Reef Angel Forum

Wanted to ask this question of some of the more experienced People on the forum.

When you dosing kalkwasser do you dose it against PH, or Calcium, or Alk? If I add higher amount that my PH can handle will this cause my Calcium, and Alk levels to rise, or will it just maintain them? Lots of conflicting info on this on the internet, and LFS.

I have been fighting with a low PH problem and have been dabbling with using this in my ATO

I have tried to fix the low PH issue with the following

Tried Result

30% water change No change to PH
Pulled air line from out side for skimmer No change to PH
Added 2 wooden air-stones with air pump out side to pull in higher oxygen air This helped some
until I used Phosban

Rebalanced Calcium and Alk to 490 and 10.8 dkh, Mag is 1300 I know Cal. and
Alk are slightly Hi No Change to PH

Increase surface turbulence and run macro algae opposite your DT lights. If you're already using macro, make sure it's growing fast by adding more light, flow, rotation. A higher overall respiration of organisms in your system is the path to take.

We have set up the macro sump lights to be on opposite to the day lights. I was running them 24/7 going to monitor it for a few days, and see what i have from there.

Kalkwasser is an amazing way to help with pH as well as to take care of most if not all of your calcium needs. I use 7gallon of RO water with 2. Tbsp of Kalkwasser powder (Calcium hydroxide) and 8 Tbsp of grocery store 10% acidity vinegar (white only). This is pumped into my tank continuously using a peristaltic pump and serves as top off water as well as my entire calcium supplementation. I have a 57 gallon rimless tank with a 30 gallon breeder sump so about 80-90 gallons if you subtract the rock. Tank is very heavy on SPS and my growth over a year astounds most people. Never touch a calcium supplement and its always right at about 400. Have never tracked pH but my refugium has a giant cheato ball and I run lights on a reverse cycle there. If your running a calcium reactor that can get you into pH trouble depending on how you have it regulated etc... but with Kalkwasser I have never needed to add anything but a vitamin/trace supplement (reef FUEL) which I do manually a few days a week randomly basically. Try it... but do not use Kalk if your ATO delivers large quantities sporadically you can wreak havoc with your pH that way.... the Vinegar acts like vodka dosing as it provides a nitrogen free simple carbon source to keep the bacteria going happily. I have been doing this for a year, its wonderful.

Randy Holmes-Farley has some discussion of this in a few of his posts (not here) and Kalk is known as one of the best balanced (alk and Ca) supplements you can find, my tank is running very smoothly.

Rufessor -
I have a dumb question -
Doesn't the Vinger cancel out the PH gain in your mixture ?

Doesn't the Vinger cancel out the PH gain in your mixture ?

I think the idea is not much on gaining temporary ph increase from the kalk, but gaining alkalinity buffer to prevent long term ph drop, right?

I would assume this is his issue. Without a proper buffer the pH will continue to drop more and more over time. This wouldn't effect a short time period. But other a month etc this can/will create big issues. Must buffer!!

Oh, sorry for not quoting... I meant to comment about MDN's post.

MDN wrote:Rufessor -
I have a dumb question -
Doesn't the Vinger cancel out the PH gain in your mixture ?

Here is the article I wanted to find for you:
http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/bree ... asser.html

I have quit using the vinger for the last month. Just to see if i seen it affecting the PH. So far I have not been able see any real difference. I have a higher Co2 level in my tank.

Before you start using kalk powder. It is a must testing first your magnesium and the calcium levels. Keep them in the Natural Sea Water range always. Kalk is a great way to maintain alkalinity or a two part solution to create a more ionic balance experts will say.

Keep in mind having too high alkalinity will result to skeleton building and when calcium is below the NSW range. If your not the type who will test the two important elements and keeping them balance mention above and maintain those levels. Kalk method might not be right for you.

You also need to keep your salinity at 35ppt and use a top brand of salt like Salinity by Aquavitro and very important use a refractometer as a tool and a good brand of pH probe for testing your pH too when using Kalk.

I have been successful using kalk with the RA system having all of this items and a branded Two Little Fishies KW Reactor 300 (Kalkwasser Reactor) if you plan to use this idea. Easy to use and nice invention. I like it as the kalk powder automatically mixes with RO nicely for me. The benefit is your protected with this invention as its patented stirring system IMO no need to look for another brand.

The kw reactor does not come with a pump, its sold separately basically RO water is use to mix with Kalk powder separately inside the reactor that's all. The kalk powder is place inside the kw reactor and not the bucket of Ro water so this eliminate the pump getting chalked since pump is inside a clean Ro water bucket its always free from maintenance. What you need to watch out for is if the Ro water will empty during the week and the Kalk inside the Kw reactor.

I use a 5 gallon bucket to do this. Also no need adding vinegar with my system as it mixes automatically well. You do need to maintenance the kalk powder inside the Kw reactor as it clears up during the week. Other may want to add vinegar dip if you think.

I add approx 1 to 3 a teaspoon of kalk powder is recommend for consumption for the size reactor I use per week. My guess it depends how fast calcium is consume in your tank.

Another important thing you will need to do is add an extra code line beside the original on or off from the wizard assigning the pH levels. I mean to bypass this code in the port of your kalk pump to work with pH.

If you dont know how to code I suggest check out The Reef angel wizard for mac it is very easy to use.
Its generate the basic code for you automatically. Example port 5 i set my pH reading to
approx 8.0 - pump on and 8.1 - pump off. I dont set it high as i leave allowance as pH rises during the day when light open. The cool thing with the Ra system it can use the pH probe reading as a trigger for the pump to turn on and off automatically.

I also strongly suggest you make a failsafe or bypass code as mention before to protect your reef tank from over dosing kalk. At the moment the wizard does not have this yet bypass code. You need to do this manually.

If the pH probe accidentally catches a dirt between the tips of the probe and its stuck there the pH reading will go down outside the range you want. Your pH reading will drops very very low when this happens until you clean the probe or remove the dirt. i dont recall exactly how low but surely may drop below pH 7.8 or lower. The danger part is without creating an extra code to cut off this low low level ph reading and may happen anytime your system is ready to catch it. Your kalk stirrer system will keep on pumping Kalk in your tank if you don't have this extra code. Tank water can reach up to pH 9 too if you don't have a code to kill the pump in your port.

so It is not advisable to use the RA system to control pH without this back up code for cutting of power in the pump. Since probe are not design to be free from dirt. It can catch a dirt floating in your water anytime and very important testing your water for Ca and Mg maintain the NSW range constantly.

Not guarantee but the best i discover with the unit Ra to work with ph and Kalk dosing is.

1) In the portal set your alert message via email if pH drops 7.8 and below and email too if your pH goes 8.3 and above and let it send to your smart phone so your updated 24/7. Problem is at night when your asleep, lol. Ok then the next step should help you.

2) Create an extra code to shut off the port 5 when it goes below this level. If port 5 is your pump for kalk. When pH reading goes below pH 7.8 or if the pH reading goes above 8.3. let the pump bypass cut off those reading in the system
too.

3) Also install a float switch inside your 5 gal bucket of RO water and assign a another code for this port 5 to cut off
when float is triggered low water. Let it shut off your Kalk pump at port 5. The purpose is to protect your pump from running dry and also at the same time it wont consume the entire Kalk powder inside the reactor or if your really that paranoid them set your float switch a bit higher so it won't pump the entire Ro water bucket.

Doing this measures may help avoid too much kalk in your reef tank system. Not to forget the most important thing keeping your mg and ca in range of NSW.

I do also keep the kalk relay off when I see my parameter getting out of range so I can do a correction.
A little piece of mind IMO for me.

If you have your own system of dosing kalk with pH then don't need to change it if it works for you.

I'm here just to sharing my experience how I was able to make the RA system work using Kalk to maintain alkalinity.