Kalkwasser Success

[DD]

Greetings,

I've been using a doser on my 27 gallon for a while. It's kept my parameters pretty stable and made it quite easy to make any adjustments.

I was toying around with the idea of getting another doser for my 50 cube, but got a really good tip from Brian (BigBarnacles).

He said to try adding kalk to my ATO. I picked up a package of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime and added about a tsp per gallon.

The results are as follows:

Cal-465
alk-8.5dkh
PH-8.0 (lights just came on)

My house has been basically entombed with the AC on and typically, my PH drops crazy at night (7.7), then comes up to nearly 8.2 during the midday light cycle.

With kalk in my ATO, it's remained stable at night around 8.0, then during the day it may hit 8.2.

In comparison, here are the results of my 27 cube, which is not being run on anything other than water changes. I removed the dosing unit about 3 weeks ago.

Cal-420
alk-6.5dkh
ph-7.7

Now both of the tanks are in the same apartment so you can see that the kalk in the ATO really does work.

I'm going to add some to my ATO container on my 27 cube to see what the difference is today.

I'll post results to this thread at the end of the week after I've had the kalk running on the 27 for a few days.

What are all of your experiences with kalk in the ATO?

From all I've read, in larger tanks, kalk is sometimes not enough. My 50 cube is roughly 65 gallons TSV. My 27 cube is roughly 35 gallons TSV so I'm thinking kalk should be plenty.

 

[Skimmo]

I've yet to try Kalk because I've always been a 2 Part+Mg user but I'm interested in trying it. I would probably use the TLF Kalkreactor to dose my ATO Freshwater.

I have a question. I use the good old Dr. Tim's Aqualifter pump for my ATO. Anyone know if that clogs too much for ATO Freshwater from a Kalk dosed source?

 

[DD]

I've yet to try Kalk because I've always been a 2 Part+Mg user but I'm interested in trying it. I would probably use the TLF Kalkreactor to dose my ATO Freshwater.

I have a question. I use the good old Dr. Tim's Aqualifter pump for my ATO. Anyone know if that clogs too much for ATO Freshwater from a Kalk dosed source?

You know, I'm actually using an aqualifter pump so I will be interested in seeing how long it holds up to top off with kalk. I have a couple rebuild kits on standby just in case they get messed up.

 

[Joe5688]

I've alwyas read that it kills pumps. I ran it for a while and sometimes the end would start to clog up but icleaned mine once in a while and ran vinegar water through it

 

[fwadiver]

i used to run kalk before i went to 2 part, the main limiting factor with kalk is ph rise, if your ATO causes the ph to rise more than 0.3 you need to back off on the amount of kalk, at some point with this limitation you cant dose enough kalk to keep up with usage and that is where i switched to BRS 2 part. When i did kalk i just dumped it into my ATO bucket, gave it a stir with a paint stick and let it settle out, I kept my ATO pump elevated from the bottom of the bucket to not suck the sludge. I never had a problem with it killing the pump (tunze osmolator) and still use the same tunze pump today.

 

[FlyinBryan]

I started using kalk in my 150 and totally turned my tank around. I personally don't trust 2-part at all. My corals and clams just totally took off when I started using it. I do 8 tsp for 5 gallon and my params are awesome. Alk 9.3 and Ca is constantly at 430. It's been very very stable for me. I dose BRS mag and it works wonders, best stuff out there. I use Tunze ATO with kalk. I highly recommend it.

 

[DD]

i used to run kalk before i went to 2 part, the main limiting factor with kalk is ph rise, if your ATO causes the ph to rise more than 0.3 you need to back off on the amount of kalk, at some point with this limitation you cant dose enough kalk to keep up with usage and that is where i switched to BRS 2 part. When i did kalk i just dumped it into my ATO bucket, gave it a stir with a paint stick and let it settle out, I kept my ATO pump elevated from the bottom of the bucket to not suck the sludge. I never had a problem with it killing the pump (tunze osmolator) and still use the same tunze pump today.

I started using kalk in my 150 and totally turned my tank around. I personally don't trust 2-part at all. My corals and clams just totally took off when I started using it. I do 8 tsp for 5 gallon and my params are awesome. Alk 9.3 and Ca is constantly at 430. It's been very very stable for me. I dose BRS mag and it works wonders, best stuff out there. I use Tunze ATO with kalk. I highly recommend it.

I like the tunze's a lot but already have invested in two avast marine ATO's. More than likely I'll probably slowly replace the aqualifters with their top off pump they sell on their site. It's basically a larger dosing pump.

 

[madjoe]

Why u remove doser

 

[madjoe]

I uses kalk 2 yrs never measured just dumpes bunch in my ato shook the container and dumped it in reservoir sometimes i let sit sometimes i didnt same used cheap pump for the whole time. Never nuked my tank had 2 gallons dump in one time although it cant be good everything survived. I now am useing dosers. Kalk couldnt keep my alk stabile no more and i figured i used up all my luck with kalk dumping accidents. Watch i crash my system now doseing that be some chit lol

 

[DD]

Why u remove doser

I had one of the pieces of tubing come off the check valve and magnesium was dripping on the floor behind the tank. It just so happened that I changed out my light fixture and noticed the cords were kind of wet, but not water wet. The magnesium tubing came loose from the check valve and was dripping.

So I removed the whole unit since I was going to use it on the new tank.

I gave this kalk a shot and it's been working so I figured I would go with it until it doesn't keep up anymore. The kalk definitely keeps my ph much more stable than when I used the doser.

 

[fwadiver]

the tunze is a mini propeller pump, i wish you could buy one for other purposes because it kicks butt, i think it runs off 12V

 

[madjoe]

I had one of the pieces of tubing come off the check valve and magnesium was dripping on the floor behind the tank. It just so happened that I changed out my light fixture and noticed the cords were kind of wet, but not water wet. The magnesium tubing came loose from the check valve and was dripping.

So I removed the whole unit since I was going to use it on the new tank.

I gave this kalk a shot and it's been working so I figured I would go with it until it doesn't keep up anymore. The kalk definitely keeps my ph much more stable than when I used the doser.

like I said 2 yrs and worked great I be honest idk if it ever keep my alk stabile . I didn't test much but when I did alk was 6/7 calcium was always 440/460 ph was always 8.2 when I tested like said wasn't very often maybe 2 a yr lol. I did have a lot of ato accidents and dumped massive amounts of kalk at one time. and had cloudy tank every time I refilled cause I didn't let settle but tank still going . I like it cause its cheap like me

 

[DD]

like I said 2 yrs and worked great I be honest idk if it ever keep my alk stabile . I didn't test much but when I did alk was 6/7 calcium was always 440/460 ph was always 8.2 when I tested like said wasn't very often maybe 2 a yr lol. I did have a lot of ato accidents and dumped massive amounts of kalk at one time. and had cloudy tank every time I refilled cause I didn't let settle but tank still going . I like it cause its cheap like me

Everything I've read about kalk said that when your corals start putting on crazy growth, and you have a ton of coralline algae growing, the kalk won't keep up so dosers are a must. You're tank has some crazy growth so that may be why it wasn't keeping up for you. Once you get those dosers dialed in, you'll only need to test every so often to see if you need to up the dosage due to crazy coral growth.

 

[madjoe]

Everything I've read about kalk said that when your corals start putting on crazy growth, and you have a ton of coralline algae growing, the kalk won't keep up so dosers are a must. You're tank has some crazy growth so that may be why it wasn't keeping up for you. Once you get those dosers dialed in, you'll only need to test every so often to see if you need to up the dosage due to crazy coral growth.

thats crazy lol

 

[BigBarnacles]

I've been using the aqua lifter pump for my ATO (with kalk as DD described) for 18 months now without a problem. That little pump is a workhorse.



And madjoe test his water...pssshhhhh. That's blasphemy!

 

[Siebo]

I have been using the aqua lifter for about 6 months. Only thing I need to watch is the end of the tube clogging with build up. Do you guys have the end of the tube above or below the waterline. My thought was to raise it above to see if the build up stopped.

 

[DD]

I have been using the aqua lifter for about 6 months. Only thing I need to watch is the end of the tube clogging with build up. Do you guys have the end of the tube above or below the waterline. My thought was to raise it above to see if the build up stopped.

I have mine set above the water.

 

[strike2867]

I've been using a Kalk Reactor for 4 years, results have been pretty good. Especially when I put a pH probe into the reactor instead of relying on my tank's pH to know when to recharge. My water is piped into the ATO from the house, no work involved. I top off the Kalk every few weeks.

 

[skunkmere]

i used kalk and its great. just watch out for the season changes or if you use a fan to cool the tank. i got a alk spike in the summer once from all the evaporation. also i had my lights off for three days to keep the tank cool, my alk spiked form the coral not using the kalk during that time. or at least thats my theory.

 

[labas39]

I used to put kalk in an open ATO buckeet but after a couple days, it seemed to have lost it's high pH and didn't do much to raise the pH. For me, that was the reason why I used it since I also have a calcium reactor. Plus, I got tired of constantly putting the kalk in the bucket.

I ended up buying a Geo Kalk reactor and I only have to add kalk every couple weeks. It's also not hooked up to my ATO any more. I have it controlled by my Apex when the pH drops too low and shuts off at a high setting.