Is this a good idea?

[Pennywise]

Is it ok to add kalk to a batch of new RO water(with salt added) to be used for a water change? I'm already dripping all the time, but wouldn't it be good to boost the Calcium in the water I use for the water change? Or is the Instant Ocean salt I use high enough in calcium already?

 

[cdeakle]

I would treat the main tank and not freshly mixed water, jut an opinion...

 

[tangir1]

Ditto.

It is more efficient use of the kalk if you dose it on the tank (with larger volumn) than the freshly made saltwater for water change, even if the ca on the "fresh" water is relatively low.

 

[Anonymous]

As I understand it (and according to a LFS that does not use kalk or a CO2 reactor) if you do small weekly water changes (5-10%) there is more than enough calcium and trace elements in the salt mixture to keep all your critters (and coraline) happy.
But, agree with above too. Drip kalk into main tank.

 

[Juck]

If you have a tank full of SPS then weekly water changes alone won't come close to maintaining CA.

Definitely drip to main tank though.

 

[Anonymous]

True,
You really must determine how much Ca your tank uses.
I have mostly softies, so there is just a few snails and misc animals that need the calcium.
My tank seems quite happy with 2 part calcium additives added 3 times a week, and a bi-weekly water change (ca reads betwwn 350-450 always).

 

[Money Pit]

The other thing to consider is the huge spike you would have in your PH level if you dumped 5 or 10 gallons of kalk water into your tank. Might kill everything in your tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Is it ok to add kalk to a batch of new RO water(with salt added) to be used for a water change? I'm already dripping all the time, but wouldn't it be good to boost the Calcium in the water I use for the water change? Or is the Instant Ocean salt I use high enough in calcium already?

It is not ok to add kalk to your waterchange water and dump it into your tank.kalk must be dripped slowly into your sump or some other area with high water flow.If you need to raise the calcium in your water use some Turbo calcium or something like that. Instant Ocean has about 330 to 350 ppm of calcium when I test a fresh mix to do a water change so it is lower than what you would want to maintain in your tank.It would be ok to add some turbo calcium to the water change water to get the calcium up.
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[Mikef1]

I would think if you added Kalk to water change batch it would raise levels of both calcium and alk to high and calcium would precipitate out. Does this make sense?

 

[yakiwb2]

YOU CAN NOT DUMP KALK into your tank. It must be dripped. I tried this once when I was less experienced a year or so ago and It killed my green star polyps...and this was only about 4 litres of kalk into a 58 gallon oceanic. I use one of those 4 litre juice dispensers for kalk...have a 2 foot wooden board i use to balance on the corner of the tank...then I place the kalk on this and open the nozle slightly to allow a drip...by morning it's done!