Putting Kalk in the ATO?
 

I'd like to put kalk into my ATO help help keep my parameters more stable and just use 2-part to tweak each accordingly. The reason for this is that I can get very busy at work and am sometimes not home to dose or simply don't have time. I'd like to make life a bit easier. Second reason is my pH is consistently low despite all efforts to raise it. I'd like to have kalk help keep the pH up. I am currently using a Tunze ATO to top up. I evaporate a retarded amount of water; like a gallon a day on a 50 gallon tank.

I would like to mix up kalk at <0.5 tsp/gallon for the first while and see how the system does and then adjust it from there.

Problem, Kalk scares the crap out of me. Anyone have any advice to share that can help me here? Who uses kalk in their top off?

Kalk will plug up your pump. I picked this unit up and never been happier.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s..._ID=tz-kalkdis

Just add kalk to the container and you are good to go. My squamosa clam has grown more in the last 2 months compared to the whole last year since adding this.

Eventually that's the route it'll likely go. I want to start with it in the ATO and if that's working for me I'll build a kalk reactor for myself over Christmas. I just can justify spending over $100 on something I can build better for less than $40. But, I want to try this whole shebang out for a month or two before throwing down the cash for a reactor.

What were you dosing before adding the kalk reactor?

If you are handy, I imagine you could build one of these pretty easy for cheap. I just didn't want to fool around with it though. I'm not sure you would want to add the kalk directly to the top off water though as you may damage/clog up the pump and then you'll need to buy a new pump.

Before adding this, I was just trying to manual dose daily.

I did try this in the past but the issue is the same as me just dosing two part. If I'm home at weird hours and only dose once a day it causes a big pH change, so that's why I stopped doing it almost as soon as I started it. Now that I have an ATO I trust I want to try it in the reservoir for the time being. I'm OK with the pump being in there with it, at least for the short term. My experimental reactor at work pumps concentrated kalk at 60C for 400 hours at a time and doesn't clog. And it's a crappier pump than what tunze gives me :razz:

I've been running kalk/vinegar diluted in RODI water for about 3 weeks thru my Tunze ATO.. levels are good as long as I dont run a cooling fan (levels shot up), however, my pump doesn't sound normal...noisy now when it tops up. I think there is calcium buildup in it. Was thinking of running straight vinegar thru it to clean it out.
The Kalk/vinegar method can be found online.

Debating going to 2 part dosing or just getting a Calcium reactor as I already have the CO2 tank, solenoid and ph monitor from a planted freshwater setup I used to have

If you want you can come by and take a look at the way I'm doing it. I run both a calcium reactor and kalk reactor. Never mind. Sorry I was looking at wrong screen name. iPhone screen too small

I've been adding kalk to my ato for about a year now and I think it's one of the best things I could have done for my tank. I've been adding 1 tspn per gal with good success. I also run a calcium reactor but it's not always consistent on it's own. With the kalk I don't have to worry about the reactor slowing down now and again. No special technique here, I just toss the kalk in every time I fill the ato reservoir. No pump clogging here either.

Be cautious when/if using a float valve to release Kalk via ATO. A friend was using one model valve where the Kalk(Top off)) actually went through the float valve itself. Over time the Kalk built up on the float valve, it stayed open and pumped 30g of Kalk into the system; lost $20K worth of live stock :sad:

I use a gravity fed system i.e. drip, for Kalk only and a Tunze Osmolator for ATO.

When you guys add Kalk to the top off water don't you find that the addition of Kalk varies as the evaporation changes? I know my tank is hardly going through any top off water right now, and in the summer it was about 3 gallons per day. That could wreck havoc...?

I am having that problem with the kalk/vinegar mix I am using because it makes Ca and CO3 far more available than just kalk in water alone. I found with just kalk in water, I couldnt keep up with the needs of the corals in a small tank with SPS

That has been my concern as well, but I'm going to try it at a low kalk concentration (0.5tsp/gallon) and adjust it accordingly like you would with two-part. I'm going to keep the kalk on the low side and use two part less frequently to dial it in. If I could get two-part down to every other day that'd be enough for me.

Things just grow more in the summer. :lol:

Did you have fans going in the summer to create more evaporation? I seem to remember evaporation higher in the winter when humidity was less.

Nothing has changed in my tank as far as equipment goes, but the humidity in the house is a tad higher, not much though.

I'm going to add Kalk+vinegar to my reef in the next while here because I'm dosing quite a lot and think Kalk would help keep the ions in balance a bit better, particularly keeping chloride down a bit. I'm going to dose as much Kalk as I can while keeping an eye on the pH and use the calcium and alkalinity dosing where the Kalk falls short. I'm going to use a doser for the Kalk.

What's this Kalk and vinegar business? never heard of that. Although I understand the vinegar would help the kalk dissolve.

I'm using a TLF kalk reactor rigged up to the tunze ATO pump. It's a bit much for the pump but it works for now. I figure if the pump burns out I'll switch to the relay socket and put in a more powerful pump.

my red moni cap coral is growing in leaps and bounds now with the extra calcium. haven't seen too much improvement in my acro's or clams yet. but it's only been about a month.

Here is the article I have used as a reference for kalk/vinegar

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/b...alkwasser.html

Along with allowing more Kalk to dissolve vinegar also lowers the pH a bit without precipitating. Albeit, all that crap that doesn't dissolve is impurities in the Kalk that have precipitated out. Using vinegar allows some of those impurities to be dissolved. Kalk is pretty cool stuff, I haven't dosed it in years, but I'm going to start up again.

I dosed kalk in my ato for quite a while. I have the JBJ ATO with an aqualifter pump. I set my resevior at a hight that allows it to drip once per second. That way it can't swing particularly fast. Obviously won't work if your evaporation is higher than that. But even you should still be able to find a speed that works for you but isn't too fast.

I have had the float valve stick but its not really an issue. At the speed the pump runs at it times out after 20 minutes which is before it can over dose the tank. Of course then the ATO is dead until I get home and discover it but at least there is no tragedy.

Kalk does build up in the water line and pump but that just requires a bit of maintenance to keep things clean. The pump is cheap enough as it is but when mine quit it only needed to be flushed out.

I also use a JBJ ato which automatically stops running after a few minutes if the float valve gets stuck. This prevents kalk disaster. I do get varying evap rates throughout the seasons but I find that I don't get any KH changes using a lower concentration of kalk. My ca reactor is doing most of the work anyways and the kalk is just keeping my levels rock solid.

I just dump the kalk in and forget about it.

I have been useing Kalk in my ato water for about 1.5 years I have a JBJ ato conected to one of those table top pond pumps it does not clog the aqua lifter I had at first would clog up after a few months and had to be taken apart and cleaned. I have been running this pump for over 1 year now with no troubles. I was useing 1 heeped table soop for 5gallons added my mag and supliments also to the ATO works fine. My sps grow slow but have a nice thick skeliton. I am fine with this method and will continue.

Bill

i basically take a cup of vinegar, put 4 tsp of kalk powder in the vinegar, still it up, and then mix it with 4 gallons of ro/di water.

one day i'll make a kalk stirrer using one of those single rotisserie bbq things from canadian tire. for now, i just stir it a bit after i pour the vinegar+kalk mix, wait a bit then plug into the ato setup. kalk reactors are pretty expensive for what they are.

i use this in combo with a 2 part reefdoser. if i had a 3 pump doser, would probably be safer than the float switch + pump method but it would also eventually put a strain on the dosing pump and tubes. for now, the aqualifter just needs cleaning.

I used kalk in the make up water only for as long as it took me to build a kalk reactor. you cannot get a high enough concentration in top off water to make it worth it in a high growth sps system.

I had a gravity top off of 110 gal resivoir in the garage that fed my calk reactor and then went into the tank via a float valve.. no pumps. well I used one pump on my kalk reactor on a timer that would cirulate the kalk in the reactor for 1 min every hour.

Steve

I just picked up a third Drew's Doser from BRS. I'm going to use it for Kalk...should get that setup today. I have a tub of RowaKalk to use up.