Giving Kalkwasser a Try.

I'm about to start dosing limewater to my tank for the first time. I'm setting up a 20 gallon tank with a JBJ ATO and aqualifter pump for dosing. I've been dosing baking soda for over a year now and I've only had one accident that was my fault and I learned from it. I'm thinking about starting out with 1 teaspoon per gallon, which is about 1/2 saturated limewater. My water changes aren't keeping with my calcium usage anymore so I need to do something different. Any tips, suggestions, prayers for my corals?

didnt know if you had seen this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsLy2Mp0m8


Hope it is useful

Good video Bryan... keep us posted Gabe.

Bryan wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsLy2Mp0m8


Hope it is useful

It was, thank you.

Here's my plan. 20 gallon tank with a lid, aqualifter pump, JBJ auto top off which shuts itself off after 3 minutes even if the float switch fails. I'm going to start off very slow and increase from there. I'm thinking like the video says 1 tsp. per 5 gallons and kick it up as needed. I'll be burning through test kits like crazy once I set this thing up.

I have this all ready to go and I'm switching out the baking soda bottle for kalk tonight. I decided not to use the 20 gallon yet until I see how this all works out. I'm using 5 gallon jugs like the ones on the water coolers you see in offices. I drilled a hole in the lid just big enough for airline tubing to run through and I made a mark on the tube where it won't suck up the stuff that settles at the bottom. I wrapped a rubber band around the mark I made so the hose doesn't accidentally get pushed farther down in the container. The hose won't move unless I pull it but in my house you never know what will happen around the tank. I filled it up with 5 gallons of water and added 2 tsp. of kalk. I let it settle all night and day and it should be read to go tonight. I'm going to let it run all night and check ph and alkalinity in the morning. I'll get some pics of the setup once I have everything hooked up.

Sounds like a plan Gabe, I'm going to Kalkwasser also but I'm useing Brigtwell kalk+2 to get the Magnesium also. We will have to compare notes. Only thing with mine is I only evapoate 1.5 cups per day and I don't know if that much kalk will keep up with my 28g system. What I plan on doing is mix up the kalk, let it settle and pour off the clear into my ato container one gallon at a time, the water is pumped from the container to the tank via aqualifter but the aqualifter is pushing the water about two feet up and it only comes out at about 2 drips per second which will be perfect for the kalk. I want the kalk to drip at night so I am putting the aqualifter on a timer that will only let it run for three hours starting at 12 midnight, this will let the evaporation be replaced by dripped kalk only at night and will also serve as shutoff in case of the ato float sticking. I figure one gallon of kalk solution will last me around ten days, I just don't know if being in the cotainer that long will weaken the solution. If you see any problems please chim in. Sorry about hijacking your thread Gabe but we are all in this together huh.

No, you're not hijacking. That's why I post this stuff so I can get info from everyone else and maybe help someone else that wants to do the same thing. At least I know I'm not talking to myself. I already have my starting point for the dosing since I have been dosing baking soda for over a year now. Kalk and baking soda have the exact same alkalinity so I should be good starting with 2 tsp. per 5 gallons. I'm sure you already know that kalk is saturated at 2 tsp. per gallon so I have a good ways to go before I need to come up with something else, and maybe I won't have to. I thought about doing mine on a timer at night but my tank uses about 1 1/2 gallons per day so I thought that might be too much going in at one time. I've always had a ph on the low side, (7., so I'm hoping the kalk will give me a slight boost but not too much. If I could get it to 8.2-8.4 would be fine with me. It's been so long since I've even tested for ph but I'm going to for a little while when I start this up to make sure everything goes smooth. From what I read your solution should be fine for that long of a time, just as long as it's not aerated it lasts a good while.

I'm gonna go a lttle more saturated since I only replace 1.5 cups per day, I figure I will start with 1tsp per gallon and go from there. I been dosing C-balance both parts the last few days to get my params up to par because kalk won't raise the alk and calcium a lot if its already low, it just keeps it stable so I figure I better have it all where I want it before I start. My kalk should be here tomorrow so I will start tomorrow night. Man I remember back in the day when I dripped kalk at night from a jug that the coralline was crazy in my tank, it would plate up in circles like a monti cap. I don't want to get to those extremes but I would like to not have to keep dosing calcium and alk, all them stoney especially the sps and clams are eating it up.

Hey Gabe
I gotta question for ya. Do you think pumping the kalk with the aqualifter will mess up the pump? I am kinda thinking that the kalk may build up in the valves of the pump, I'm not sure. Guess the only way to find out is go for it, heck they only cost a few bucks if it messes one up, might need to keep two on one in use and the other in repair.

From what I've read the aqualifter is one of the best pumps for dosing kalk since it does it so slow. It was one of the most common that I ran across while reading. Just run some vinegar through it once a month or when it slows down or makes noise and it cleans it right up. I read some people that were using theirs for 2 years or more. I may buy another just as a back up or to switch out and I can clean the other. The best thing I like about these pumps is that you can run them dry so I don't have to worry about making up new water constantly.

Yeah, they are cool pumps, I been using one on my ato ever since I set it up with no issues and the higher it pumps the slower the rate, its only rated to lift 30" and thats about where I have it and its just a nice drip. I had mine unplugged all day and just plugged it back in to see how long it takes to top off twelve hours evaporation and then I will know how long to set the timer for, if it takes 20 minutes to top off twelve hours I can figure forty minutes for twenty four hours so if I set the time to come on at 12 am and go off at 1:30 am that should be plenty, this way to the pump won't be on and off all the time just run that hour or so at night and be done with it. Just to let you know to if they run dry they are very loud, mine woke me from a dead sleep one night before I put the float switch on, I forgot to unplug it and it filled my tank up until it ran out of water and when the level came up in the tank the end of my return line was in the water and the pump blowing air made a hell of a noise. Thats when I put the float switch on, best thing I have ever done!

I've heard mine run dry before, it sure let's me know. The cool thing about the JBJ ATO is that it will only try to run for 3 minutes no matter what so even if it runs dry it will shut itself off and I usually don't even notice it.

WOW! Kalkwasser is so awesome I woke up this morning and all my frags were colonies!!!

Yeah right....

Here are some pics of my setup.

5 gallon settled kalk container.


Aqualifter pump.


JBJ ATO.


Airline to the sump. Fancy clothespin used to hold the airline out of the water to prevent siphoning.


It ran overnight and so far no problems, ph 8.0 (which in the morning is higher than I've tested in my tank, usually 7.8 in the a.m.), alkalinity was 8.23 dkh.

What are you using to test your alk? My alk test is like... 8 or 9. lol... not 8.23

Great setup though bud.

http://www.hannainst.com/usa/prods2.cfm?ProdCode=HI%20755&id=030011

I love it. Works great and easier IMO to use than the drip tests. It measures in ppm instead of dkh or meq/l but you can easily convert ppm to dkh by multiplying by .056. My alkalinity this morning was 147ppm x .056=8.23 dkh. By the way I don't know which is more accurate but the Hanna Checker reads about 1 dkh lower than the API test.

Sounds like you are off to a good start, my kalk didn't make it today so I guess it will be tomorrow before I get started. The Ph was really good for early morning!

Well here's a weird thing. 2 of my montis look odd. My superman and a brown digi have an odd look to them and the polyps on the digi almost look like they are gone. All of the other corals in the tank look great even the other montis.




I haven't had any ph swings that I've detected and the parameters are still in line except the ph this morning was 7.8 instead of 8.0 like it was the day before. I'm not sure if this is related to the kalk but it's odd that it happened a day after starting the kalk drip.

Gabe
Did you check the alk to see where it is today? Man I wouldn't think just one day wouldn't affect anything unless something was way out. You know how it is when we try something different though, any little thing jumps out at us so give it more time and see what happens. It could just be the corals reacting to the kalk instead of baking soda that they are used to. I started mine today used 1 tsp to 1 gallon water but it won't start the drip until 10:00 pm. I did notice when I mixed it up that there was no settling, it all dissoved, I let it sit for four hours before adding to the ato container.

I checked the alk this morning and it was actually slightly lower, 8.02 dkh. I will check it again tonight when I get home. I couldn't find anything out of whack at all and all the other corals look great. My first hunch was that the chemistry shift threw a couple of corals out of whack, sort of like when you change salt mixes and everything needs to adjust so I'm hoping your right Donnie. The corals aren't RTN or bleaching but to see these 2 corals with all the polyps retracted is unusual, and why just these 2? When you mixed yours up was it slightly cloudy? Mine is a bit milky and there were larger chunks that settled to the bottom that won't dissolve.

When you mixed yours up was it slightly cloudy? Mine is a bit milky and there were larger chunks that settled to the bottom that won't dissolve.

Mine was just a little cloudy but it all disolved nothing was on the bottom after four hours. I mix it in a 2 gallon refrigerator water container that has a spikot about 1 inch up from the bottom, I figured I would have precipitate form on the bottom and was going to use the spikot to add it to my ato container but nothing formed. It may be the Brightwell kalk +2, if this stuff works as advertised it replaces Strontium too. If anyone is looking for a two gallon container Walmart has them on sale for $2.50. I just mixed 1 gallon, thats all I put in my ATO, its good for a week or so. Keep us up to date on how the corals do and I will do the same, I'm hoping my green slimer comes back around.

I didn't find much researching about it but I found someone that said the chunks were excess calcium that wouldn't dissolve and that you don't even have to clean it out of the container. I'll post more as I go along.

Gabe
How is the kalk coming along? I been testing mine every day and so far so good. My PH has been 8.0 in the mornings and rises to 8.2-8.3 in the afternoon, calcium is staying at 420. at first I wasn't getting enough evaporation to keep up but I added a temporary fan to the back of the JBJ to get more evap and that did the trick. I say temporary because I ordered a Jebo dual clamp on fan that will intigrate on the tank real nice. You know I have always been impressed with the low heat from the leds but this week with outside temps around 108 my central air is having a hard time keeping up, it is getting up to around 76 inside and using the fan on the tank my heater has been coming on a lot to keep the temp up to 78, crazy huh! I have not noticed anything different with the corals yet, I still got my fingers crossed on the green slimer but its kinda at a stand still.

So far so good. Everything is growing about the same. Ph is 7.8 in the morning and over 8 in the evening, which is about where it was before. It's hard for me to tell with the API test kit. My alkalinity is staying the same with the kalk as it was with the baking soda. I think the couple of corals that look different are from the flame angel picking at them.

On a side note, I'm getting weird calcium results with the API test. When I test the water in my 75 the colors are very faint. It's hard to tell when the colors change from pink to purple to blue. When I test my other 2 tanks and the new saltwater mix the colors are very bright and easy to read. Do you think the baking soda dosing has something to do with that? It started before I was using kalk. I get calcium readings at 480-500 in the new mix and my other 2 tanks. I get about 400-420 in my 75 and the test is very hard to read.

When I test the water in my 75 the colors are very faint.

Thats strange, I have no idea why they would be different, mine still looks the same, that is weird though huh.

It only started doing that recently. I've tested plenty of times before and never had a problem reading the test. I don't know if the baking soda is messing up the test or if the lower calcium level just makes it harder to read. I did 15 gallon water changes back to back weeks so if the calcium was a little low it should bump up a little with the water changes. I'm going to test again tonight and see if the numbers are any easier to read. I know I'm doing the test right because it works fine in my other tanks.