just got my kalkwasser

wildblue4

wildblue4

Member
got the kalkwasser mix in today from kent. Just wanting to see how most people are mixing this and also how they are adding it to there tank. I dont have a drip system, so i will be adding it manually. I figure i have around 90-100 gals of water in the tank. :rolleyes: i mainly have fish and soft corals with a little live rock. Im really interested in getting the calcareous algaes to grow. any help or advice, thanks in advance.
 
josh

josh

Active Member
I use 1 1/2 tsp. per gallon, shake the milk jug, cap it and let it sit overnight. If you are using a container to hold the kalk water after you mix it make sure it has a tight seal. CO2 will break down the kalk water in a matter of hours.
I use one of THESE to dose my kalk. You will need to be careful on dosing the way you mentioned. The pH of kalk water is near 13. So as you might guess dumping a lot of it in at one time will really spike your pH.
HTH
 
gregzbobo

gregzbobo

Member
I have to agree with josh, its best to add mixed kalk slowly over a period of time, rather than pour some in here and there, slow dosing also avoids getting the surface scum mixed in with the clear stuff that you really want. A cheap dosing system can be made with one of those 2.5-3 gallon water dispenser jugs from wal-mart, add a length of airline tubing to the spigot, sealing it on with silicone, and to adjust the rate of drip, tie a know in the airline tubing till you get a slow drip into your sump or tank. VERY cheap, but there ARE much better ways of dosing kalk out there. I personally use a kent 2.5 gallon aquadose plumbed into a kent float valve. My water level doesn't change at all, salinity changes are almost unheard of, except for the rare addition of salt water to replace lost water in the skimmer collection cup.
 
skooby

skooby

Member
I too did a drip, but Ill tell ya how I did it . I took a 1 gal milk jug mixed up my kalk, put a whole in the top with a air tube coming out of it. (TAPE IT). I went and got a very small valve at the hardware store put it on the other end and put my milk jug up high to let gravity do its part. Now to calibrate it my husband took the same milk jug before I mixed the kalk and let it sit, and went by the directions not to exceed a certain amount in a certain period of time. Well he figured out where the water should be in a 1 hours time and adjusted accordingly. WORKED GREAT!! Hope it helps :)
 
wildblue4

wildblue4

Member
ok got me a glass jug, valve, and tygone tubing and made a homemade drip for my kalk. the jug is 1/2 gallon in size. i have got the drip, with just water, down to 14 drips a minute. I am measuring this over night. I made the kalk up in a gallon picture with a lid on it and im going to let it sit over night.
Can someone be so kind as to see about how many drips you average in a minute for me. I have reed the instructions on the jar but do not see where it tells you how much to distribute over a period of time. i think a slow drip is what all is telling me so i should be fine but just want to be safe. i am going to let this drip into my sump. thanks for any help you can give because i know it will take a little effort to give me an answer. im ready to start dripping my kalk.;)
 
gregzbobo

gregzbobo

Member
Try to set the drip so it will keep the water level in your sump constant. Kind of tough to do really, thats why I use a float valve.
 
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