Ok all you Kalkwasser users

[phoenixrising]

I also have clearer kalk water. So far all is well, but my spaghetti leather is looking a bit closed up today. Not sure if it is related to the vinegar, but will keep my eye on it. Test results are slightly improved over a few days ago.

 

[thomas712]

An update:
For awhile there my calcium was on the mend, now down to 380,
For awhile the alk was increasing >-- now down to 2.8.
Mag is around 1300 now.
Last Monday was a 20 gal water change. could be it?
All this with using the vinegar and 1.5 teas. of kalk, and I even believe I saw some additional coralline growth. I know I did as it was secondary layering over the first. I also was adding the b ionic at 30 mils each to see what happend. Am I adding to fast? This tank is driving me crazy.
I have mixed up some more kalk to run tonight, this time at 2 teaspoons of kalk, 30 mils of vinegar. I have also recieved some EVS magnesium and am bumping my mag up, 15 mils last sat and 15 mils today for a bump of 30 ppm total.
Am I right in this is the next step, up the kalk doseage to 2 teas?
I am about ready to buy a new bucket of IO, and get fresh RO and do a huge water change.
Thomas

 

[thomas712]

At the start of this thread I was posting my magnesium at 1275, then added some kent mag and thought I was up to 1300, wrong. Well a new test kit later (salifert) I find out a couple of days ago that my mag was at 1140. So now I am dosing 30 mils a day kent magnesium until I get it to 1300 or so, hopfully this has been my problem and I can now fix it and keep my cal and alk in line better.
There has been some progress. Using the vinegar 30 mils to 2 teaspoons of kalk then RO water I have been able to maintain the calcium to 420, the lowest the alk went was 2.8 m/l so I have had to buffer that almost constanly using the b-ionic.
Also there has been a little more coralline growth with the nearly 8 month old bulbs (VHO), they will need changing soon but will have to wait until after the 4th of October.
I have also noticed that my drip will start out a certain speed then slow down over an extended period, anyone else have this happen to them? Lines have been cleaned, also drip valve.
Thomas

 

[thomas712]

Yes I am, and I believe it was you that told me or someone else to give the top a quarter turn or something like that to allow the air to seep in.
Thomas

 

[thomas712]

A whisper air valve conected to regular size airline tubing. The white valve on the left controles the drip speed.

 

[thomas712]

Well the container is on top of the tank hood and I did have enough tubing to reach the wet/dry or about 4 feet of it roughly to reach the pump to the protien skimmer. So I don't think gravity was a problem, could be an air bubble? probably not as this seems to be consistant, I think maybe some sediment must be going through or it catches some air right from the drip point and starts to calcify right there.
Good ideas though thanks agian for your imput.
Thomas

 

[buddyboy]

Well, I thought I may just change the direction of the thread a bit, considering I have some experienced Kalk user's.. I have recently purchased a pump to dose kalk and wanted to eliminate the chore of dripping kalk and topping off RO/DI by doing it just once every month or two.. Two would be better considering the size of the mixing vessel.. But i have read that kalk loses concentration within a few days after being mixed. This was commented on by mike andrews, in calcium for dummies (((When using this method of kalkwasser addition, it is important to use the mixed kalkwasser within a few days. Old kalkwasser mix will lose its concentration of calcium in solution, which results in little calcium addition to the aquarium.)
What are peoples thought and experiences regarding this theory,,, I imagine it could be tested to see the validity of this statement..but I will let you experts comment on that.. thanks

 

[stillfrodo]

I had purchased the KENT doser the 2 gallon size I found that the drip point is high enough off the bottom for any kalk sediment to just settle and not be able to drip into the tank. I also questioned my LFS about my mg levels I was having problems maintaining calcium and found my mg levels to be in the 1000 range. I use IO but was told by my LFS that just because it states that it contains all essentials they are finding out it is short on mg. Since dosing the mg I have been able to keep my calcium levels up like 360 380
still a bit low but better then where they were. One more note it worries me to see alot of the more experienced people having trouble with thier water levels. Alot of you guys have more time on the toilet then I do in saltwater makes me nervous how I might be able to handle similar situations considering my lack of experince. But it is nice to see everybody on this board helping each other out.

 

[thomas712]

Ok.OK fancy bump