Kalkwaser in top off

[skiper gre]

Please give me your opinions on adding kalkwasser to top off water.
My system is a 125 reef with about 200 lbs of rock, est. 80 gal volume with a 30 gal sump it has 2- 250 w MH I keep the temp at 77 to 79 with a chiller. The tank evaporates about two gallons per day. The tank has been set up for 1 year 2 months; things are going good lots of coral growth. I have been adding liquid calcium and magnesium supplement as well as a buffer to maintain the ph. average values at ph 7.9 mornings, 8.2 to 8.3 after lights on calcium 400 to 450 magnisum 1300 to 1400 alk 1.8 to 3.0,
The alk is hard for me to keep in line help with this would also be apreciated.

 

[skiper gre]

i found this in another post this is a copy and paste
For what it's worth.
Regarding this hobby and our saltwater aquariums, whenever you think of the following - think of the following.
What I mean is this.
CALCIUM AND ALKALINITY AND pH ARE ALL RELATED !
THEY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER ON A CONTINUOUS BASIS !
THIS HAPPENS DAILY !
IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH ONE - YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ONE, IF NOT BOTH OF THE OTHERS !
WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD CALCIUM - THINK CARBONATES AND pH
WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD ALKALINITY - THINK CALCIUM AND pH
WHEN YOU HEAR THE TERM pH - THINK ALKALINITY AND CALCIUM
If your calcium is low - your alkalinity is most likely too high.
If your calcium is too high - your alkalinity is most likely too low.
If you alkalinityis too low - your calcium is probably too high.
If your alkalinity is too high - your calcium is probably too low.
I'm done now
well!!!
I just tested my alk is 2.06 and calcium is 400 this is after lights on for about about nine hrs.

 

[jjlittle]

I have a 150 gal loaded reef tank I do kalk in top off and I have no porblem what so ever and all levels remain close to perfect never add mag or any thing else . I just do regular water changes once a month and dose kalk every other bucket on teh top off I to have about 2 t o3 gal evap a day.

 

[rainfishy]

Can we get some more opinions here. I too would like to use kalk, but do not want to use a drip system on my display and dont have a sump/fuge. So if you use kalk in your top off please explain how, etc. Thanks :thinking: :thinking:

 

[dburr]

If you grow calcifing corals, yes add it. If you have softies then don't add it.

 

[reefnut]

IMHO kalk is a great way to add alkalinity and calcium. You do need to slowly drip it in though!!
Get your levels upto around 3.0 and 420 then start dripping the kalk.

 

[rainfishy]

Reefnut- how do you suggest dripping if you have to drip into the main display? I have no sump/fuge to drip into and I'm not to excited about having some wierd looking thing above the display. :help:

 

[mudplayerx]

I drip kalk and it is a great way to maintain ph, alk, calcium all in one. I use a rather simple method. First I mix the kalk in a gallon water jug and let it sit 24 hours. I then put one of my glass canopies on and put the jug on top of that, with the edge of it hanging the open part of the tank. A simple pin prick and you get a nice steady drip/squirt.
We always have empty water jugs so it works out well. I'm sure you can reuse the same jug if you rise it out well and plug the holes with tape or glue.
ps- pickling lime at the grocery store is the same as kalkwasser and way cheaper.

 

[rainfishy]

Wow mudplayer thats a great way to do it. Not really excited about having a big jug on top of the tank, but maybe I can situated behing my lights. How much pickling lime do you add per gallon? Do you drip 24/7? How long does it take for one gallon to drip with your method?
Thanks fof the info

 

[reefnut]

You can drip the kalk just at night so you do not have the jug on top of the tank during the day. Make sure it's being added to a place of high flow. If you can drip it into the skimmer... that would be the perfect place.

 

[rainfishy]

OK thanks

 

[mafiea]

1 Gallon Motts apple juice jug.

 

[mudplayerx]

I put 1/2 tbsp to 2 tbsp depending on what my water parameters are. If everything is on target, I just do 1/2. If something like calcium or ph is low I add more.
How long it takes depends on a few things. It depends on how large of a pin you use, how many holes you poke, and how diligent you are on checking if the holes get clogged. If I check the jug every now and then and poke new holes as the old ones get clogged it usually takes 1-2 hours to drip. Don't be alarmed if your drip more resembles a squirt... mine always does and it has never hurt anything in my tank.
Remember to take the cap off the jug so that air can get in while the water squirts out (duh ). Also, take care not to shake/stir the jug at all prior to dripping it. You don't want any of the precipitate (white powder) in the tank at all. Take care to make the pinhole above the precipitate on the bottom of the jug as well.

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by mafiea
1 Gallon Motts apple juice jug.
Looks good! I used to have a coathanger next to my tank that I hung an I.V. from which I dripped my kalk. That worked great but I got lazy and didn't rinse it right away once and it messed up the I.V. drip.
I also used to have a doser on a timer that would squirt some into the tank every hour or so but I got lazy and hated HAVING to refill it.
Plastic jug is my fav method now

 

[mafiea]

I've had this jug for 6 months and it works great. I have a black shut off
valve to regulate the drip - night

 

[mafiea]

:happyfish

 

[rainfishy]

so you drip one gallon a night? or do you drip approximately what your tank evaporates in one day? So if i understand right you(mudplayerx) only drip for 2-3 hours at night? :notsure:

 

[mafiea]

I drip all night, only a very slow drip. What ever evaporates it gets replaced with the drip method