help the kalkwasser newbie!

[oranje]

hey reefers,

as ive been going through kent concentrated calcium like it was candy, i decided to step up my means of adding calcium to my tank, and i bought a container of kalkwasser mix... the calcium content of my tank has been rising fairly well, but a couple of days after i started using it, my pH dropped sharply! it was fairly steady at around 8.4, but when i checked it last night, it was down to 8.0! yikes!

ive been adding the solution veeeery slowly(1 drop about every 10 seconds from my doser), preparing it less than 24 hours before use, and no white precipitates seem to be appearing... i even bought a new doser solely for kalkwasser so no strange reactions would occur.

anyone have any suggestions? did kalkwasser cause my pH to -drop- ?! i was afraid that the opposite would occur!


anyway, if anyone could tell me how you mix it up, add it, and any downfalls youve had, it would be greatly appriciated.

-agent oranje.

 

[tetra]

I use Mrs. pickling lime...the same thing.
one to 1.5 teaspoon into a gallon of ro water. mix and let it sets for 2-4 hrs. and dose. I dose about 1-2 drops a second. my tank is 55gal. I dose every 2-3 days and use b-ionic daily. Cal. is at 450ppm, and alk is 6.5.

 

[tetra]

mrs. wages.

 

[Steve Richardson]

Nah.. shouldnt cause your pH to drop the way you are doing it.

A guideline is 1% of tank water volume in a 12 hour period for starters. Sounds like you are dripping quite slowly too.

Is this a new tank? How big? Whats in it? How much kalk are you adding? Are you letting it settle first? Have you checked alkalinity lately?

A small pH drop could mean anything from a dead snail somewhere, to looking a little while after a good feeding, or something else. Id give the tank the sniff test to see if something is going on. Is it still low today?

 

[esmithiii]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> it was fairly steady at around 8.4, but when i checked it last night, it was down to 8.0! yikes!
<hr></blockquote>

Kalk RAIESE pH, not lowers it. My pH drops at night due to the fact that algae is not consuming CO2. Are you sure that this is not a normal reading? Do you take the readings at the same time each day?

How do you test the pH? Monitor, or test?

E

 

[Chucker]

Plenty of good kalk info in the archives- a quick search will turn up lots of hits.

 

[Mabu]

Here's my "homebrew" Kalk setup:

I purchased a 7 gallon boat gas tank from Wal Mart, fitted it with an adapter for the pvc tubing, then got a dosing pump off eBay for about $40. I mix up batches of Kalk that last approx 1-2 weeks and drip continuously into the tank at about 290mL/hr. I also add some trace chemicals and a tad bit of vinegar into the Kalk mix. Every week or so, I'll shake the tank to get the suspended liquid mixed. It seems to work well for me.

I probably do not drip enough to maintain a high-enough alkalinity (either that or I have a large coral load) so I supplement with Kent's dKh buffer on a weekly basis.