kalk or 2 part?

Thanks Steve. That sounds about right, however, at the moment, I am taking it easy and going slow on the vodka dosing. This is because I have a lot of LPS and I'm worried it may be too much of a shock to their system. So, right now, I'm only up to about 4ml of vodka a day, so that wouldn't work yet. I think there may be a benefit to multiple carbon sources though, so once I build up more I may actually start to shift over some.

 

Excellent. And as you said in your first sentence its simple. And although I have not been into this hobby as long as most on this forum what I have learn is if you keep it simple the gains soon follow.

 

Also, you speaking only on the delivery of an ATO right? A drip at night with a DYI unit wouldnt have any relationship with evap. Therefore, the best method?

 

I believe your right in that dripping the Kalk independently is better
and then only adding top off water if required once you have added the amount of Kalkwasser required

that way if required all evaporated water can be compensated for by limewater addition , if required to maintain levels, which is beneficial in a system that has low evap rates

Steve

 

I disagree a bit on terminology, but I'm sure it's semantic. A kalk drip is always on an ATO, it's just either a primitive ATO or a sophisticated ATO. You are limited by the amount of water that evaporates and are always using the kalk drip to "automatically" top off a certain amount of the water. So, i don't see how you can say a drip is better j/k

I think topping off at night, when the pH is low is better, but you can set your ATO, on a timer, to drip just at night, as easily and then it is more automated. You can also, if you do not need your full evaporation limited allowance of saturated lime water, figure out how much lime you need and mix in less with your ATO reservoir. Your ATO reservoir dosn't need to be fully saturated. This also gives the benefit of more automation.

Anyway works though. When I first started driping kalk, many years ago, for a 20g, my ATO was set up as follows. Take a soda bottle, cut a hole in the cap and glue in an airline tube. Put a airline restriction valve on the tube. Measure my nightly evaporation and add that much to the 2L soda bottle. Calculate the amount of ca and alk used and add amount of lime that to the water. Then set it up every night and calculate the number of drops per second needed to spread the kalk over the night.

If we have 20 drops per ml, and 3785ml per gallon and use .75g per night evaporation spread over 12 hours = 4731 drops per hour. This is then approx 1.3 drops per second (easier to count 78 drops per minute BTW). I got sick of counting drops though so now I prefer a more sophisticated ATO

 

There's a few things I like about having the ATO and the drip separate.

The Kalk drip overrides the ATO sensor. As long as the drip is enough to replace evaporation the ATO doesn't kick on.

If the drip gets clogged with precipitate the ATO maintains the water level.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the the water level could be raised above the ATO sensor if more Kalk is needed than evaporation allows. Provided there is enough room in the system for a slightly elevated water level.

My ATO reservoir is also my RO/DI reservoir so I can't put Kalk in it.

 

Great point. On the flip side though, if the ATO gets stuck on, you will be adding the ATO water, plus the kalk water. If the ATO is stuck off, it takes a fairly long time for the difference to become a problem. If you check on it reasonably often, or have a controller, you can have it send you a text message or e-mail when this happens. And will have plenty of time to correct. If your ATO and kalk are both adding water. Assuming the ATO isn't set to a drip, the water level will likely rise too quick to correct in time and you could have a serious issue.

If you have a 50g system maintained at 1.026 and you loose 1g per day of evaporation, even after an entire week, with your ATO off, your going from about 1.026 to 1.03. That's not the end of the world esspecially since it's happens slow enough it's like a slow drip acclimation to your system.

Having kalk on an ATO, with a slow drip, it takes a really long time to flood your house.

You could probably raise it for a day or so without serious issue, such as if there is some variation in your rate of evaporation. However, raising obviously lowers your systems s.g. Ca and alk demand is very constant and usually evaporation is as well. So, if you're using more ca and alk than your top off water can supply via limewater, one day, then you'll, in all likelihood also be doing so the next day. Then cumulatively, day after day, drop your s.g. substantially. Maybe even quickly depending on the demand.

 

Also have tried both ways kalk and 2 part . i find the kalk to be much easier and it keeps my levels stable. i put the kalk in my ato water. my ph is a constant 8.2 when i dont use kalk i dont have a stable ph, and use a lot of product to try and raise the ph, (part one of the 2 part) im sure the fish store loved me with the amount of additives i was buying.

im right now using the Brightwells Kalk+2 ( i buy the economy size bucket at aquacave) it has the mag and stron in it so it keeps those levels up also. i can tell you besides kalk keeping my tanks readings more stable, and being much easier to use its much cheaper, which is an added bonus.

 

Great points pink4miss on the stability. Mag can't disolve in kalk though, so the kalk+2 is unlikely to help mg. I''m not a chemist, but here are some comments by one.

Brightwell Aquatics Kalk+2 - Advanced Kalkwasser Supplement w/Calc., Stron., Mag. - Reef Central Online Community