I'm a little confused about 2part vs kalkwasser

[Cozen89]

Ok I tested my tank parameters and my calcium and alk are on the low side. Calcium was 290 and alk was 2.5 mEq/l on my instant ocean test kit(not quite sure what mEq/l means). The recommended levels for a reef tank according to my test kit are 400 for calcium and 3.5-4.5 mEq/l for alk.

So I'm confused on what I should be dosing to raise these levels. Some threads say Kalkwasser, some say 2 part. Some say all 3. If I can avoid dosing all 3 that would be ideal.

My tank is mostly zoos with some lps and slowly increasing sps frags.

If I can get away with just kalkwasser, I read most ppl just add it to their top off water. This I can do, but my system evaporates about 5 gallons every 3 days with my auto top off coming on multiple times a day. Would this be way too much kalkwasser to be adding to my system?

So what should I do?

[mdt178]

To raise the levels quickly, use concentrated products such as Kent Turbo Calcium and Reef Buffer/baking soda to raise Ca and Alk. It would take a long time and $$ to raise your current levels using 2 part solutions.
To maintain the levels, then either 2 part or Kalkwasser should keep up in a low calc demand tank.

[sfsuphysics]

Depends upon your calcium needs. If you have low to moderate calcium consumption you can absolutely just add kalk in your top off, if you have a heavy SPS or clam type tank that won't be able to keep up most likely.

The 2 part is nice because it doesn't radically change any parameters, pH, like Kalkwasser can. If you need more you add more, no problem, Kalk on the other hand if you add more you're change your pH more.

many people use all three though because kalkwasser also acts as a phophate binder so it has that added bonus of effectively removing phosphate from your system.

[raddogz]

Kalk is fine for a tank that has low calcium and alkalinity needs. Kalk works great to maintain the parameters but should not be used with the intent to boost calcium and alk levels.

Products like Dowflake and baked baking soda are fine for two part applications.

[Qwiv]

Point your web browser to reefkeeping magazine and search for articles on CA and ALK in the reef tank. A guy named Randy has 50+ articles on the subject from simple to very complicated. Start with the beginner articles and read as many as it takes for you to feel you have a grasp on the subject. Randy is one of the founders of the cheap DIY 2 part systems. He knows his stuff.

[Cozen89]

I read up a bit on the articles. Seems like I can get away with using kalwasser in my top off and occassionally adding calcium to the tank manually in a concentrated form.

My question now is if I have a 5 gallon resevoir of top off water filled with kalkwasser and my top off gets stuck on, and dumps all 5 gallons in over 30minutes or so, will this completely destroy my tank?

[Cozen89]

also if I have kalwasser in my top off, do I need to keep that water circulating?

[tmz]

It will probaly cause ph to spike and fall with a precipitation event likely. Ther is only so much kalkwasser your tank can take at a time . Iwould guess no more than24ozs in an hour of kmix at two teaspoons per gallon.

[raddogz]

If you have five gallons of saturated Kalkwasser dump into your tank you will have big problems.

PH will skyrocket not to mention the alkalinity spike.

[raddogz]

This is the reason why people use a dedicated kalk reactor.

My top-off is connected to the kalk reactor bia a liter meter and then it drips into the tank. You don't have to use a liter meter you can use the aqualifter in this case because the topoff fresh water goes through the aqualifter.

[raddogz]

Fwiw, Reef Crystals is basically the same as IO (same company) but has elevated alk and calcium levels which should work well with a reef tank.

[tmz]

Re; circulating kwater. No. You put the water in first. Then add the kwater mix to a full amount of water,stir it up and let it sit for a couple of hours before dosing. A nice thing about kwater is that it self purifies. Impuiities fall to the bottom as a white sludge. A film will form at the top of the resevoir where the calcium hydroxide interacts with the air. This film is mostly insoluable calcium carbonate. Once it forms it sort of seals the rest of the solution from the air and prevents more calcium carbonate from forming. I is best to dose only the clear water and not the sludge or film.

[Cozen89]

ok as of right now I use an auto top off from autotopoff.com

I have a 5 gallon jug where I keep my top off water. I have heard of it getting stuck and it worries me a bit. Maybe I can just not put so much kalk in my top off, maybe just half the recommended dose in case it does get stuck. It's unlikely but I want to take a precaution.

How does that sound?

Thanks for everyone's input and advice so far.

[-=Zepplock=-]

be careful with kalkwasser, i totally nuked my tank this summer.
be VERy careful.

[tmz]

If it dumps you will likely have a major problem even with the half dose scenario. I run a 400gallon system and use a 5 gallon buckett with gravity drip over a 6hour period each night. You may wan't to do something similar with a smaller resevoir, say whatever amount equals your daily top off,if you are not confident in your top off controll. Obviously this requires daliy maintenance. Otherwise,you may choose to go with some form of redundant dosing system such as a liter meter ,reef filler pump,or a kalkreactor. This discussion is at a point where the limits and problems with reliance on kalkwater are apparent.
Good Luck
Tom
Good

[revenant]

How is B-Ionic regarded by real enthusiasts? I have been using that for a while and it seems to work well for me.. but so many use Kalkwasser... I haven't tried it yet.. hrm.

[Cozen89]

I have no experience with b-ionic. But I hear good things about it. But it's just pricey. Yeah maybe I will make a smaller dosing container like a littler water bottle and just gravity drip it over night a few nights a week.

What's a good calcium additive to dose a few times a week?

[northbay-reefer]

Cozen89 the best thing for you to do is get some DOW flakes and Baking soda. Those two ingredience will make your two parts solution cheap. I think BAR has some Dow flakes that you can buy.

[tmz]

Two part solution is highly regarded. Randy Holmes Farley, testd dow products to allow reefers to use less expensive generic forms of clacium chloride ,buffer and magnesium. His articles can be found in the Chemistry forum. He also wrote about kalkwasser and noted that is what he uses on his system.
Kwater or lime water is calcium hydroxide which requires no buffer. It is a balanced source of calcium and bicarbonte. It also precipitates impurities such as phosphate. It is the method actually used by Mr Farley and many others. Many find it less convenient than two part dosing because of the limits on the amount you can put in as limited by your top off and further by it's high ph at 12.54..In heavy calcium demand systems it is often not enough. A good source for calcium chloride, bicarbonate ,clacium hydroxide and magnesium is a forum sponsor named Two Part Solutions.
There a some who are concerned about using calcium chloride over the long haul because it may buidup chlorides in the system.Further , some are concerned about Dow's announcement that they will be changing the puification process resulting in higher bromides ,the effect of which on aquariums is unknown.

[raddogz]

Two part solutions sells it and it may be the easist place to find it.

Sometimes is sucks to live in an area where it doesn't snow otherwise you would have easy access to Dowflake in the form of de-icers - I hear you can even find it in the freakin Walgreens.

[tmz]

When, we in Buffalo get our first 3 or four feet of lake effect snow,I'll remember how lucky I am to be able to buy driveway deicer.

[Cozen89]

I can get dow and baking soda no problem. A friend of mine has a 50lb bag of dow. Just was trying to see which would be better, 2 part or kalk. Seeing how 2 part I can't just put in my top off. But seeing as I'm not quite sure how reliable my top is, not sure I want to do that either.

So if I'm doing a water bottle gravity feed, I can do either. Just not sure I have the time to manually set it up every night. Seems like a ton of work. And if I happen to be in a run and leave it dripping throughout the day, I might be screwed.

[Paradox009]

Ive just completed my top off setup for a 150. Its a 20 gallon tank. I set it up a little different then a typical top off. I have my RODI connect to a T. One end of the T goes to a float valve in the sump. The other goes to a valve that goes into the 20 gallon resevoir. I fill the resevoir with rodi and then shut off the valve to it. I mix kalk into the resevoir water which gets slowly dripped into the sump via a peristaltic pump I got from ebay for 15 bucks. The drip rate i have it set for is a little under my evaporation rate, so whatever left over evaporation I get is automatically filled by the rodi float valve in the sump.. Once the full 20 gallons of kalk water is used up (approx. 3 weeks) I refill the resevoir add kalk and not touch it again for another 3 weeks.

Also, I made everything in my setup art project, so heres a picture of it! Looks really complicated, but its actually really simple.

20 Gallon Tank resevoir


Peristaltic Pump



The pump drips slowly, and even if the knob gets accidentally adjusted (which is unlikely) it wont throw an excessive amount of kalk. The drip tube is set higher then the side that sucks the water in, so a power outage will not have any affect. The only thing that can fail is if the float valve in the sump gets stuck somehow, but in all the years ive used them, Ive never had one fail.

[Cozen89]

That's a pretty cool set up you got there paradox. Does look complicated to me tho haha.

[CookieJar]

Paradox- nice setup! I'm going to consider doing something like that myself as I only have an auto top-off and am would like to automate kalk so I don't have to deal with adding 2-part solutions. I only want to add fish food on a daily basis.