Lets talk kalkwasser

[russ13]

Now that I have an ATO I was looking to add kalkwasser to my RODI water. Do any of you guys do this and how does it work for you. My tank is going to be a mixed reef with a few SPS.

 

[SPEARGUNHUNTER]

Tried to add kalkwasser with my ato but the problem is not always the same evaporation every day so I just use the kalk stirrer and a doser pump and I dose same amount same time and every day.

 

[SAKTEK]

Now that I have an ATO I was looking to add kalkwasser to my RODI water. Do any of you guys do this and how does it work for you. My tank is going to be a mixed reef with a few SPS.

I can only speak from my experience, and I'd stay away from that! My ATO failed and dumped almost all of my 30g reservoir into the tank. I killed a lot of high end sps


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[SAKTEK]

Tried to add kalkwasser with my ato but the problem is not always the same evaporation every day so I just use the kalk stirrer and a doser pump and I dose same amount same time and every day.

What the maestro said!


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[russ13]

Interesting..... I was also worried about how it kills the ATO pump. Maybe dosing will be a better option

 

[SAKTEK]

That too!


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[janiners305]

I can only speak from my experience, and I'd stay away from that! My ATO failed and dumped almost all of my 30g reservoir into the tank. I killed a lot of high end sps


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Been there except i didnt lose anything lol but if your gonna add to ato fill a pitcher with a gallon of water put a couple scoups in in mix let settle 24 hours syphon out clear liquid into ato and boom done deal

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[janiners305]

Interesting..... I was also worried about how it kills the ATO pump. Maybe dosing will be a better option

Wont kill the pump if you do it the way i just told you

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[Circle10]

I run kalk in ATO , and run two part. I do it for PH reasons and tired of dosing so much two part ($$$) I had a hard time keeping ph above 8.0 , now at 8.3 day / 7.9ish at night , I don't run a refuge , I started really SLOW@ 1/2 teaspoon per gallon now up to 2 teaspoons per gallon.watch your alk and ph and you'll be ok.

 

[organism]

I run 1-2 T of pickling lime per 5 gallons through the ATO, been doing it like that for about a decade now. As long as you have a double float ATO to use one as a backup in case the first one fails you should be good. Even when the evaporation is different the corals still use it, so slightly more or less alk doesn't make a huge difference overall, and there are tons of benefits to dosing kalk too like it precipitates phosphates and other stuff. Every couple of weeks I adjust the calcium and magnesium with some 2-part, but the alkalinity is always spot on.

 

[Circle10]

I run 1-2 T of pickling lime per 5 gallons through the ATO, been doing it like that for about a decade now. As long as you have a double float ATO to use one as a backup in case the first one fails you should be good. Even when the evaporation is different the corals still use it, so slightly more or less alk doesn't make a huge difference overall, and there are tons of benefits to dosing kalk too like it precipitates phosphates and other stuff. Every couple of weeks I adjust the calcium and magnesium with some 2-part, but the alkalinity is always spot on.

Well said !!! I do all above ,and have apex turn off ATO if PH goes above 8.40 , don't blame kalk for ATO failure , I've seen dosing pump issues dose a crap ton of alk and nuke stuff too , but I don't blame the Alk..

 

[russ13]

I feel pretty safe with my Tunze ATO. I read something about not letting the pump sit on the bottom of the ATO reservoir so I would need something to hold the pump up. Then do you have to keep cleaning it every time you put more in it. Can you just put a pump in the reservoir to keep it moving all the time?


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[organism]

I feel pretty safe with my Tunze ATO. I read something about not letting the pump sit on the bottom of the ATO reservoir so I would need something to hold the pump up. Then do you have to keep cleaning it every time you put more in it. Can you just put a pump in the reservoir to keep it moving all the time?

That's weird, where did you reaad about not letting the pump sit on the bottom of the ATO reservoir? I've been doing that for ages, used to run it continuously but then the pumps kept burning out running dry when the reservoir got too low and I didn't catch it. Now it's just a couple minutes a day when I'm feeding.

 

[Sandrock.e46]

Been there except i didnt lose anything lol but if your gonna add to ato fill a pitcher with a gallon of water put a couple scoups in in mix let settle 24 hours syphon out clear liquid into ato and boom done deal

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Good idea... Don't know why I didn't think of doing that. It also leaves the ato bucket nice and clean? Tired of the white walls in the ato container

 

[russ13]

Been there except i didnt lose anything lol but if your gonna add to ato fill a pitcher with a gallon of water put a couple scoups in in mix let settle 24 hours syphon out clear liquid into ato and boom done deal

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i thought about doing it this way. I don't see any downside to it and it would keep the ATO reservoir nice and clean

 

[janiners305]

i thought about doing it this way. I don't see any downside to it and it would keep the ATO reservoir nice and clean

Win win situation lol thats how i used to do it now i have a stirrer

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[russ13]

I can only speak from my experience, and I'd stay away from that! My ATO failed and dumped almost all of my 30g reservoir into the tank. I killed a lot of high end sps


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what ATO did you use??

 

[SAKTEK]

what ATO did you use??

I had a cheap ATO from autotopoff.com. It had a pressure switch, to turn on the pump.


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[russ13]

Look what showed up in the mail

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[Circle10]

I used a couple different brands of kalk , but found that bulk reef supply kalk mixes easier and leaves less precipitation on the bottom of my ATO container, and ended being the cheapest bought a gallon (4.5 lbs) for less than 15$