Neat Find for Dripping Kalk

[Jolieve]

Okay... I admit it. I'm lazy. I would like to start the calcium drip and walk away from the tank and not worry too much about it. I went looking around at various DIY drippers that you can put together involving a gallon jug and an IV dripper. At 20$, these things are a little pricey compared to what I found today.

I found a little container designed for dripping water into lizard habitats called "The Little Dripper" it's about a half gallon jug, with a hole in the bottom and a valve that regulates the speed of water flowing down a short length of tube. 7$ on petsmart.com (I got mine for 5$ in the store). It's cheap, and it's simple to put together and easy to use... and darned handy.

Here's the link to the little gadget. Handy thing if you don't have a calcium reactor, or the time to go through the pain of getting an IV dripper.

http://www.petsmart.com/products/product_27689.shtml

Enjoy!
J.

 

[liquid]

Ok that's a pretty darned cool find.

Shane

 

[Jolieve]

Thanks! Tried it out this evening and it seems to work pretty well, you can slow the drip speed to just about anything you want from constant stream, to incredibly slow. Very pleased so far, I will continue to use it and let you know if I have any problems with it. So far, this thing seems like a dream come true.

J.

 

[liquid]

You need to take some pics and post them here...

Shane

 

[reefann]

I agree
JJ
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[phishfood]

Any pics yet???

 

[ereefic1]

Did you modify this to hold a larger amount? I would think filling a 1/2 gal. container would get very old, very quick. I have a 2.5gal. doser that I refill daily and this has gotten old in 1 month. Plus, it does not keep a constant drip rate either. Does this one keep a constant drip rate?

 

[Jolieve]

I haven't found a need to modify it as of yet. I don't have very far up to move my CA, generally it only drops about 20 ppm over the course of a week. Dosing a teaspoon of pickling lime, per half gallon of water into the sump overnight about every other day keeps it in line. I don't lose that much to evap right now. Will probably be more of a pain in the summer months.

J.

It's even nicer for my husband's tank (10g nano) because his tank loses less than a half gallon per day.

 

[Anonymous]

You can make one of these yourself pretty easy as it is just a container and a air valve that works with water. Get whatever size container you want to use. Drill a hole in it that fits some ridgid airline tubing. Silicone the tubing in the hole. Add more airline tubing with a little plastic air valve for air pumps (less than a buck, the kind with the 'screw' gate valve. Voila.

 

[ereefic1]

I don't have very far up to move my CA

I thought Kalk only maintains levels, not raise them. I would think if you can get your levels to raise, say calcium, that would skyrocket your Alk. level and pH.

You should get your levels where they want to be, then drip the Kalk to maintain them.

 

[Jolieve]

I wish that dosing calcium affected your alk as well, but I haven't experienced that. I have to dose for calcium and alk separately. I drip calcium or super buffer overnight when ph in the tank is low, to ensure that there isn't a sudden jump in ph while I am dosing.

How else would you raise your ca in an already stocked tank, except through dosing?

 

[ereefic1]

My advice to you Jolieve is to get your Alk. and Cal. levels were you want them. Then start a Kalkwasser drip. The 2 part additives (B-Ionic and C-Balance) will work also, but I alway had a problem keeping my levels stable with them, plus they cost alot more. Some people use them and they work fine.

Kalkwasser (Kalk) is basically a 2 part additive in one. You just have to make sure you drip it in slowley. If you put too much in to fast, you can spike your pH and cause problems. I drip Kalk 24/7 to replace evaporated water. I drip about 2.5 gal. a day and it holds my levels real nice. Some people only drip it at night to keep the pH swings to a minimum.

If your tank has a really high demand for Calcium, then a Calcium reactor would be a better bet. But I would definately try the Kalk drip first, it may be enough for your system.

I use Ball's Pickling Lime that you can get from the grocery store for $1.75/lb. compared to the aquarium grade Kalkwasser mix that is 10-20x's the price, and the Ball's works just as well. Alot of people use it because it's a cheap alternative.

I was very nervous about using Kalk because of the pH swings, but after doing a bunch of reading on the subject, I decided to give it a try. Best move I made in this hobby.

I would suggest to go to www.reefcentral.com and do some searching in the Reef Chemistry forum. There is a lot of great info there about this subject, and Dr. Ron is very helpful also. He helped me figure out how to properly get my drip going and i've had no problems with it.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions. I'll try to help as much as I can.