Kalkwasser?

[reeferjim]

Hello all, It's been a while since I've posted here, Life sometimes gets in the way. My tank has evolved quite a bit since my last update, and now the consumption levels aren't being kept up with by water changes alone.  I have used some Limestone as part of my base rock, so my calcium levels are always high, ( 500 ), so my real issue is keeping alkalinity and ph within 9/8.0 respectively. I have done some reaserch, and Kalkwasser in the top off will solve my issues, but is it the best answer?  Will the added calcium somehow cause percipitation? I have experienced a percipitation event, and I DON'T want to experience it again.....I will always ask the experts here before I impliment any changes to my system, and I'm asking now, I appreciate all input, and thank all in advance.JimView attachment 4606

 

[jccaclimber]

I've added a lot of kalk and haven't ever had a disastrous precipitation event.  I am currently running 2 part, although mainly because I have been too lazy to get my kalk reactor going again.1) Growth went way up when I started dripping kalk, although I was likely alk deficient beforehand.2) My pH went way up as well (high 8 easily), although I was absolutely under aerated (no skimmer) and suffered no obvious issues because of this.3) Unless you have a control failure that results in dumping a ton of kalk into your system it's fairly safe all things considered.  Much better at least than dumping one of the two parts of 2 part into a system.4) You want it to go in slowly, so if you are say topping off a 14 gallon biocube by dumping 1 qt of kalk in directly you aren't going to have great results.  If you have an ATO pump that puts in just a little bit every now and then you should have much better results.5) Be aware that kalk will go bad as it is exposed to CO2.  Even kalk in a reactor will eventually go bad, so keep a periodic eye on it.  Earlier on I just threw a bit in my top off container and assumed that if there was still powder in the bottom that the water was still saturated.  This is not the case, you really do want to add a bit of powder each time you add water unless you are using a reactor.