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dosing kalkwasser

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professorbadnews

i have been adding kalkwasser to my tap off water supply. is this a good idea? i do not have a regulator or contraption to add gradually. does the kalk wasser wear off if it is in the pail? should i just add a teaspoon to each gallon i top off with per day? i want to get the most out of the stuff since i bought it.

little help...

professor
 
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DaveK

Using kalkwasser can be a good idea. However, the use of it depends upon what is right for your system. If you have a system where the calcium is being depleted from the water by the corals and other livestock, and you can't keep up with this via normal water changes, then kalkwasser is a good idea, and part of maintaining calcium levels. However, if you don't have a problem with calcium going down, then you don't need kalkwasser.
 
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Demo

You should find a way to dose properly. First, you should mix kalk with water and let sit for 24 hours. Then pour off clear liquid and dump milky water at bottom(sediment). You can use an airline attached to a bag or bucket with a small airline valve to adjust a drip of the kalk water. You'll quickly find that a cheap dosing pump on a timer drawing kalk water from a 5 gallon bucket saves alot of time and trouble. I dose about 3/4 gallon each night to my 65 gallon tank.
 
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DaveK

I should have also pointed out that air should be kept from kalkwasser. If you expose it to air, it becomes much less effective. This is why it's usually best to use a kalk reactor when using kalkwasser. A reactor will provide a constant supply of water, and at the same time, keep air out.
 
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nismo driver

i have found dosing limewater to top off my primarily sps tank to be a very effective for maintaining calcium levels. another good tip is to use mr. wages pickling lime, this can save a lot of money, i found it atwalmart for fourtimes the volume at less then a 1/4 of the price of kent kalkwasser. there are a few variables to keep in mind that can impact the effectiveness of this, if you have high calcium uptake but not enough evaporation to be able to top off with enough limewater to keep up with calcium use its not a good solution, on the other end of that scenario high evaporation and low calcium up take you can just reduce the amount of klak you add to the top off reservoir. its best to add over a long peroid of time to not cause any big fluctuation in PH. i have also read that once you mix the kalk and the lime water is full satrated and thefilm has formed you do not want to stir the mixure this can effect the PH of the limewater and reduce the calcium level of the full saturated limewater. Adding vinigar can raise the saturation level if necessar to keep up with higher calcium needs.

hmm if any noticed that i mis-stated any of that let me know..

reefkeeping has had a number of articles about limewater, i have found to be very helpful.
 
D

Demo

I didn't read that article, but a brief search on any of the other reefkeeping websites will yield numerous articles on this topic. One thing to notice is that some feel adding vinegar to increase solubility may also result in the outbreak of nuisance algae. I can't comment on the truthfulness of this, but it is noteworthy.
 
blange3

blange3

nismo driver said:
there are a few variables to keep in mind that can impact the effectiveness of this, if you have high calcium uptake but not enough evaporation to be able to top off with enough limewater to keep up with calcium use its not a good solution, ......

hmm if any noticed that i mis-stated any of that let me know..

reefkeeping has had a number of articles about limewater, i have found to be very helpful.
Click to expand...

I'd just tweak this a bit. If you don't have enough evaporation, dosing kalk will need some help from supplements, but is still worth doing.

Although Mrs. Wages is economical and I used it for a while, John and Phyl turned my on to ESV kalkwasser and I've experience an improvement in my ph levels.
 
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