Sediment at bottom of kalk - What is it?

S

SeaDude

[You know after you mix up some Kalkwasser, the white powder settles out to the bottom. What is that?
Is it just more pickling lime that if you added more fresh water would dissolve making more kalk? or is it some by product of dissolving the kalk in water?

Is it a problem if some gets in your tank?]
 
[some could be undissolved kalk but its probably calcium carbonate which is non soluable. it is formed when it reacts with the carbon dioxide that is dissolved into the water from the air (which is why you should try not to shake the kalkwasser nor expose to open air). since its no good as a calcuim source, you should clean it out the gunk when you can. if not, it may become fine silt that floats around in your tank and sump.]
 
[
is formed when it reacts with the carbon dioxide that is dissolved into the water from the air said:
Does this mean if you use RO/DI water and aerate it for a day before using it, to build O2 and drive off CO2, that you will get less precipitate and a stronger Kalk mix because more is able to disolve?]
Click to expand...
 
[if you aerate with pure O2, maybe. if you aerate with air, you'll be aerating with CO2 also. Some folks add a little bit of vinegar to dissolve a bit more kalk into the solution.]
 
[I am consider to switch from using Kent Kalwasser ( too much work for mixing frequently) to B ionic 2 part solutions of ESV. If I just use B ionic 2 solutions, do I still have add Essential Elements ( or any other product for other major elements) beside B ionic? And how often?

I know Marc used to dose B ionic everyday and phytoplankton every other day. Anyone has diffrerent methods? I just want to learn.

Also, B ionic would boost your coralline algae grow faster than dosing Kalwasser?]
 
[I can tell you this... before I used B-ionic, I never had any coralline in my 29g. I was able to maintain what existed on the rock, but nothing ever appeared on the glass.

I only recently restarted using it (once it finally arrived after 90+ long days), and already coralline is beginning to grow on the front and side panes.

I don't add any of the other products to my tank. If you can test for it, usually it isn't a good idea to dose it.]
 
[Nice chart, very much like the one I made, I like how you have parameters and colors when things are out of tolerance (I assume).

Interested to see next weeks alk is in the 29 if it continues to rise. What happened to the SG the end of may in the 55?

What were you dosing the 55 with before you changed?]
 
[I'm not sure why my salinity went nuts on the 55g. I have had a ton of evaporation, and have been adding 3g of RO/DI a day! Two times I just added 1.024 mixed water instead, to get things back in line.

I was using some Seachem Reef Buffer (boosts pH to 8.3) and Seachem Calcium Buffer. Both were powders, and I'd pour some in every 2 to 4 days. My numbers were really all over the place.

Yes, red indicates out of the normal when compared to NSW.

I doubt my alk will rise in the 29g, as I feel it is a bit too high. Something wierd is going on in that tank, as two corals have taken a huge turn for the worse and one gorgeous batch of zoos are going nuts again with half closed up in a ugly way. I pulled my -almost- 2 yr old Pocillopora and put it in the 55g in hopes of saving it, and it is showing promise. My Psammacora looks withdrawn and far less vivid that it has been for months.

My guess is the B-Ionic may be the cause with everything getting stabilized so quickly, but also my tanks are really suffering from low pH lately. I've even added an airpump to the 55g to combat this, pumping in 'fresh' air from the garage (no vehicle are parked in there) but I'm not seeing any improvement.

I've changed 10g on my 29g two days in a row to hopefully fix whatever is off. If it is a pH thing, I might be in trouble because I can't figure out what I can do. Well,... there is the option of using kalkwasser but I've never needed it in the past and really don't want to do it. :cussing:]
 
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