Hi starting to use kalkwasser and doser to dose my 60-gallon tank. I started slow from 50ml to 600ml now but can't maintain alkalinity above 9dKH. I just mix 1.5 teaspoons for 1 gallon of RODI, no stirrer. 600ml a day seems like a lot to me, is it safe to dose more than that for 60-gallon mixed reef? The tank has nnly a few small SPSs, dozen LPSs and about 150 polyps of zoas. Also, tank is new only 6-month old. The SPSs look happy I think (long polyp extensions) and PH is 8.3 mostly. Magnesium is about 1400. Thanks.
How much kalkwasser to dose daily
- Thread starter cvu
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Sounds like you got your answer. I was dosing 6500ml (2 tsp per gallon) a day in a 210g. When I transferred over to 2 part it equalled 95ml a day of A and B. To keep ph high make sure your reservoir is sealed pretty well. I use a 5 gallon jug with the hole slightly larger than the hard tubing I use to draw the solution with. Open air container and the ph of the solution drops overtime.
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My 50g tank dosed 2200 mL yesterday, and that is about average.
The thing is, the amounts will not be consistent from you to someone else, and it is wildly misunderstood. It really is dependent on the pH of your Kalk solution and on what you do to make sure it maintains that pH and does not degrade over time. How you are storing your kalk before it is put into the solution, how it is being mixed, if the top of the solution is covered, how much it is agitated, can all change the effectiveness of kak and require a change of dose to maintain proper levels.
If your kalk solution is at a pH of 12.4 then you might need 600mL, but if the solution falls to a pH of 12.2 you might need 1200mL to have the same affect, or more. The power of hydrogen is measured in units of 10x, so the pH of the solution has a major impact on it's effectiveness.
One easy safeguard you can put in place if you are running an Apex of other monitoring device is to set the dosing pump to turn off if the pH of the tank exceeds 8.4 and to turn back on if it is under say 8.2. Some people are even more precise but I have found that to be good enough.
Also you will want to try to dose at night, when the pH drops, and then during the day until it rises. My doser typically starts at 11pm and will dose until about noon.
For dosing kalk I personally prefer to monitor it by pH value and not Alk value. It is easier to monitor and more consistent for me. I have found at around the 7 month mark I had to start supplementing calcium as well, to keep the sticks happy.
If you really want to do a deep dive into Kalk dosing monitored by pH look up Chris Meckley from ACI Aquaculture. Dude has a ton of interviews and videos out there. He's a fun listen/watch as well.
The thing is, the amounts will not be consistent from you to someone else, and it is wildly misunderstood. It really is dependent on the pH of your Kalk solution and on what you do to make sure it maintains that pH and does not degrade over time. How you are storing your kalk before it is put into the solution, how it is being mixed, if the top of the solution is covered, how much it is agitated, can all change the effectiveness of kak and require a change of dose to maintain proper levels.
If your kalk solution is at a pH of 12.4 then you might need 600mL, but if the solution falls to a pH of 12.2 you might need 1200mL to have the same affect, or more. The power of hydrogen is measured in units of 10x, so the pH of the solution has a major impact on it's effectiveness.
One easy safeguard you can put in place if you are running an Apex of other monitoring device is to set the dosing pump to turn off if the pH of the tank exceeds 8.4 and to turn back on if it is under say 8.2. Some people are even more precise but I have found that to be good enough.
Also you will want to try to dose at night, when the pH drops, and then during the day until it rises. My doser typically starts at 11pm and will dose until about noon.
For dosing kalk I personally prefer to monitor it by pH value and not Alk value. It is easier to monitor and more consistent for me. I have found at around the 7 month mark I had to start supplementing calcium as well, to keep the sticks happy.
If you really want to do a deep dive into Kalk dosing monitored by pH look up Chris Meckley from ACI Aquaculture. Dude has a ton of interviews and videos out there. He's a fun listen/watch as well.
