Has anyone tried this way of adding kalk?

i was watching a video made by bulk reef supply. YouTube - Kalkwasser Dosing Demonstration - Bulk Reef Supply they are saying it can be mixed right in the top of container than pumped with an ato from that same container. this worries me im thinking what if the pump sucks some of the white kalk up laying on the bottom and throws it into my sump than into my tank. its sounds like the easy way to do it. i have tried it, at a lower dose than recommended. and its keeping my ph up, but still worry about the slurry, so i added a 100 micron filter sock where the ato water will go into the sump. and the ato water now filters threw that. i thinking this should take care of the danger of slurry reaching the tank.
has anyone tried this way of adding kalk? could you share your pro's and con's

 

I've done similar setups using a peristaltic pump as opposed to a powerhead and an auto-topoff. I wouldn't see any problem with this as long as the powerhead was secured well. (in other words, I wouldn't trust suction cups to hold the powerhead at the top).

One thing that I saw lacking was the fact that the video didn't mention that you don't want your supersaturated Kalk-water to be exposed to CO2. If you use this method, it's going to be VERY IMPORTANT to have a lid on the container. One of the ways that I've solved this problem on systems with peristaltic pumps is to use bubble wrap that is cut to match the interior of the water resevoir (smooth side down so it sits right on the water). As the water level goes down, the bubble wrap simply sinks too. This method works well.

 

thank you, i do remember watching another video that commented about covering the kalk water with a glass lid. and forgot all about that. not really sure why thats important? my ato water is replenished every 2-3 days in that time 5 gallons is gone. i am starting at a lower dose than they recommend on the bottle. 1/2 the amount. and will tweek the amount of kalk i need slowly.

 

May not help but this is what I did. I mixed the kalk allowed the sediment/particles to settle out and then I added the cleared solution to the ATO. Involves 2 containers but it worked.

 

do you still do this?

 

one more question, at least i think its just one more question. supersaturated Kalk-water when its exposed to CO2. just becomes inert? but is not harmful to the tank. is that correct? or does it become harmful?

 

The chemical reaction that makes Kalkwasser work is based on reactivity with CO2. If you allow it to have access to CO2 while it's still in the topoff container, most of the Calcium and Alkalinity will drop out of solution and become part of the slurry *. You want it to touch dissolved CO2 in your tanks water and put the Calcium and Alkalinity into your tank.


* Footnote: Depending on a number of factors, this slurry very well could become Calcium Carbonate. It will look just like undissolved Kalkwasser, but it's not....it will never dissolve again.

 

As a GENERAL RULE, it will be inert. If you were dripping or pumping way too fast, there is a way where you could actually lower your Calcium levels and make your sandbed clump. The moral of this story is, use a small pump to refill for topoff.

 

I do the same. I mix kalk in 3 home depot buckets, then I use a ½ inch hose and carefully break through the top crust and siphon the clear liquid into my top-off container.

 

i have a Hagen Aqua Clear Power Head 20. it says it pumps about 126 gals an hour. it has a setting to turn it down. but when i did this it ran so slow the ato's safety feature shut it off and left me with no ato. i have to see about setting the ato run time a bit longer.
i also did buy an external pump thats much slower. the aqua lifter pump ( its sitting in the closet). i know this is probably the safer route. and have to see if the jbj auto top off units has a time setting to switch to this pump.