Kalk in an ATO, how much??

Well, I think I have a handle on this, but there is a ton of conflicting info on the interwebs that leads me to post a thread on here, to hear what the ones I trust have to say, soo......

90g DT, 20g sump/fuge Just added a JBJ ATO with a 6 gallon reservoir.

My cal goes from 450 ish to 410ish in between WC's.

So my question is, how much kalk should I add per gallon lets say for the ATO

Evap is about 1.5 GPD currently

I don't really want to use this system to max out my cal, but more to help maintain cal, alk, and ph to extend the time between WC's.

TIA

 

I would start small and test daily until you get your desired ALK level.

 

bump and following

 

Found this on the intertubes and though it sounded interesting, factual?????
Also, I'm reading 3g(1 teaspoon) per gallon?, so I'm thinking 1/2 tsp to start??

"for the ATO, mix up like 5 gallons or more set it and forget, I have a 55g as well so I am assuming you are close to the 1g a day mine evaporates. Whenever I feel like it I pour new water into the reservoir, its just nice to be able to let it go for a few days if I am busy. Kalkwasser does not dissolve well at all, so give the reservoir a mix a few times a day and heating it or keeping it in a warm area will help more dissolve, but the point I am trying to get to is that most of the kalkwasser does not dissolve, you only want to add the supernatant, so you do not need to keep adding more kalkwasser when refilling the reservoir. Just add some fresh water which will lower the amount of dissolved kalkwasser below the saturation threshold and allow more to dissolve.
I say this as a former biochemist that understands saturation, there is nothing wrong with the undissolved kalkwasser do not waste it or throw it away just add a little more now and then and maybe every 4 months refresh it, because the Ca will react with CO2 in the air and form calcium carbonate which will eventually sink down and after a long time the white powder in the bottom will have a good bit of calcium carbonate in it, making it hard to tell how much actual kalkwasser there is left.
Also congrats on deciding to go kalkwasser and ATO its something I should have done much earlier, my corals love it and coraline is popping up everywhere. "

 

you are correct, but make sure you have your pump elevated because dumping slurry kills coral lol

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/kalkwasser-help-needed-124887-2.html

Decent old thread I just found.

So I'm gonna start, I think by using 1/2tsp/g let it mix overnight, let it settle, then pout the saturated water into my ATO( with pump slightly elevated. Should I add a little pump in my ATO to keep it stirred up?

If this needs adjusted, please adjust

 

It would be better to drip your kalk instead of in your ato because of evaporation it wont be a consistent amount of kalk it will keep getting stronger. Unless you have it in a jug with a lid so it cant evaporate. As far as the amount to add, one the directions there should be a stock solution ratio that tells you how much the solution will raise the levels per gallon, then just figure out how much your cal and alk deplete per day and base your dose off that. I would test your levels at the same time every day or night (best if its towards the end of your light cycle) for a week. Have you tested your mag levels. If your mag is low you might not have to dose kalk once you bring it back up. Just a thought.

 

Unfortunately Cosmo, it is not an exact science
Can you tell us how long it is between water changes ? I assume 1 week, and during that week you are losing 40ppm calcium?

problem is that using Kalk will increase PH and that in turn can increase demand
which is why it is not an exact science

I know that replacing 1.2% of tank water due to evaporation with saturated Kalkwasser can deliver up to 1.4 dhk and balanced Calcium (20ppm plus)

thus in your tank losing 1.5 gallons in 110 gallons - this is about 1.4% of your water volume

if your losing 40ppm calcium in 7 days = 5.7ppm per day

Thus IMO you need to start with 1/4 strenght Kalkwasser, mixed at a rate of just inder1/2 a teaspoon in 1 gallon of RODI and replace all your evaporated water with that ( the slower it adds the better, and the higher the flow in the area it add to the better)


test after 3 days, and adjust as required

as stated it is not an exact science, and fine tuning will be required
demand can increase due to higher PH making the mixture less potent than the math indicates it should be

Steve

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

 

Mag is decent around 1300-1350. Thanks for the info, but not really wanting to add, just wanting to kinda buffer and maintain to increase time between WC's.

I think if I just keep it to a small amount I won't have to worry too much about the evaporation level, although I will be monitoring it and adjusting as necessary. My evap rate is rather steady, slight increase in winter but not much.

Thx for the advice about dripping, I've read up on that and seems like a decent idea, and to be honest, would just rather use the ATO.

 

Thank you very much Steve, and thank you for breaking it down for me! Sometimes reading some of you chemists answers on here makes my brain say "Ouch"! lol. I figured this would be a tweaking process but just wanted to make sure I wasn't going too fast!

But yes, 10% weekly WC. Also, should I add a small PH in the ATO reservoir to keep the kalk "stirred"?

TIA and again