Kalk directly in the display tank?

[Jake]

Kalk directly in the display tank.
Well I was planning on getting a return pump for the 50G tank I just set up but my budget is exausted for the moment and I probably will not be able to afford one untill the beginning of October. I am looking for a way to use Kalk as repacement water for evaporation. I have a ultra life float switch which I was hoping to add to the main tank and use a powerhead in a 5 gallon bucket filled with kalk.

Would this be detrimental to the tank? Would the kalk would be too caustic?
It only has live rock in it along with a couple of snails.

Is there a way to protect the float switch from the snails?
Would the addition of Kalk to the main tank cause a big problem?

How about adding it to the output box on my Turbofloater Multi to help dilute the Kalk before it enters the main tank?

Any suggestions?
Like I said, by the time corals are in their I will have a sump, But for now I need to figure out a safe way to keep Ca levels up with he setup I have.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Regards
Jake

[ravenmore]

Jake,

Check out some of the articles listed on this page. He lists some reasons I didn't know about for not dumping in large quantities of kalk water at once.

http://www.reefcentral.com/library/CraigBingman.htm

A solution to your problem might be to get a large, slow drip container and slow drip the kalk into your sump to match the evaporation rate. Will take a little trial and error but shouldn't be too hard. You can make a slow drip container pretty easily. I just drilled a small hole in a suitable container near the bottom and glued on a plastic airline valve.

hth,
-Mike