Mixing Kalk

[azfishgal]

OK, I'm going to take the plunge and start a Kalk drip, and I need a little help on the directions. It say to add 1/8 min. to 2 teaspoons max. (I'll start with 1/8) per gallon of fresh water (RO/DI). The bottle I'm using to mix and drip is only 1.75L, so how much should I use, half of 1/8 teaspoon? My tank is 125 gallons with a 30(?) gallon sump.

 

[weberian]

I use 1 tsp per gallon, and that still loses some calcium between 2 week water changes (9-gal change with 30g display and 20g sump). Ca drops from 420 to 390 between changes.
I would not bother with anything less than 1/2 tsp per gallon. JMO

 

[azfishgal]

I mixed some Kalk in a 1.7L bottle (not filled completely) and used a little under 1/8 teaspoon. It's been sitting for almost eight hours and I don't see a film on the top of the water, nor do I see any thing on the bottom. Did I not add enough? I filled my bottle about 1/3 of the way, then added the kalk, mixed it up and then filled the rest of the bottle with my RO/DI water.

 

[murph145]

yeah using less that a teaspoon is not much kalk....
i use it in my top off water for extra calcium and alk along with helping to raise PH of the tank....
i use about 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons of fresh water....
what corals u keeping now?? do u need to add kalk yet??

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by murph145
yeah using less that a teaspoon is not much kalk....
i use it in my top off water for extra calcium and alk along with helping to raise PH of the tank....
i use about 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons of fresh water....
what corals u keeping now?? do u need to add kalk yet??
I have frogspawn, mushrooms, torch, open brain, GSP, and zoos. The real reason I need to add Kalk is my pH is low (8.0) but my alk is high (4.34). (My Alk was 5.26 a week ago.) I was talking with Jimmy on another thread and we believe my CO2 level is high (in my QT the pH is also low and alk is off the charts), so I was told the Kalk should balance it out, bring up my pH but bring down my alk because it will take out the CO2. I want to do it slowly first so I don't over shoot it. The size of bottle I have to use is 1.7L, I can put this bottle in a perfect spot right on top of my sump and have it drip down to the water that's nice and turbulant. I was thinking I can do this at night and then the next day take the empty (or almost empty) bottle out and remix some more Kalk doing it again at night. Do you think I'll need to do this every night, or just every other night? I've never done a Kalk drip before so I'm a little unsure how much I'll need.

 

[weberian]

Nothing wrong with starting slow, then developing your method. The only problems I've had is that the airline valve will get clogged up and the drip will stop completely. Not sure what to do about that. I've since moved to 24-hour using float valve.
Just keep an eye on your pH spikes, and you're good. Since you're using less concentrated mix, your spikes should be very small.

 

[rambomessiah]

I set up 2 five gallon water jugs for kalk dripping.When one line clogs just run vinegar and water thru the syphon untill it clears. Use a fast stream to unclog lines. EASY

 

[weberian]

Yeah, Rambo, that's good for maintenance, but for me (when I was using a slow drip rate) it can clog up a perfectly clean valve. Your evap. in a 72g with MH is alot more, and so you can use quite a high drip rate.
Azfishgal is using 1.7 L overnight, and that is NOT a high drip rate, I don't think. I just remembered, I was using 2L in about 6 hours, so her drip rate is going to be even less than mine, which WILL clog brand new air line valves.

 

[rambomessiah]

True,true 72 gallon plus the 55 sump=more evap. You're so smart

 

[weberian]

Not as smart as you.....otherwise you wouldn't beat me at poker so much.
Good luck with your frag tonight.
Please accept this ("Highjack apology"

)

 

[weberian]

I wonder if this would work: place the airline valve on the uphill side of the drip, instead of on the downhill side. That way particles of undissolved kalk could not gather by gravity into the valve itself. It might be worth a shot.

Mine were always on the down side.

 

[sjimmyh]

I read that at 2 teaspoons per gallon the kalkwasser will be saturated (as strong as it can be). I am using a little more than a teaspoon per gallon. At that concentration you should see the film on top form because I do.
I am dripping about a drip a second of this solution into my 75 gallon tank. I also have elevated CO2 in my home which slumps my pH. I think the only time I went above 8.1 is when I was figuring out my drip rate and was a little on the fast side.
I now stay fairly consistant throughout the day and night. I no longer have as large a pH swing. I am typically very close to 8.0 24/7. I did attempt to use stronger abouts of Kalkwasser mix, but I had a problem with getting some of the residue in the tank and making the tank a little cloudy which was visually unappealing. I have since dropped down to a teaspoon per gallon in my 9 gallon drip tank... and one more teaspoon for good measure.

Knowing your pH in your tank, AZ, I don't think you have to worry much about spiking too high once you discover how fast you have to drip to make up for evaporation. As a matter of fact, you may have to do what I did and point a fan accross the surface of the tank to excellerate evaporation to allow you to drip faster to get the pH you want.
8.0 is not ideal, but with calcium above 400 and alkalinity between 10-13 dKH all the time, I figure everything should be fine with that as a fairly consistant pH.

 

[azfishgal]

You all are so helpful.

I will drip what I have mixed up in my 1.7L bottle tonight and test my water tomorrow and see where I'm at. I will increase the dose as needed. With the little dose I have now I don't think it will clog, but I'll keep an eye on it.
What I'm seeing though is most of you just add the Kalk to your normal top off water container, so you are basically adding Kalk all the time? Is that right? As of right now I don't have an auto-top off just yet, but that's the next thing on my list. Toping off manually is getting old.