ya I was getting at a build up over time as I never used to rinse my old 5 gal bucket and after a while if there was a lot of flow it would put solids in, but doesn't sound like that is the problem.

Steve

Brad,

Your delivery system is much different and more forgiving than mine. In your system, the kalk powder has a chance to settle at the bottom of your jug over time. In my puny 1400 ml system, I've got to settle the powder first in my make up 4L jug before adding any kalk mix through my drip.

Bev, keep in mind I went thru a 5g jug daily. Not much time to settle really. Watching the float valve, I can see milky kalk solution going into the sump. Just never worried about it, other than mechanical clogging of lines.

It is possible the "low" readings you were getting were due to the fact that you had just gone through a precipitation event. That would have removed a lot of Ca/Alk from the system (I think).

untamed,

The precip event was short. As soon as I realized the kalk was precipitation, I discontinued the drip. Drip lasted less than 2-3 minutes in each tank, though the little white precip flakes drifted around the tank for another 10 minutes or so.

Once you trigger the precipitation, it will pull Ca/Alk out of the system. It is a threshold. Once you cross, you can loose a lot of Ca/Alk quickly.

BTW...check your pumps. If you were running this close to precipitation, it likely first occuring inside any PH in the system. The heat causes the reaction to occur more easily. If one could see inside one's pumps, they would give warning to when you are close to pushing the Kalk too far...

If the pump impellers are coated, soak them in vinegar to break up the Ca.

untamed,

Did maintenance on the three tanks yesterday. Always tear apart the 802s and 402s to clean them in a pail of outgoing changewater. Noticed no precip anywhere in or on any of the powerheads in all three systems.

Have not been dripping kalk for a few days. Am going to do a full work up of params this morning. Afterward, may also drip some kalk to see what happends. Will post results.

Took almost two hours to test the following on my three tanks this afternoon:

37g: (30% water change yesterday)

- temp - 78 F
- SG - 1.026
- nitrate - 0 ppm
- dKH - 8
- pH - 8.10
- magnesium - 1185 ppm
- calcium - 360 ppm

67g: (35% water change yesterday)

- temp - 79 F
- SG - 1.025
- nitrate - 0 ppm
- dKH - 8.5
- pH - 8.25
- magnesium - 1180 ppm
- calcium - 380 ppm

120g: (15% water change yesterday)

- temp - 79 F
- SG - 1.026
- nitrate - 0 ppm
- dKH - 8.5
- pH - 8.25
- magnesium - 1245 ppm
- calcium - 380 ppm

Overall, params look good except for low magnesium across the board. Would also like to increase pH in the 37g. Have not tried dripping kalk yet to see if it precipitates like it did last week after the water change. Will keep you posted.

Will use the Reef Chemistry Calculator to figure out how to adjust the magnesium:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

What I did this week:

- used the calculator to adjust Mg in all tanks to 1350
- took three days to add all the Kent Mg to each tank
- have been dripping kalk for the last two evenings and nights in all tanks
- have been dripping 1/2 kalk and half RO during the day in the 120g for top up.

Test results from this afternoon:

37g: (water change will be on Sunday)

- dKH - 6
- pH - 8.11
- magnesium - 1440 ppm
- calcium - 360 ppm

67g: (water change will be on Sunday)

- dKH - 7
- pH - 8.25
- magnesium - 1335 ppm
- calcium - 400 ppm

120g: (water change will be on Sunday)

- dKH - 8
- pH - 8.32
- magnesium - 1335 ppm
- calcium - 400 ppm

Comments:

- unexpected rise in Mg in 37g
- Mg about where I thought it would be in 67g and 120g
- alk decreased in all cases to varying degrees
- Ca either increased or stayed the same