoa, and 1 frogspawn. I already started to see a drop in my calcium from last week to this week: 470 to 420. I am using the API kit to test. alk also dropped from 11 to 9. I don't have a magnesium test kit but will be getting one soon. I know the levels are still normal so my question is I guess how low do I go before dosing?

iwishtofish
04/17/2011, 12:23 AM
I'm curious about this, too.

MarkGP
04/17/2011, 04:51 AM
I would think that at this point with the amount of corals you have regular water changes should keep your levels up. If not you could start with some 2 part additives until you have more of a demand and then start adding kalk to your top off.

Phishguy
04/17/2011, 07:31 AM
I agree with above. Water changes alone will keep you in check.

zigzag1
04/17/2011, 08:38 AM
Watch your Alk and Ca parameters; when these start to drop, indicating consumption, adjust your additions accordingly. GL!

dzhuo
04/17/2011, 03:50 PM
water params are great: ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are 0, and I have 4 coral frags: 1 sps, 1 ricordea, 1 zoa, and 1 frogspawn. I already started to see a drop in my calcium from last week to this week: 470 to 420. I am using the API kit to test. alk also dropped from 11 to 9.

The drop seems excessive given your current stock list. I would make sure there is not a lot of abiotic precipitation happening. For example, check your heaters and pumps to see if there are lots of cal deposit. Perhaps you have lots of coralline that consume alk and cal?

When I had my 10g nano, I pretty much drip kalk from the beginning (as day 1). SPS and coralline in particular were growing out of control. For example, in 3 short months, it went from:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w84/dzhuo/10g/Img1333.jpg

to this:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w84/dzhuo/10g/Img1679.jpg

The problem is there would also be a ton of cal deposit and I have to vinegar bath the pumps regularly like every 2 months. It's easy for a nano but would be too much work in a larger tank.

Lynnmw1208
04/17/2011, 09:41 PM
I thought those numbers were kind of weird as well. I do have coralline but only excessively on 2 rocks so far (the live rocks) and it's slowly making its way to the dry rock. I know snails and such use calcium but I didn't think that much of it. would the aragonite sand have anything to do with it? I am going to check the calcium and alk in a week again to see my levels.

dzhuo
04/18/2011, 10:11 AM
would the aragonite sand have anything to do with it?

I don't think the sand would cause the drop. Is your tank new? If so, this might be normal. Even after your tank cycled, there could be die off which bounds alk and cal. As bacteria consume the decaying matter, alk / cal could be released back to the water column. If you head over to the chemistry forum, they would be able to tell you the exact process. Basically it's normal for alk / cal to swing naturally (not by coral consumption) before your tank stabilize and being to mature.

I don't think it would hurt to drip kalk even from the beginning except it might be unnecessary.