Is this normal?

[derick75]

I have read a little about calcifacation in various articles but I have a slight problem. I use kalk ( 1.5 teasppn per gallon) for all top off water. And my glass sump is covered in calcium along with my heater, can not even see through the sump. This sump is 3 months old, and my ehiem pump needs to be cleaned quite often. When I try to clean the glass in the sump I get thoose calcium flakes all in the water. Is this normal or am i using to much kalk? The main display has no calcium on the glass at all, just the sump area. The auto top off fills in the last chamber which is the worst for build up, but even the first 2 areas in the sump are encrusted.

calicum -435 ppm
alk -3.66 meg/l
never tested for magnesium

I use reef crystals and maintain 1.024-1025 SG using refractometer.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How much and how fast do you add limewater?

What is the pH in the sump when adding it?

[derick75]

I have the PH moniter close to the output of the kalk my PH runs 8.0 at night and 8.2 during the day. When the limewater is dosed it will raise up to 9.5 or so. The auto top off is quite sensitive so it adds roughly a cup and half at a time

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That is probably too much. How much flow goes through the sump?

[derick75]

75 gallon tank i run 250gph through the 20 long

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you can spread out the limewater additions a bit, that might be worthwhile.

Checking the magnesium may also be beneficial. :)