# Kalkwasser?



## Green Ocean (Jun 24, 2014)

Recently I'm deciding on using kalkwasser because of it's simplicity and effectiveness. There are still many questions I have. 
1. Can I dose it with a regular dosing pump?
2. How much is required each day? According to suggestion on youtube, they said to drip through out the entire day. 
3.What are some of the benefits other than higher ph, ca, and alk?
4.How much pounds of kalkwasser do you need a year(aprox)?


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## amps (Feb 24, 2015)

I can tell you that I've been using it in my top off water for about 6 months now and it's made my life significantly easier. It adds balance parts of Calcium and Alkalinity, just like 2-part dosing. My PH is rock solid at 8.4-8.5.

I started by adding 1 teaspoon to my 1.5 gallon top off container and then seeing if my alk was dropping (it was). I kept upping the amount of kalk I was adding until I didn't see my alk dropping anymore. The max you can mix is about 2 teaspoons per gallon of RO. It needs to be adjusted here and there depending on the season, my house is crazy dry in the winter and the evaporation rate is much higher causing me to add less kalk to my top off water to account for the higher usage.

I bought mine from BRS. I've used roughly 1/4 gallon in 6 months on my 10 gallon tank (10 gallon sump as well).


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## Green Ocean (Jun 24, 2014)

What are some ways of dose kalk?


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

He just told you, he doses his top-up water and lets the ATO add the limewater to the system at the rate of evaporation.

I do the same thing. 2 teaspoons per gallon of RODI. I have my ATO hooked into my Apex for extra protection from a Kalk overdose. If my PH goes above 8.4 the Apex shuts down the ATO. 
I use an aqualifter with my ATO but I keep an eye on ity because calcium build-up can cause the pump to get blocked. A proper peristaltic pump is on my list.... has been for years...lol.
*Kalk can be very dangerous*, do your research, there are several ways to administer it to a tank and you use kalk to maintain Calcium/Alk never to adjust the levels.

Please make use of the search function on the forum here.... and Google... and RC.....Lots of us have gone through describing how we dose kalk several times ON HERE already...


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## Green Ocean (Jun 24, 2014)

I've read and seem any information on Kalk, and most are saying to dose with ATO, but I want to really just use my dosing pump do dose. How can I do that? It's different from adding top off water since you control the dosage.


fesso clown said:


> He just told you, he doses his top-up water and lets the ATO add the limewater to the system at the rate of evaporation.
> 
> I do the same thing. 2 teaspoons per gallon of RODI. I have my ATO hooked into my Apex for extra protection from a Kalk overdose. If my PH goes above 8.4 the Apex shuts down the ATO.
> I use an aqualifter with my ATO but I keep an eye on ity because calcium build-up can cause the pump to get blocked. A proper peristaltic pump is on my list.... has been for years...lol.
> ...


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## Addicted (Jan 1, 2014)

If you want to use your doser, don't use kalkwasser. Use 2 part alk & calc.


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

You need to read some more. You don't dose kalk with a doser. It can be confusing and overwhelming at the start. Keep reading, the questions you are asking suggest that you have not read and understood enough about elemental consumption in a reef tank. 
My guess is that you do not need to dose anything at all yet.... your tank is brand new and you have very little bioload. 

How much Alk does your system eat up daily? That is the first thing you need to establish.


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## Lilphil26 (Sep 15, 2015)

Regarding dosing Kalk in your ato water, how fast does it destroy the pump vs just water? I bought a tunze ato for my new lagoon 25 so i dont need kalk yet but will try it when ready. Im curious if i should order a spare pump just to be safe.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

Most people dose kalk by putting it in their ATO water.
I do use a doser because of 2 reasons - i want to control exactly what gets put in and i hate getting that white buildup on the bottom of the container (which isn't easy to clean for me).

It won't "destroy" a ATO pump but as that white stuff builds up you will have to clean the pump and container once in a while. Just soaking the pump in vinegar will do it.

Here are a couple of calculators:
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/KalkContribution.php

You will see its not effective for raising levels.

For kalk - whichever manufacturer you are using they usually have a guide - this is the BRS one (kalk is just calcium carbonate)

½ Teaspoon per gallon of fresh water*	FOWLR systems
1 Teaspoon per gallon of fresh water*	*low coral content
2 Teaspoons per gallon of fresh water* *SPS

2 tsp will give you saturated limewater - i find you have to keep stirring/shaking the container to keep it from settling out.

The purist say you should use a kalk-stirrer to mix/contain your kalkwasser and only draw from the middle saturated portion.

If your calcium is low - use the 2 part (Calcium Chloride/NaHCO3) to get it to the right level. Once you are at the right level use kalk to maintain it. Nothing wrong with having both set ups. If you are still at the stage where you a adding a lot of livestock - you might want to stick with 2 part because your calcium requirements will increase. Some ppl think corals calcify better with a kalk additive (vs. 2 part) - but no real scientific evidence (that i'm aware of) to back that up.


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