Kalkwasser question

[sucram]

I'm going to start adding kalkwasser to boost my Ca in order to start adding some stony corals. I bought ESV's product and made it up with RO (I'm also using B-Ionic). It says on the label to add the solution after it clears. Anyone use this? Does this mean to wait for the undissolved material to settle? Limewater is cloudy, right?
I rigged a system to slowly add the kalkwasser drop by drop. Should I start out by replacing ALL my evaporated water with it, or should I start out slower? I would be adding about a liter/ day to a 90 gal tank.
I know someone will ask about my water quality, so here it is: zero's on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. pH: 8.2, Alkalinity: 2.8 meq/L, Ca: 330 mg/L.
Anything else I should know before starting this?

 

[q]

You use the middle part. Not the stuff on the bottom or the film layer on top.
You may want to use a pure calcium additive to get it to the level you want then maintain your calcium with the kalkwasser.

 

[nm reef]

Plato is right.....I use a drip system set-up with the drip tube about 1 inch from bottom of container.....also I'd use a calcium product to raise calcium before using kalk....I used sea chem reef advantage and reef builder to get calcium @ 450ppm & alkalinity @ 2.8-3.5 meg/l....after stabalising these levels I started nightly drip of kalk to help maintain them.

 

[up north hermit]

Good advice all. I do exactly what NM does, except that I use Kents Turbo Calcium (a great product for raising Calcium) and Kents SuperBuffer dKH for maintaing alkalinity.
I used to use the two parters too, but dropped that method when I went to dripping Kalk. This has given me much better results.
HTH
Hermit

 

[sucram]

Thanks for the advice. I'll start the drip tonight and check my readings over the next couple of days. If I don't notice a significant rise in Ca, I'll try the additives you told me about.
Would a sudden boost in Ca concentration affect anything negatively? I have a huge finger leather, a bunch of mushrooms, yellow polyps and star polyps, along with my fish, clean-up crew, stars, feather dusters...

 

[@knight]

It is important to remember to boost the Ca before using kalk, as kalk will only maintain the level, not raise it significantly.

 

[up north hermit]

The sudden boost in Calcium will have no ill affects.
Hermit

 

[kris walker]

Hi guys,
I'm confused by the implied use of kalk here. As I understand it, putting kalk solution into a system will increase the Ca in the system. The kalk water is only free Ca and OH ions, right? Why would someone want to use an additional Ca additive when kalkwasser should be just that?
A little confused,
sam

 

[junkf15]

Sam-
I’m not a chemistry major, but as I understand it, the kalk is not concentrated enough to raise the Ca level in most cases, it is specifically designed to keep the Ca level constant. Oh by the way, don’t forget to dose trace elements like magnesium as these trace elements can have a significant effect on the solubility of calcium in your tank water. Not all salt solution have as much magnesium as sea water because it is expensive for the manufactures to include it. So even regular water changes aren’t always enough.

 

[kris walker]

Hi Junk,
Thanks for the reply. For the record, I'm not a chem major either, rather geophysics, a far cry from chem. Anyway, I am wondering if everyone just *uses* kalkwasser as a Ca buffering agent by drip methods.
But if one emptys a gallon of the stuff (in the course of say 2 minutes) into a reef tank, I would think it would raise the Ca in the tank if the stuff is just Ca and OH ions. However, the North Hermit replied to a recent posting of mine in another board, and said that use of kalkwasser depletes phosphate from the reef tank. So maybe the reason I am confused is that any leftover Ca (kalkwasser Ca not used in the reef tank) bonds with phosphate. Can anyone verify or rebuke this?
Thanks for the info on magnesium Junk. I will check my salt mixture to see.
Just trying to understand,
sam
PS. this is such a great community, and a wonderful website to communicate over.

 

[up north hermit]

Hi again Sam.
I think the key here is that NEVER can you "empty a gallon of the stuff (in the course of say 2 minutes) into a reef tank."
It has to be dripped slowly into the tank. What this does (ionically speaking) is beyond my expertise, but perhaps because it is added SLOWLY it can not raise the calcium substantially, but rather maintain the existing level.
Maybe one of our chemists can chime in here and help us out.
HTH
Hermit