Musho's Kalk Log

[Musho3210]

Ok, i am not going to go on about how kalk works and how you should do it blah blah blah, i am just going to show how my tank reacted/is reacting to it.

Before addition of kalk

20 gallon tank
Some sps coral which is un-ided
2 ricordea polyps, a small zoa rock
2 clownfish
temp 78 lights off, 81-82 lights on
hydor koralia 2 for circulation
HOB top fin filter with chaeto inside and a light as my refugium

Phosphate 0
pH 7.8 (this was the main reason why i wanted to try kalk)
kH 9
Calcium 360

I mixed 1/8th tsp of seachem kalkwasser in 500 ml of RO/DI water (aprox 1 pint / 1/8th of a gallon) and slowly mixed with the water all the way up to the cap to try to avoid too much CO2 entering the mixture. I was using a simple snapple ice tea plastic bottle. This is how i made my dripper: http/www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.php

My main tank light/refugium light/kalk dripping schedule

Refugium lights off at 9am
Tank lights on at 9am
Tank lights off at 6pm
I drip 400 ml of kalk at a rate of 1 drip every 2-3 seconds
Refugium lights go on after the kalk has been dosed


here is my log:

Day 1:

After first dose (400ml):
pH 8.3
Calcium: 380
kH 9

20 hours after the last test, right before second dose:
pH 8.3
calcium 360-380 (test showed somewhere in between)
kH 9


Feel free to ask questions

 

[SkiFletch]

So it raised the pH yet the kH and calc remained the same? odd...

 

[Musho3210]

calcium went up by 20, kh stayed the same, pH rose

All tests are used with an API test.

Another explanation could be maybe the kalk didnt do anything and the pH just rose, it is a fairly new tank so fluctuations arent that uncommon.

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh whoops, I read that wrong... Ok then that makes sense. Kalkwasser afterall is Calcium Hydroxide. When dissolved in water, and dosed to a marine system it is meant to raise calcium and pH. So sounds like its doing its thing

 

[Musho3210]

yeah, we'll see if it can keep it that way

It takes around 6 hours for the complete dose so i made the refugium lights go on just a bit earlier so the chaeto gets 12 hours of light. I think calcium deposits in the control area is slowing the drips down. I may need to open it every day until it gets fully clogged then either clean it or jsut replace it (they are like 3 dollars for a pack of 5)

 

[keith00]

Of course if the corals and coraline algae are taking up the calcium then it wont show up in the water column. If you want a higher reading in the water column you need to add calcium chloride for a quick boost before reverting to as much calcium hydroxide as your animals need.

By the way I don't know where you are but I used to use calcium hydroxide from a chemical supply company - much cheaper.

 

[Musho3210]

i only have one hard coral in the tank and i plan on getting rid of it. Part of my experiment is to not use other calcium/buffering products so i can see how well kalk is. Before first dose was 360 (calcium), after first dose it was 380, 20 hours later it was 370. So far the calcium level rises by 10 every 20-24 hours. I will see if it keeps up (may need a few more calcium test kits )

I looked for pickling lime at my supermarket (it makes limewater, in case no one knew limewater is english and kalkwasser is german, they both mean exactly the same thing, probably some marketing technique) and there was none. So i just got some seachem kalkwasser that had 25% off at my lfs since all seachem items are 25% off this month. I use aprox .37 grams a day of kalkwasser. I bought 500 grams of kalkwasser. Math says that will last me around a thousand days. 15 dollars for all the time until i go to college isnt bad....

I dont know if it is the effect from the kalkwasser or if they are just more used to my tank or if my tank is maturing, but my zoanthids stay open longer, and open wider. And my ricordeas expand bigger.

The combination of kalk and chaeto may mean i may not need to keep buying phosban hopefully. Once ive finished with this amount i will see how it goes without any phosphate resin.

 

[Musho3210]

Day 4 before a water change:

Calcium 400
kH 9
pH 8.3

 

[Musho3210]

Day 7:

Calcium - Around 380-400, since i have a few more hard corals in my tank i am thinking about adding a pure calcium additive like kent calcium or something and using the kalkwasser to keep it up for longer
kH - 10 (hmm, kalk may be working a bit too well)
pH - 8.2

Parameters werent as "perfect" as before. I'll see how it goes and maybe not use kalk for a while and only use a calcium supplement. Its all fine and parameters arent dangerous at all, but they werent as balanced as before. Kalk may be working in some places and not in others.

 

[SkiFletch]

If it were my tank, I'd continue dosing the kalk and just add bits of kent calcium additive to keep the calcium up. Probably less prone to big swings that way.

 

[Musho3210]

k, i'll try that.

 

[Musho3210]

for future reference if anyone reads this from searching the forum, the tank crashed from the kalk, the tank was too small, too much kalk, too rushed. I dont feel kalk should be used to raise anything, but rather maintain it. A lesson to be learnt.... Dose very little at a time, maybe once a week, and VERY slowly raise the dosing amount. Any signs of distressed corals, stop dosing. This stuff is pretty strong in tanks, if used carefully it can be pretty beneficial, but i wouldnt recommend this to any inexperianced reef keepers who do not understand the balance of alk, calc, and pH, or do not have good test kits.

Eyes are stronger than chemical tests...