Kalkwasser

[gandolf8]

Anyone using kalk if so how are you doing it top off or
drip .? Having trouble with low ph . thx.

[Daddi0]

Mixed with vinegar and added to ATO

[gandolf8]

why vinegar and how much ?

[Daddi0]

Currently I am dosing approx. 3/4 tsp. Kalk a day. My reef gets a lot of fresh air so the PH before I started Kalk was 8.2 The kalk started to raise my PH above 8.5 so I started mixing vinegar with it to keep PH in check. Approx. vinegar a day is 90ml
Cheers! Mark

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've always used kalkwasser as topoff. (Never messed with the vinegar spike).
I dose topoff with a Spectrapure LitreMeter and 30 gallon brute filled with limewater. 30 gallons lasts me about two weeks at current evap rate.
House is closed up for winter and aquarium is currently @ pH 8.84 (@5PM. 6 hrs into full photoperiod).

My calcium reactor is currently offline. If I plug it in the effluent will drop aquarium to a high around pH 8.0 - 8.4

[Daddi0]

PH is 8.8+ ? Do you see any issues that high?
Cheers! Mark

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally Posted by Daddi0

PH is 8.8+ ? Do you see any issues that high?
Cheers! Mark

I do not.
Anything in my aquarium affected by pH 8.8 died 20 years ago.

[HerbC]

6 gallons of kalk in a Clear hefty tub. 87ml every hour on the hour with a jebao dosing pump. Ph 8.3, test alk, calc, mag on Sundays and it's stable. When it gets consumed faster than added, I recalculate with the reef calculator. Make adjustments with reef builder, etc. then up the dose.

[drtango]

I’m with Gary, all topoff is saturated Kalk from a 30 gallon Brute in the basement via an Avast peristaltic pump with a redundant float switch in sump. No other supplementation, I haven’t checked pH in years.

John

[Capt_Cully]

I keep Coming back to a few YouTube videos of Jason Fox. One was a speech, the other a tour of his aquariums. He is very regimented. 600 gallon water change every week. Checks lab values every week. Doesn’t check pH.

I have a probe on my apex that I havent Calibrated since I set It up. Dose kalk via spectrapure pump in 2 hour intervals starting at 4 pm until 6 am. Replace about 2 gallons per day.

[gandolf8]

going with ATO

[HerbC]

Make sure your system can handle it as ATO. Gary’s looks like a ton of SPS that would use all that alc and calc plus more a day. I tried it before as straight ATO and it pushed my alk and calc thru the roof on a 180g evaporating 2.5 gallons of water a day and only a handful of softies and LPS. I tried backing down the concentration and it just made a mess in my sump. Something to consider. Others using Kalk chime in on your dkh load per day.

[ggdowski]

I have a ton of Kalc (5gal bucket) that I am willing to trade. I switched over to triton.


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[saltire]

I have mine running in a my top off. I wish I'd done it earlier. It was an easy solution with great results so far.

[carmexx]

I dose 5 tsp to a gallon mix.....i automatically dose every 8 hrs 30 ml. I run 7.8 at night and reach 8.2 during the day. I just recently changed my dosage to 40 ml / per day.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally Posted by ggdowski

I have a ton of Kalc (5gal bucket) that I am willing to trade. I switched over to triton.


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Is it BRS calcium hydroxide?
If so, what do you want in trade?

[Ellery4u]

Originally Posted by gandolf8

Anyone using kalk if so how are you doing it top off or
drip .? Having trouble with low ph . thx.

I have 2 ATOs, 1 kalk in TLF Kalkreactor and 1 Freshwater. If my pH < 8.2 the fill with Kalk and pH >8.2 use FW.
Or you can manually drip 1 gallon at night out of a milk jug

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[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally Posted by Ellery4u

I have 2 ATOs, 1 kalk in TLF Kalkreactor and 1 Freshwater. If my pH < 8.2 the fill with Kalk and pH >8.2 use FW.
Or you can manually drip 1 gallon at night out of a milk jug

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I dripped one gallon per night out of a milk jug for years. IT WORKS!
I like how you have your current setup, Ellery.

This topic is extremely relevant to me right now as I am in my new sump room (small closet lol!) and I have to conserve space.
My question is
WILL A KALK STIRRER SAVE ME ROOM BY ELIMINATING THE NEED FOR A KALK MIXING BARREL?

I will always need a barrel for collection of RO water.
I could drop the LitreMeter hose into that same barrel and feed a kalk stirrer- but I would (occasionally) still need a barrel to mix new saltwater.
I'm trying to eliminate the need for two barrels.

[Gary Majchrzak]

a stirrer will eliminate the need for periodically dragging a kalk mixing barrel outside to clean.

I might add one!

Anybody around here have experience/recommendations regarding stirrers?

[Ellery]

Gary,

Well back from Paris to answer your question...

I bought the TLF Kalk stirrer/reactor just because it was a cheap option.
Pros: It works well for my 420 gallon system, I can place a cup of kalk in it and it can stay saturated for a few weeks or till you don't see any kalk sludge left on the bottom. It will depend on the season still though for evaporation rates.

Cons:
- the spinning output jet can clog sometimes and need vinegar dips every so often.

I do it this way since the Red Sea Regional Manager Matt talked me into the benefits he saw in his automated system to prevent pH spikes due to seasonal drifts.

So far I've been running like this for the last 5 years or so and has eliminated the seasonal spikes I've been seeing prior.

As for a better solution I would choose a strong magnetic stirrer solution instead to avoid the clogging problem. I was thinking of making a 5 gallon bucket magnetic stirrer since it would be easier to refill with Kalk powder and do a gravity feed with a high head sicce pump to fill the bucket from a common freshwater reservoir that I am already using.

So far it's not too bad with just the TLF Kalkstirrer.

If you want I can take a picture of mine.

Ellery

[Gary Majchrzak]

Welcome back!
I ended up getting the last big Aqua Medis stirrer on BRS.
Looks like a winner!
Started ripping the reef apart tonight for the move.

[jfl14609]

i was thinking about adding kalk to my system oddly enough i have never used it in all these years. My new setup will mainly be lps so thinking i may not have to dose with kalk.. Currently i have a brute container with my ro water i use for top off how do you guys add it to the brute container just toss x amount in and leave a pump running to stir it? my setup refills itself automatically how do i know when to add more is there a way to test the level or is it just trial and error

[Gary Majchrzak]

2 tsp per gallon cold ro.
Stir. No pump because limewater will destroy it.
The kalk will reach saturation when you stir it.
Close the lid on brute. A thin floating crust will form on the surface when you do this correctly. No need to stir the kalk in the brute until you add more ro water. Best to use the whole barrel before starting the process of making more.

[jfl14609]

So being I basically have a auto tip of setup that automatically refills I wonder if just doing a drip might be better for me prob I have is my ro stuff is very far from sump so being a plumber I just ran lines so I don’t need to go down there then I have a pump in basement hooked to a WiFi outlet when I need to top off I just say Alexa turn on pump and it fills haha

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's advised to drip kalk into system via peristaltic type pump. Personally, I use a litremeter.

Not to go off topic... but I've been reefing and taking vacations for over 20 years. Up to this point, I don't need to monitor my aquarium online when I leave town for a week at a time.

The few reefing disasters I've had while away involved someone else taking care of my aquarium.

*Back to the original subject*
Preparing kalk is as easy as making a 30 gallon barrel full of kool-aid. You just need to remember that calcium hydroxide/pickling lime/kalkwasser/limewater is CAUSTIC.
ie: don't sniff it