dripping kalk?

[Nabob89]

I won't start doing this for a few months since I only plan on having softies for now, but when I get hard corals (LPS), how can I tell how much Kalk to add per day?......do you have to DRIP it, or can I just add it to the 1/2 gallon of water I top off with per day and dump it all in at once?....my tank is 55 gallons......should I drip it now even though I have no LPS?....I do want some corraline growth. Thanks,
-Matt

[TekCat]

First of all you should DRIP it! kalk's pH is around 12, so adding relatively large amount could burn corals and kill them.

As far as how much, start dripping slow, frequently checking pH, alkalinity, and Calcium; slowly increase dripping rate up to point when it matches evaporation rate. Monitoring above mentioned parameters is very important so you wont mess them too much.

Obviously rate is also will depend on your tank's intake of Calcium and alkalinity. If it is only coraline in your tank, and no hard corals, then you could drip undersaturated (less than 1tbs of kalk per gallon), and increasing potency of kalk mix as needed when you'll have hard corals.

Most important is to add kalk slowly (dripping) in high flow area (like a sump), and monitoring pH. If it becomes too high, stop dripping, or your tank will be in trouble.

good luck

[sarduci]

TekCat has it right.

Drip only, in high flow area not pointing at ANYTHING living. Too much kalk to fast can cause a loss of calcium and it will precipitates out in a white mess consuming your Alk in the process.

Have a bottle of plain vinager on hand, if your PH is way out of whack from a too fast does adding it can counter act the kalk and lower it, but it takes a lot to do the job.

[Nabob89]

thanks for the replies....but I still don't fully understand how it works....any good articles that explain dripping in depth....I want to know what it affects/how to stop any bad affects/what bad signs to look for, etc.

[falesdk]

the chemistry forum, with randy has some amazing (if slightly complicated) articles on reef chemistry that will explain a lot, and no matter how stupid your questions are (trust me I had some doozies) randy himself will usually/always answer...as well as some other people. And their nice about it too :)

[ohioreef]

I top off with kalk using a float switch and aqualifter pump. I top-off 24/7 and have never had any issues with pH spikes. If you want more info check out my webpage or feel free to PM me.

[bertoni]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

That article covers the topic pretty well.