Kalkwasser question

A

Aquascapes

Last night I mixed up a teaspoon of Kent Kalk powder in a gallon sized container full of RO/DI water. I have let it sit overnight but I am new to this and I don't know if it is ready. According to the directions there should be a crust on top, a clear layer below that, then a milky and powder layer in the bottom. I let that sit overnight and now the "crust" on top is more like slush, not a hard shell. The "clear" layer is still a little cloudy and I don't really see any clear line for the bottom layers although I do see some powder. Can someone please tell me, when is it good to go? I will remove the top crust when it's ready, should I siphon out the good stuff and discard the rest or drip from that same container while leaving the bottom layers in there? Sorry for all the questions but I am not trying to take any chances. I am a little nervous b/c I have so many corals in my tank. By the way, does anyone have a PH monitor I can buy off of them?

Thanks everyone,
Dan
 
Instructions

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php
 
BTW.. getting a little crust in the drip is not a problem, you just want to avoid the powder sludge at the bottom. A trick I used to use was a big spoon and scooped the crust off the top and scraped the sides. I also used an OJ with a strainer pour tip container when I mixed it up.
 
Okay well I currently have a little gallon jug dripping Kalk at a rate of around 1 drop every 5 seconds or so. My calcium was around 440 and my KH was about 9.5, Mg was at 1230. I will dose a little more magnesium tomorrow. Anyways, I was looking at BRS for some Kalkwasser mix for the group buy this week and they said you can use your ATO to dose Kalk. So I don't know if you guys are familiar with it but I won the Tunze Osmolator kit at the Frag Swap last month. I am using a 10 gallon jug tank to hold my TO water currently.. Can someone give me some advice on how to properly mix and add the limewater via ATO system. The ATO system works perfectly and is running now. Should I add and mix Kalk direclty in that TO tank? wouldn't that clog up that pump over time? Should I just stick with dripping it despite the inconsisitancy in drip rate? I am not sure what is a better option for me at this point. The top off option is appealing since it holds 10 gallons vs. a 1 gallon jug for the drip..

Thanks again,
Dan
 
Dan,

I would drip it myself, not in the ATO. Reason for that is varied evaporation rates, some days you'll end up evaporating more or less. But you can take the amount you drip in a 24 hour period and just dump that into the ATO container. You are correct, the pump will calcify over time and may wear the pump out faster. The Tunze pumps are not that expensive, but something to keep in mind.

The key with kalk is to control it as much as possible to avoid problems. The tunze is very reliable, but if you dumped the whole thing in and it had that kalk in it, you could cause a problem.
 
considering I already have the drip going I will just stick with that method.. I have heard you should dose at night to maintain ph. Should I drip over 24hrs or just at night?
 
@Aquascapes wrote:
considering I already have the drip going I will just stick with that method.. I have heard you should dose at night to maintain ph. Should I drip over 24hrs or just at night? said:
Its up to you. Most do it overnight to keep pH even. You can drip during the day assuming your pH doesn't get much higher than 8.4 doing it. Everyones system runs different pH levels though so do what works best for you to keep pH at the levels you desire.
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