Kalkwasser Info

C

C0pe

Tired of manually dosing 2 part and rather than adding more equipment in dosing pumps I've been investigating using kalk. Can it really be as simple as adding powder to the ATO reservoir? Doesn't that have the potential for big swings? (Different rates of evaporation due to heat/humidity causing different doses). Will it cause me to have to test more frequently?

Anyone else made this switch?
 
I dose BRS kalk in my ATO. I mix up 5 gal at a time and use 3.5 tsp per 5 gal. My house stays the same temp year round so really no fluctuation in evaporation rate. My Calcium and Alk remain steady with the kalk. The only thing I dose is mag. I started with a lower amount of kalk and slowly added more to the ratio until the desired parameters were achieved.
 
I have an avast kalkwasser stirrer and about 150g total water volume. I add 1.5 cups kalk every 2 weeks to the stirrer and I go through about 10gal topoff water every week. That's the extent of it. I dose BRS magnesium for kalkwasser when needed and dose b-ionic 2 part once or twice a week to keep my ph between 8.2 and 8.3.
 
I'm so country! I mix up a gal a day in a milk jug and slow drip in the sump. I keep looking for a purdy crystal samovar to mix it in so I won't embarrass the family. My ATO is built into the tank and way too hard to clean out the sludge.
 
The kalk needs to be mixed in slowly so you don't get the non-dissolved stuff into the tank, if it is dissolved it won't affect much in your tank. There are some great write ups in reefkeeping magazine on the subject.

I went with a 3 little fishes stirrer (cheap) Mag 7, ATO relay on a 3 minute timer that comes on every three hours just add a tablespoon to the reactor a week and it keeps my 120 ticking like a charm. Much better than doing the two part.

However once my SPS take off I'll be back to dosing two part.
 
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