Using kalkwasser
 

I'm about to start running kalk for the first time and I'm looking for any useful input anyone might have. I can run it in my ato or I do have a dosing pump that I was going to set up to run cal alk and mg but kalkwasser I think is a better solution for me right now. Only issue I have with running it from my ato is the tank doesn't evap the same amount of water on a daily basis. So should I run my mix through my doseing pump small amounts through out the day?

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I always just added it to my make up water. Worked fine for years.

Further, since the kalk is mixed with fresh water, you don't want to add more than you evaporate, as that could lead to a long term shift in salinity

Okay sounds good. Ato it is

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What speed is your dosing pump? I use dosing pumps just for calcium and alkalinity. Magnesium is easily supplemented by adding a bit extra to weekly waterchange water.

I just started dosing limewater on my SPS tank. I haven't used it for years, but it is great stuff. I don't like adding it to top off water because top off volume varies from one week to the next which means limewater dosing will vary. I prefer to use a doser.

I'm using a Drew's Doser that runs 1.6 mL per minute which means the maximum it can dose in 24 hours is 2300 mL. So that limits things. Saturated limewater is 2 tsp per 1 gallon of RODI water. If you add 45 mL vinegar you can increase that to 3 tsp per 1 gallon of RODI water. Although vinegar is something that should be added in slowly increasing increments and monitored closely as vinegar is a carbon source so you can get excessive bacteria growth (which can deplete tank of oxygen).

So, there are a few options for you to consider. Also, if you're going to dose limewater I would suggest you monitor pH with a digital pH meter (not drop tests) since limewater has the ability to raise pH drastically and lethally.

I have a bubblemagnus doser. How many millaliters do you dose a day.

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I just started it up on this tank a couple days ago. I'm dosing 1.6 mL per minute for 6 hours per day which is about 575 mL right now which replaces about 1/8th of my dosing. In a few days or a week I will double this, and eventually work up to dosing it 24 hours per day (2300 mL). Then I will start adding vinegar and increasing the amount of lime. I like to make changes slowly. Of course I have to monitor pH to make sure I am able to dose this much without increasing pH too much.

Oh, I forgot to elaborate above that adding vinegar, with it being a carbon source, will help to lower nitrate and phosphate.

I use a gravity powered drip of saturated Kalk solution. Super easy to setup, maintain and cheap.

Pretty much what I used for top off. No math involved :)

I tried the gravity drip method years ago and the hose always got plugged. I had one of those Kent Aqua Dosers. You guys don't have that problem?

No, used that for years. I might have cleaned the float valve once a year, that was it.

Not the doser unit itself, but a 5g jug tied into the float valve

I have been running my kalk in my top off water for years with no problem. I only recently changed to a reactor because kalk tends to eat up maxi jet pump impellers quite frequently. The key to stability is top up slightly less than your evap rate then every couple days manually top up with rodi just to get your water level back to normal.

Where do you get kalk from? I know the fish stores sell it but it's fairly expensive.

Kalkwasser or Kalk powder can be purchased in most aquarium stores...

See if you can find someone that ships pickling lime from the US. Also, one of the members here used to buy tubs of it in Vancouver somewhere and sold it for $5 for a grocery bag full. Not sure what it was labeled as though.

Here in town;
- Eli sells it bulk
- Pickling lime at Superstore or Canadian Tire with the canning section but you have to be fast (usual months are June-August for canning supplies being big and out on display).
- Sometimes its at Co-Op in the spice and seasonings aisle.