Dosing Kalwasser

[JMorris271]

Where is the bast place to dose Kalwasser from between the sump or ato?
I am using a drip tube. Thanks

[Flippers4pups]

Currently I'm mixing Kalk and RO/DI water in my ATO.

[JMorris271]

How does the saturation level work out that way?
Still working on my coffee here

[dieselkeeper]

I mix the kalk with my ATO water. I put a small powerhead on a timer to keep it mixed. Once an hour it mixes for 10 minutes. When my PH in the tank starts to drop, I know it is time to add more kalk to the ATO water.

[m0nkie]

ok. to summarize, you guys measure out the correct amount of Kalk for your ATO reservoir, mix it, stir daily, then use the ATO to pump kalk water into DT?

basically it will refill Kalk at water evaporation rate?

I heard people putting reactor into ATO reservoir to control Kalk amount.. Is this another method or am I misunderstanding something

[75pxatr]

I use it at 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons in my top off. Had a Kalk reactor but I prefer to do it this way. Works better for me.

[readc]

ok. to summarize, you guys measure out the correct amount of Kalk for your ATO reservoir, mix it, stir daily, then use the ATO to pump kalk water into DT?

basically it will refill Kalk at water evaporation rate?

I heard people putting reactor into ATO reservoir to control Kalk amount.. Is this another method or am I misunderstanding something

The max saturation for kalkwasser in water is 2tsp per gallon. anymore than that and it just settles to the bottom of the storage tank. You need to monitor your demand. I started 1tsp per gallon and had to slowly increase to 2 tsp. This will prevent an alk spike in the beginning.

Once you have determined this, just add kalk powder to your ato reservoir and mix. I use an old pump to mix the solution for a few minutes. Once the kalk is suspended in solution it does not drop out. In other words there is no need to continually mix. In fact, it is best to let the mixture settle out so the impurities settle in the bottom of the reservoir and are not added to the tank. I keep my ATO pump suspended a few inches from the bottom so as not to add these impurities to the tank. I use the Tunze Osmolator and it has worked flawlessly so far.

You can also add a reactor between your sump (or input to tank) and your ATO reservoir. This keeps the kalk out of the ATO pump and storage tank. I just ran into too many issues with siphoning trying to utilize a reactor between the ATO and the sump. Could work for your set up though.

sorry for rambling. -Curtis

Edit: For some clarification, you can added more than 2tsp per gallon to your reservoir, but it will not be dissolved into solution unless you add more water. At that point it would be more difficult to determine the concentration of the kalkwasser entering you tank. This is why I added Kalk and refill my ATO reservoir at the same time.

[JMorris271]

The max saturation for kalkwasser in water is 2tsp per gallon. anymore than that and it just settles to the bottom of the storage tank. You need to monitor your demand. I started 1tsp per gallon and had to slowly increase to 2 tsp. This will prevent an alk spike in the beginning.

Once you have determined this, just add kalk powder to your ato reservoir and mix. I use an old pump to mix the solution for a few minutes. Once the kalk is suspended in solution it does not drop out. In other words there is no need to continually mix. In fact, it is best to let the mixture settle out so the impurities settle in the bottom of the reservoir and are not added to the tank. I keep my ATO pump suspended a few inches from the bottom so as not to add these impurities to the tank. I use the Tunze Osmolator and it has worked flawlessly so far.

You can also add a reactor between your sump (or input to tank) and your ATO reservoir. This keeps the kalk out of the ATO pump and storage tank. I just ran into too many issues with siphoning trying to utilize a reactor between the ATO and the sump. Could work for your set up though.

sorry for rambling. -Curtis

Edit: For some clarification, you can added more than 2tsp per gallon to your reservoir, but it will not be dissolved into solution unless you add more water. At that point it would be more difficult to determine the concentration of the kalkwasser entering you tank. This is why I added Kalk and refill my ATO reservoir at the same time.
This sounds like adding salt to a top off. Still working on Second cup.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Make sure your ATO adds water slowly. A fast ATO won't be suitable with limewater (kalkwasser).

If you are dosing from a large reservoir (the best way, IMO) you do not stir it except when first mixed. Stirring only speeds the degradation of it by CO2 in the air.

[m0nkie]

Make sure your ATO adds water slowly. A fast ATO won't be suitable with limewater (kalkwasser).

If you are dosing from a large reservoir (the best way, IMO) you do not stir it except when first mixed. Stirring only speeds the degradation of it by CO2 in the air.

what do you mean adds water slowly? The speed ATO pumps into the DT? Wouldn't that depend purely on evaporation? ~2-3 gallons a day

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, but that 2-3 gallons could go into the tank spread over 4-6 hours as 0.5 gallons per h, which is OK, or in 3 spurts of 1 gallon each in 2 minutes each, which is not. :)

Adding 1.25% of the tank volume at once boosts pH by 0.6-0.7 pH units instantly, which is too much.

The slower the better. That's why many folks use drippers or very slow ATO pumps.

[m0nkie]

in your opinion, do you think the Tunze ATO pump is slow enough? Most of times, I only hear it on for 10 seconds at a time.. so I don't think alot is being pumped out. At the end of the day, I would find my 10 gal reservoir short ~2 gallons.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've not used it to know the flow rate. I'll leave it to others, but it depends on your tank size as well. :)

[readc]

in your opinion, do you think the Tunze ATO pump is slow enough? Most of times, I only hear it on for 10 seconds at a time.. so I don't think alot is being pumped out. At the end of the day, I would find my 10 gal reservoir short ~2 gallons.

I have a 100gallon set up and the Tunze osmolator pumps kalk from my ATO to my sump and it works perfect.

I dont know if this is for all models of the osmolator, but if you unscrew the 4 screws holding the face plate on monitor there is a knob and you can turn it one way or the other to increase the amount of water it discharges when the device kicks on. I opened it up and turned my pretty far down and it works great.

[JMorris271]

Does kalk stay in the water after evaporation like salt?

[Jetlinkin]

When water evaporates, everything is left behind. Only pure water evaporates. However, the kalk will not build up by adding more kalk water as it is used in the aquarium in the form of ALK and CA. Using kalk in your ATO is just one of many forms of supplementing ALK and CA levels in proportion.

[DENIZSEAMAR]

I use kalk stirrer with dosing pump. In my tank ph doesnt stay constantly after it rises almost 0,02 in my tank. 10 min later it goes down where it has been before kalkwasser has been added. It holds my ph between 8.18-8.22 at night 8.38-8.42 at daylight. kH doesnt rise but also doesnt drop from 7 dkh. I have 80 g tank . And I dosee 55 ml saturated kalkwasser every 20 mins at night and every hour at day light. But I dunno if it is right to do , I also dosee Mg (magflake ) before adding kalk into tank .

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just to be clear, kalkwasser shouldn't be exposed to air for it to evaporate. CO2 will enter it and destroy it. Keep it in a closed container of some sort, such as a trash can with a closed lid. It should not be extensively stirred in the open air.

As mentioned above, the calcium and alkalinity added to aquarium water by any method won't ever evaporate from the seawater. :)

[dieselkeeper]

Just to be clear, kalkwasser shouldn't be exposed to air for it to evaporate. CO2 will enter it and destroy it. Keep it in a closed container of some sort, such as a trash can with a closed lid. It should not be extensively stirred in the open air.

As mentioned above, the calcium and alkalinity added to aquarium water by any method won't ever evaporate from the seawater. :)

Thanks for the info. I will be taking out the power head. And only stir when added. I do keep it tightly closed.

[JMorris271]

I use it at 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons in my top off. Had a Kalk reactor but I prefer to do it this way. Works better for me.

If your res. is only partially full with top off water that has been correctly dosed at 2 tsp per gal, and you need to fill the res. how do you know what dose of kalk is right so that you don't overdose the res.?

[readc]

If your res. is only partially full with top off water that has been correctly dosed at 2 tsp per gal, and you need to fill the res. how do you know what dose of kalk is right so that you don't overdose the res.?

you can't really overdose your reservoir because the water added will only become saturated up to a certain point. max saturation is 2tsp to 1 gallon pretty much.

do you have any way of measuring the amount of water you are adding to your resevoir? for me, if my reservoir is half full its 10 gallons, so if i added another 10 gallons of DI to it to top it off, then i would just added 20tsps of kalk powder and stir it. IF i add more kalk then that if will just settle to the bottom and not dissolve until more water is added. If i do not add enough kalk powder then my alk starts to drop in the tank. Does that make sense?

[m0nkie]

interesting. did not know that extra kalk would settle until new water comes in.

[readc]

interesting. did not know that extra kalk would settle until new water comes in.

that's how the reactors work. you add in a bunch of kalk powder and as the ato pumps new water through the reactor more kalk powder dissolves and only saturated lime water is pumped through the top of the reactor and into your tank.

[fred fishstone]

I've been using one of these (http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=17514&cat=1113&page=1) for 9 years — really dependable!

Pumps kalk from a Brute in the basement. Not float switches, no timers. I just keep an eye on the level in the sump and adjust the feed rate once in a while.

[JMorris271]

you can't really overdose your reservoir because the water added will only become saturated up to a certain point. max saturation is 2tsp to 1 gallon pretty much.

do you have any way of measuring the amount of water you are adding to your resevoir? for me, if my reservoir is half full its 10 gallons, so if i added another 10 gallons of DI to it to top it off, then i would just added 20tsps of kalk powder and stir it. IF i add more kalk then that if will just settle to the bottom and not dissolve until more water is added. If i do not add enough kalk powder then my alk starts to drop in the tank. Does that make sense?
;)sure does

[Tete]

I use a Geo kalk reactor that doses using a peristaltic pump. The pump is hooked up to my Apex. When the pH drops below my bottom range, the pump turns on until the top of the range. I've been doing this for years without issues.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When the pH drops below my bottom range, the pump turns on until the top of the range. I've been doing this for years without issues.

What range do you set it for, and what alkalinity does that end up maintaining?

Or do you otherwise supplement alkalinity?

[Sethjamto]

My 90 barely evaporates 1/2g a day, so I have a 5g water jug with kalk mixed in and set it on a Litermeter III dosing 1/2g a day. The litermeter doses this 1/2g a day over a 24 hour period, something like 150 small doses that all equal 1/2g by the end of the 24 hour period. I'm going to use this same setup on my 300g. If my tank evaps a little more than 1/2g, my ATO maintains it from there. Works great!

[JMorris271]

If a doser is dosing a 2 part, this would eliminate dosing with Kalk if desired levels are reached;or should you use a combination of 2 part & kalk to reach that level?
If this is a stupid question, I apologize.

Thanks