To Kalk or not to Kalk

ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
"Then, determined by my tanks needs (amount of coralline algae, amount and types of corals) I add the kalk to the make up water. Tanks with low evaporation rates and high calcium needs should probably seek other alternatives. "
How would you guys recomend doing this?
Thanks,
Eric
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
Thanks Thomas..... My tank does not evaporate very fast. I have glass tops on the top of my tank. I would say i have to add a half a gallon every 3 days. Dripping Kalk would seem like the best thing to do to keep all levels constant. I read in a thread by kip you should find alternate methods than dripping kalk for a tank with low evaporation. I would just feel more comfortable using kalk then adding calcium and alkaline buffers. By using Kalk I wouldn't over shoot my target area. Any ideas? :thinking:
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
I think that with a low evaporation rate you will have to increase the amount of Kalk in the solution. This can be done by adding vinegar to the kalk mix. It increases the solubility of the mix allowing you to add more kalk. A possible increase in nutrients would be the downside.
Either way, I would start your Kalk mix at about 1 tsp per gallon. Test your levels [Ca and Alk]and make sure thy are where you want them before you begin the drip. When your kalk mix is used up, test again. If your levels stayed the same, then use the same amount of kalk. If your levels dropped add more kalk.
I'm still learning myself, so anyone feel free to correct anything I said.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
I would say i have to add a half a gallon every 3 days.
Skip the kalk and go with B-Ionic, two part additive.
I would also recommend removing your glass tops.
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member

Originally posted by EricHolcek
Why would you use vinegar instead of using double the dose of kalk? This seems very complicated :notsure:
Not instead, in addition. Too large a dose of straight Kalk will just not disolve.
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
I wouldn't mind taking off the glass tops but they are there for preventive measures. As in my cat who likes to go swimming for fish. he has done it before and the tank is in a open room. :scared:
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
The cat is my moms and i always throw the thing outside and he always seems to come back. The thing loves just sitting on top of my fish tank. I have no sump or fuge. Just a 55 gallon, 70 lbs of live rock. 55 pounds of live sand. emperor 400 filter for mechanical filtration, aquac remora skimmer. I have no corals yet, as I am still dealing with a monor ich problem and don't want to add anything till this is taking care of... I just think though that dripping kalk makes more sense because every thing stays constant. I just feel adding additives that I am unfamiliar on how to dose can cause an over shoot in the tank and cause more damage that good. I would feel more comfortable knowing that my tank is stable with kalk than hopefully within levels using additives. :thinking:
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
WOW. :confused:
I figured I would add my buffer and calcium to the tank once a week. I already have salifert test kits. Calcium was at 410 and dkh was at 9. Wouldn't adding additives everyday cause some serious problems.
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
gotcha... So if I were to remove the glass tops any idea on how much water per day i would lose? Or is that more on a tank by tank basis? I like the idea of dripping kalk so much better. the less hands on stuff that needs to be done the better the tank will be. I am assuming that different corals have different calcium needs. Is this correct?
 
ericholcek

ericholcek

Member
One more question. Does it matter when you dose the B- ionic. Mornings are always hectic for me. Do you have to dose it when the lights are out?
 
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