Dripping Kalk

[ezerasurfr]

Anyone use an Aquabreed to drip Kalk?

Should I be concerned using this method for any reason? (ie. I cant keep the solution mixed or water moving in the breeder)

Thanks.

[RA]

That wouldn't be a good choice for dripping kalk. You want the kalk to settle on the bottom of your container and drip the water above where the kalk settles. A 1/2 gallon milk jug works fine.

[stingythingy45]

What's an aquabeed?
You really don't need to keep kalk mixed up.Only so much will stay in solution anyways.
And the stuff that settles out can be mixed back in for the next batch.Please be careful with dripping kalk.It can and has been a quick way to kill a system if too much finds it's way into your water.

[ezerasurfr]

an aquabreed is like a hatchery, but can be used to drip additives via a control valve and gravity. Better than running pumps for a small tank (72g).

I've been dosing 2 part, but am switching to kalk as the 2part is not keeping my dkh where I need it to be. I will supplement Ca and Mg where needed after I switch to kalk, but am trying to get around the need for a reactor.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Were you just not adding enough two part? There is no tank that cannot keep alkalinity in a reasonable range with enough two part additions. :)

Limewater is a fine choice and it is all I use, but it has more of a limitation on the alk levels than does a two part.

[stingythingy45]

Most people go with kalk as they think it is the cure all for low PH.
But sometimes it's not worth the trouble for a small system.
I use kalk in my system but it's got 180 gallons of total water volume.And I use a auto top-off system to dose it out of a 20 gallon Brute trash container.
It uses that whole 20 gallons per week.Plus I still need to dose 2 part to keep things right.

[sslak]

I'm sure Randy can get you where you need to be :)

Where are your Ca and Mg levels?

Alk can be difficult to adjust with 2part if Mg and Ca are off. (its really 3 part)

[ezerasurfr]

Well my Mg and Ca are always balanced. Ca is 440-450 consistently and Mg is between 1300 and 1350. My alk is anywhere from 8.0 all the way down to 6.4. I dose more than the 2 part recommends already (on the part B). However, I only dose 2 times per day instead of using a dosing pump. That is why I wanted to use a drip method and switch to kalk, to get more stable.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How much of what brand were you adding?

We can determine if limewater can add that same amount (or not).

FWIW, you could drip the alk part of the two part if you needed to add so much you could not add it all at once.


Don't believe manufacturer recommendations on limits to the amount you can add. If the demand is there from corals, you can up it as much as needed.

But if you are getting precipitation on pumps, etc, then you may need to change what you are adding or how.

[ezerasurfr]

I'm using Reef Fusion 2 part. the dose is 1ml/ 6.5 gallons of water every 2 days. With my 30g sump, I have ~102gallons. So it's approximately 7.5ml/ day of each part (3.75 twice/day). I am up to 6ml twice daily for the 2nd part and still barely making 7dkh/day.

My issue is that I'm almost doubling my Ca uptake where as I will be left with additional bottles of part 1.

I am not getting any precipitation (yet).