kalkwasser with vinegar????

OK, after keeping param's steady with frequent WCs, I've decided to give up and start dosing.

With the new tank, mangroves, and clams growing, heavier feeding due to the new wrasse and heavy bioload, the WCs are needing to be more frequent than I want, so my plan is to start slow and get a JBJ ATO(What pump shoul I get with it, just a aqualifter? and start topping off with kalkwasser.

I was reading this article about using vinegar to mix it up and then dilute it. The plan sounds pretty logical to me, but I'm still learning the chemistry aspects of these things.

I'm also looking at getting a dosing pump for magnesium.

Tear my plan up please, and thanks as usual

 

kalkwasser with vinegar???? RECIPE FOR DISASTER. I think you would be fine with regular Kalk water. Adding the vinegar allows the kalk to super saturate. I would do BRS 2 part if I were you. More controllable, more customization (ie not based of evaporation) and less likely to have a catastrophic over dose.

As for magnesium even with a triple doser I wasn't planning of dosing it just because its not used in very large amounts

 

Unless you have a large demand I would not expect the kalkwasser to be depleted. In actuality I would expect a lot of it to precipitate out. Now if your pairing this with vinegar I would expect this to be even more dramatic. The only time I would recommend increasing solubility with an acid would be if you have a very very high demand... Like I'm talking fully stocked sps growing out of the water.

 

I had an issue with the JBJ ATO and the AquaLifter, it took a long time for the pump to replace lost water. I would look into a smaller pico pump or a typical MaxiJet 1200.

 

Thx Alex, yeah my friend just warned me that mangroves tear through mag, so I was getting prepared. But I'll watch and see what happens.

Well, I have BRS 3 part, and kalk. I just figured that the kalk would be 1 mix and done, throw in the ATO and be done with it. I don't need much dosing yet, just a little to keep things in check so I can extend WC's

The article does state that it allows you to concentrate it, but that it mixes better and you then dilute it in RODI, it says that it also :

"Dissolving the Kalk powder in the Vinegar first will accomplish several very good things.

First, it will get more Calcium ions (Ca++) into the solution because you are dissolving the Ca(OH)2 in an acid instead of water, and forming Calcium Acetate, which exists as a dissociated equilibrium of free Calcium ions and Acetate ions.

Second, the Acetic Acid (Vinegar) provides an equivalent of all the CO2 you need to avoid precipitating the newly-added Calcium ions as useless white Calcium Carbonate powder.

Third, after all the cool Calcium ion chemistry is over, the leftover Acetate ions from the broken-down Vinegar leaves you with free organic Carbon in the water that feeds the bacteria in your tank so that it converts more poisonous Nitrates to NO2 gas (a very good thing).

Adding Vinegar in Kalkwasser is one of the few win-win situations for reefers -- it has a great up side and I've yet to encounter a down side to doing it. I don't know why so few reefers do it -- lack of understanding of the chemistry behind it maybe -- but a lot more are starting now that some respected reef writers have discovered it and have recommended it and even written up detailed instructions for it"

And this was found on the interwebs, so it has to be true and its form 2002.

Basically I'd like to just add something to the ATO, and slowly adjust it. Since I am LPS/clam dominant and only have 2 SPS, I don't need the level of dosing alot on here do.

But, if the 2/3 part is a much better plan of action, I'll look into it.

 

Thx Chris, that was a concern of mine, I have a little hydor 100gph pump that may be enough????

 

Yeah my aqua lifter had a hard time keeping up and kept timing out my ATO

 

Oh yeah! I think I have a Hydor Evolution 200gph in my system and another just sitting in the water to add constant flow in my ATO tank.


I thought I heard/read somewhere you will need a pump in your ATO water to keep the kalk from settling. :-/ I may be wrong tho.

 

I even daisy chained two Aqualifters, it worked but still would time out randomly.

 

Search for threads where people ato dumps kalk and crashed tanks. I know its not the norm but Kalk+Vinegar is like .45 revolver compared to a 9mm. You don't want to get hit with either but if you had a choice....

I don't think your load will need the kalk+vinegar