Kalkwasser question

[TimH07]

I plan to drip kalk sometime soon, i've read that some use it as their top off water but mine will be separate from the top off. I know how much to dissolve and all that, the question is... how much SHOULD be dosed per hour/day/week?

if only so much can dissolve in the water, and most use it AS top off, wont my RO ATO outcompete the drip and use too little Kalkwasser?

[charlie]

Let your ATO do it's thing and use the kalk as a supplement to keep your Ca. levels where you want them. How much do you plan to make up, and what is your evap. level now?

[TimH07]

my evap now is almost 2 gallons a day, its bad, maybe i can time it for 1 gallon a day and let the ato cover the rest?

the main thing is, how much does it take to maintain the levels? you can only dissolve so much in the water, thats where my confusion comes in.

keep in mind for now im dosing b-ionic and will along with kalk

[charlie]

Tim, it is really hard to say how much you want to drip, I think it is more or less a trial and error thing. you are going to have to find a happy medium. I wish I could tell you exactly how much, but that is up to you, and what you want to keep your levels at my friend. Every tank is different, so exact amounts are always variable.
FWIW, I drip the stuff 24/7 and I still can't keep my levels to the exact area where I think they should be. Damn sps corals are just eating to much.

[Ninong]

my evap now is almost 2 gallons a day, its bad, maybe i can time it for 1 gallon a day and let the ato cover the rest?

the main thing is, how much does it take to maintain the levels? you can only dissolve so much in the water, thats where my confusion comes in.

keep in mind for now im dosing b-ionic and will along with kalk

B-Ionic is a method of calcium and alkalinity maintenance. Kalkwasser is another method of calcium and alkalinity maintenance. Kalkwasser is less expensive than B-Ionic.

I have never heard of anyone using both methods at once. I have heard of Kalkwasser being used as a supplement to a calcium reactor but never combined with B-Ionic. It seems to me that this (B-Ionic) may be an option IF the calcium demand in the aquarium cannot be met with Kalkwasser alone.

Kalkwasser alone is usually sufficient until the aquarium is fully stocked with calcium-demanding stony corals. At that point, many hobbyists consider adding a calcium reactor.

When Kalkwasser (limewater) is used as the chosen method to maintain calcium and alkalinity, it is usually used for 100% of the evaporation replacement. Since no more than two teaspoons of Kalkwasser powder will dissolve in a gallon of freshwater, hobbyists have the option to use less, but not more, than two tsps/gallon. (We won't get into the use of vinegar with Kalkwasser as a method to get more than two tsps to dissolve per gallon because there are reasons why this is not such a good idea.)

Therefore, if you find that you don't need a saturated solution of limewater (Kalkwasser) for 100% of your evaporation replacement, you can either reduce the amount of Kalkwasser powder (say to only one tsp/gal) or you can simply use limewater only every other night instead of every night, using plain R.O./D.I. water in between. It is much better to dose limewater every night and just weaken the solution by using less than two tsps/gal.

Limewater is a balanced additive that maintains both calcium and alkalinity. It does not, however, maintain magnesium.

[Ninong]

Many hobbyists used an ATO system to dose limewater. This is fine as long as the ATO system doesn't dump more than about one liter of limewater into the sump as a time.

However, I have read more than one story of a malfunctioning ATO system dumping all of the limewater available in the reservoir into the sump, crashing the tank.

Of course, even an ATO system with a reservoir of plain R.O./D.I. water can crash a tank if it dumps too much freshwater at once causing the salinity to drop drastically all at once. However, the danger is much worse when the ATO system dumps lots of limewater all at once, causing the alkalinity and pH to spike.

One of the most common ways that this can happen is for the skimmer to malfunction, emptying tankwater onto the floor, resulting in a drop in the level in the system which causes the ATO to constantly try to keep up as the skimmer is pouring water all over the floor. This usually happens in the middle of the night or when no one is home. Minh Nguyen lost his 450-gal reef tank because his skimmer started pouring water onto the floor in the middle of the night, causing his ATO to dump limewater into his sump in an attempt to keep up. Eric Borneman's tank crashed when his ATO system's pump got stuck open and dumped all of his reserve of R.O./D.I. water into his tank drastically lowering the salinity.

One must be very careful when designing an ATO system.

[TimH07]

this is exactly why i have a dual float switch on a relay running a maxijet 1200






the second switch will shut off the pump if it runs long.

i guess i'll just run a drip as a secondary top off to avoid those disasters