Proper use of kalk?

[bobssecrtsn]

Ok so ithis might sound stupid but ... I'm dosing 2 part atm and want to switch to kalk, I researched the forums and this is what info I got,

Dosing kalk.when mixing you have to wait at least 15 hours or until its not cloudy and the particles are to the floor.

I'm not sure about the next step, you have to find out how much gallons of evaporation your tank gets a day and figure out how much alk/ca/mg is used a daythen how many tspns your kalk products tells you to use ( 1/4 tspn per gallon or more depending on your ca/alk/mg is being used)

The next step I'm bummed. I have a ato, its like a float switch so whenever evaporation occurs the pump turns on to fill up with r/o water people say they drip it into their ato container, but wouldn't that cause kalk overdose since its pouring a lot of r/o water into the system?

Second question, you found out how many gallons of water is being evaporated and you use that to drip over night ( 1 drip every 4-5 seconds) is the kalk contsainer suppose to be used up in the morning? Or let it drip throughout the day?

I'm just curous if you runout in the morning then wouldn't your corals use up the ca/mg/alk? Or if you drip it over night and throughtout the day wouldn't you have more evaporation or do you have 2 Ato's running?

 

[wickedfish]

I have run 3 separate tanks with the method I'm gonna talk about.

I have about 2 gallons of evap, up to about 3 gallons in my 225 gallon aquarium.

I add 1.5 tsp of kalk per gallon of RODI. Not dripped just shaken violently in a 5 gallon jug then added to the reservoir.

I add a small 3" table made out of light diffuser and zipties to keep the pump suspended off of the floor of the resi so it doesn't suck pure undiluted Kalk, dont want it to Get clogged.

On my 90 gallon I added the max 2 tsp of Kalk for 1 gal of RODI. But I did not use 3 part as I do on my current, 225 gallon aquarium. The Kalk was enough to keep up with 7.5 alk, 410 calcium and I used the Kalk plus 2 from brightwell since it has magnesium added and kept it low at 1240-1270. I would hand pour mag solution 2 times a week. To keep it at 1350.

Currently use the BRS 5 gallon Pail and I go through 15-19 gallons of solution every 7-9 days.

I use a tunze Osomolator and I do not disconnect it for the 12 hours for it to settle which is poor form but I don't see it doing anything except making the tank a tad cloudy.


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[Skidazl]

Wickedfish, any chance you can post a pic of that table? I'm trying to picture how you did it...

I use a mj900 for my ATO and I have the magnetss to attach it to the side of the aquarium, does anybody know if they work through a rubbermaid trash can?

Also, I bought a 1/2" ball valve to put on the tubing to slow down the flow so as not to add too much kalk water at once. The way my setup is it goes up the side of the rubbermaid and then it is downhill to the sump from there. I assume I should put the valve on the down side, but want to be 100% sure. Thanks,
Dave

And yes, I am a moron when it comes to DIY, so save the remarks :loldude:...

 

[wickedfish]

Just picture 4" tall by 8" long diffuser wall x4. Then the top is 8"x8" ziptie the corners and done. Sorry pic coming. Trust me it's genius well it's good is all. I don't have one on my cousins ato and his alk is 10.9 and only thing I can think of is the undissolved stuff is first in the tank. I run same salt and ratio of Kalk to rodi and use the same rodi unit for both of our tanks.



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[Skidazl]

I just stuck the ato pump to the side of the bucket with the magnets about 3" above the bottom of the bucket, works like a charm...