Switching to kalk

[MarksReef]

I'm switching from B-ionic to Kalk from my A.T.O. which adds about 1/2 gallon twice a day in about 30 minutes each time.
Is this ok or really necessary to program my apex differently to say maybe 3-4 times and at night only or does it really matter all that much?

[bertoni]

It's best to run Kalkwasser as a drip, using a slow peristaltic pump or something similar in output speed. I wouldn't add a half gallon at a shot to a 93g tank. That could cause a fairly significant pH spike, more than 0.6 units, most likely, depending on how much water actually is in the system.

[MarksReef]

How are others using a ato w kalk? Are they setting their apex to make it top off for shorter periods?

[bertoni]

I ran mine with a float switch. I'm not sure I've heard of many people controlling ATO with a timer, but I suppose it should work if the evaporation rate is well enough known.

[rwb500]

he's talking about using a float switch but also limiting the amount of time it can be on at once. this is a good idea and is frequently recommended. just find out how much your ATO needs to run per day and make sure you are not limiting it past that, or even close.

like if you think your ato needs to run for about 5 minutes a day, don't limit it to 15 seconds every hour, because that's only 6 minutes max per day.

[kaskiles]

I found the guideline in Randys' Kalk article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/#5


4. Delivering a small amount of limewater all at once. Adding 1.25% of the aquarium’s volume (1.25 gallons of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) as saturated limewater all at once raises the pH by 0.6 to 0.7 pH units. Such an increase is clearly too large. Adding a smaller portion all at once can, however, be acceptable. Adding, for example, 0.25% of the aquarium volume (0.25 gallons or 1 L of limewater per 100 gallons of aquarium water) will raise the pH by only 0.1 to 0.2 pH units. Unless the pH is high (>8.4) before the addition, that amount is likely acceptable. The other concern with all-at-once dosing is that the local pH in the area of the addition will rise considerably higher than the values above. So dosing must be done far from living organisms, and in high flow areas that will facilitate fast mixture. In some aquaria, such restrictions make all-at-once dosing of limewater prohibitively risky to living organisms.

[Mr sea water]

I dose 200mlph from 9pm to 7am every day? I use a stirrer and lab grade calcium hydroxide? Just to keep the PH up to 7.86ish!!

[thegrun]

I would not dose that much kalk at one time, you are going to see too large of an alkalinity and pH swing with kalkwasser. If you want to limit the times your your tank will actually add top off water I would reprogram the controller to top off once an hour.

[MarksReef]

Thanks, i'll have to find a program for the Apex or another delivery method.

[EasyEd77]

I replace all of my evaporated water with kalk. I have the Spectrapure Ultra Precise Top off for my ATO. Whenever my sump level drops past my set level probably 1/8 inch it drips into my sump. I have been doing this for around 2 months no with no issues. At first I was monitoring my PH of my aquarium daily and it never went above 8.3.

[MarksReef]

Well, I already have the Avast A.T.O. and there is no way to shorten it's top off cycle to much less the 1/2 gallon at a time in 1/2 hour so I'll have to come up with a program for the Apex to tell it what to do :) I'm not too good at figuring the programing out but I'm sure I'll get some reply's in a different section for that.

[DeepSeaBeauti]

After reading Randy's article I am beginning to think maybe I should dose my Kalk in the drain portion of my sump and not into the refugium section of my system. Any thoughts?

[tmz]

Spreading it out matters a lot.
Typically, spreading daily top with kalk off over 5 hours into a high flow area is safe. I dose a daily preset amount approixmating, 24/7 from a still reservoir via peristaltic pump( litermeter 3).The controller on that unit braks the daily dose out in equal increments every 9 to 10 minutes/150 per day.

[bertoni]

I always dosed into the display, even when my systems had a sump. That's the largest volume of water available, generally.