Kalk Powder per gal... how much you usin?

[Jrsydevi1]

The directions say 1/8 tsp to 2 tsp per gallon.. I've tried 1.5 tsp per gal twice, and experienced (I beleive) global precipitation both times in my 29 gal.. resulting in LOWER Ca lvls, and an ugly film on the water's surface...

Well, my reef could use about 2 gals of topoff right now.. and I'm about to mix some Kalk.. but this time I'm gonna try about a quarter tsp.. see how it affects lvls..

So, what do u think? what ratio are you using?

 

[Bubafat]

Doesn't matter how much over 1 tsp you add to a gallon of water, only so much will be soluable in the water. I hope that you aren't dosing the kalkwasser without letting the cloud settle and then pulling out the center (you don't want the top film or the bottom precipitate). If you are dosing it right after mixing it (without settle) you are lowering your calicum levels as it will react with the water and bind with other calcium ions in the water.

Just make sure to pull out the center.

Can be a pita, but it works.

Buba

 

[slojmn1]

Make sure you are dosing it very slowly via a drip method over a lot of hours. I dose 1g per 10 hours via drip on my 40g. I use about 1tsp per gallon.

 

[slash7]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Well, my reef could use about 2 gals of topoff right now.. and I'm about to mix some Kalk.. but this time I'm gonna try about a quarter tsp.. see how it affects lvls..

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly here, but are you saying you are about to add 2 gals to your 29 gal tank?
Kalk must be added VERY slowly...with it's high pH it can be devastating to add too much all at once. Even just a freshwater topoff should be added gradually as you don't want to change your salinity too quickly. If I've totally misunderstood what you are doing here..sorry 'bout that.

 

[Jrsydevi1]

Hehe, no Slash, I'm not gonna just dump it in...

I always drip my Kalk slowly.. I have a nice Intravenous dripper that I borrowed from the hospital when my son was born..

In fact, I drip it so slowly that, in the last two instances, I had to go to work the next morning before my gallon was done, and so (I think) some of the scale on top went in as well..

This time, however, I set it so slow that when I came home from work tonight, only about 3/5 gal had dripped in.. in 18 or so hours.. (not takin any chances this time)

There is no film on top, or evidence of precip.. btw.. i added about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp to this gallon...
I am about to test my Ca, as soon as this gal is done, to see what increase there is.. I'll report back..
Thx for posting..

 

[slash7]

I usually mix my kalkwasser up a day before, using 1 tsp. per gallon of water. I let this settle for a least 12 hours and then siphon the clear liquid into another container for use. If you haven't tried this method, perhaps it would help.

 

[liquid]

Setting the drip rate with my jug-o-kalk was a real PITA as I could never get a consistent drip rate on a day to day basis. One day I'd drip it all in 12 hrs. Other days I'd be lucky to set it so it'd drip in 24 hrs. I got so sick and tired of making kalkwasser that I setup an autodoser to do it for me.

If you want an inexpensive way to dose it nightly at a consistent rate, you may want to look into medical dosing pumps as they're available all the time on EBay: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICo mmand=GetResult&pb=&ht=1&st=2&query=dosing+pump&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

I ended up going w/ an industrial diaphram metering pump as I setup a 20 gallon kalk reservoir in my basement (where my RO/DI unit is) and plumbed my pump into it and pumped it to my 40 gal tank on the first floor. Diaphram pumps can pump to a higher height than peristaltic dosing pumps. I think mine will pump to 150 psi whereas the peristaltic ones will only pump to maybe 30 psi or so. I fill my reservoir with about 12 tblsp pickling lime (1.8 tsp/gal) and 200 mL of white vinegar (3 mL/liter). See Craig Bingman's articles on the Aquarium Frontiers Index on Reefs.org for more info on using vinegar to push the limits of your limewater. FWIW, I could never maintain an alkalinity over 8 dKH w/ kalkwasser alone and I could never completely maintain my calcium either. As soon as I tweaked it w/ the vinegar I was able to maintain 10-12 dKH and 400 ppm Ca. It's remained rock steady at these parameters for 1.5 months now. I also have a cheesy small powerhead in the reservoir that's set to kick on for 15 minutes per day to mix the kalk solution 8 hrs prior to dosing. To minimize the contact of the kalkwasser w/ air, I float a piece of styrofoam on the surface of the kalkwasser mixture. Works just fine for me...

In case you'd like to see my DIY kalk setup head over to my secondary website: http://liquidreef2.freeservers.com/ . Once you get there, click on the Equipment link and scroll down to the Calcium/Alkalinity Supplementation section and the link to the page is in that section.

hth

liquid

[ July 13, 2001: Message edited by: LiquidShaneo ]