Dripping Kalk for the first time

I'm about to start dosing with Kalk for the first time. I've read quite a bit about it, but I still have a question. Can I drip Kalk while having a separate ATO connected to the tank?

 

my lfs dose that but i think its alot easier to just add it to ur ro water kalk worked magic for my tank get ready for a coraline explsion i cant even keep up with my coraline anymore

 

/me would love a coraline explosion! preferably directed right up the back glass of the DT ..

Do have GSP starting to grow up on one portion of the glass now though.

 

i cant see why not, sounds like what your saying would work fine. your ato just wont kick on as much if your dripping kalk water.

i went another route and i have been adding the kalk threw my ato water for a few weeks now and it has stabilized my ph and is keeping my cal at 440. im using the brightwells kalk+2 it has the mag in it. to keep both cal and mag where they should be, since they do work together.

 

Coralline explosion sounds cool! I like the GSP on the glass idea.

Good to hear this should work. I figured this way would be easier for me since I can tweak the drip by hand. I'm not so good at calculating things like the amount of kalk that would be needed in the ATO.

 

There is not actually much of a calculation to be done Clonefarmer
Kalk is limited in its ability to dissolve to , 2 teaspoons per gallon of water
and that gives a Calcium ratio of about 800 ppm and a DKH of about 12

if you drip Kalk in addition to using ATO rather than having it tied in to the ATO - you may find you eventually cannot keep up with demand in the tank

Steve

 

I'm worried about adding too much via the ATO. The ATO is set up now with a float switch, 6 gallon reservoir, MJ 400 and 3/8 hose. I've also ordered a RO/DI and was planning on plumbing it into the ATO. My goal is to keep the system simple and low maintenance. I'm open to any ideas.

Won't the ATO only kick on when the drip is not keeping up with evaporation?

 

Yes, it would do that
and as the system is young , with not to many corals in there
it will be fine IMO

what can happen over time, as corals, clams etc are added, especially SPS corals is that even if every ounce of evaporated water is replaced by Kalwasser, its sometimes not enough simply due to the limit on what you can dissolve

so set it up like that, but watch your calc and dkh so that you can drip more if required and reduce amount of non kalk carrying water that the ATO delivers

Steve

 

Cool, dripping separate should work for me for a little while than. I have no clams or sps yet and I stock slow. Coralline and Halimeda are using quite a bit. I can't imagine keeping up with a sps dominated tank. If the tank gets to a point past were saturated top off water is not enough. Would I then need something like a calc reactor?

 

thats one avenue to explore Clone farmer

but 2 part additives dripped is also an often used alternative
Kalkwasser delivers a solution at about 800ppm Calcium
some 2 parts have 30,000 ppm solution on Calcium
so you can see that by using a 2 part additive rather than Kalkwasser
you get a whole lot more, from delivering a whole lot less

Steve