new to kalkwasser

[lgerold]

Hi!

I got brave (or dumb again) this weekend. You may remember that my tank has a hard time with PH. I've been frustrated because I haven't been consistently able to get my ph above 7.7 to 7.8.

We've got a new canopy, with lots of ventilation. A powerhead points to the surface to increase the gas exchange.

I also had trouble a couple months ago with high salinity (crappy plaster hydrometer) so the tank was high in calcium too.

Here were the params, on Friday Dec 8:

PH - 7.80 (daytime)
Calc - 440
Sal - 35 ppt
alk - 2.86
phos - .10 (salifert)
nitrate - 6.5 mg/l (lamotte)

You may remember that my calc was up to 560 mg/l, so 440 is a big improvement!

I've been struggling with the phos level. I've been really careful about feeding the appropriate amount of food. So, I don't know where that's been coming from, but it has been a problem for a long time. I had been overfeeding the tank, until about 2 months ago. I've brought the nitrates down from over 50 ppm to 6.5. Quite an improvement.

2 months ago, my frustration with the tank was green hair algae. Everywhere! Yuck! I expect that the overfeeding was contributing, and because I was overfeeding, my tang wasn't working very hard on the algae. I added a foxface, and now the tang and foxface are keeping the tank clean of hair algae.

Now, my problem is cyano. RRR.

With my calc being more in line with desired, I thought I'd see what effect kalkwasser would have on the tank.

So, on Saturday, I mixed 1 tsp of kalk with a gallon of water, and slowly (over 12 hours) dripped it into the tank. The ph rose gradually from 7.90 to 8.05.

I tested the water on Sunday, 12/10, before adding kalk again:

PH - 7.95
sal - 35 ppt
Alk - 2.98
calc - 460
phos - .03 Wow!
nitrate - 3.0 mg/l

Seeing the rapid drop in phos and nitrates makes me pretty happy! I dripped kalk again on Sunday as I did on Saturday.

Today, params are:

PH - 7.93 (no kalk added today)
sal - 35 ppt
calc - 480
alk - 2.86
nitrates - 2.5 mg/l
phos - 0.0 to 0.03. MMM.

Since the calcium is going up, I did not add kalk today. I am considering adding super buffer to raise the alk level.

I will keep watching the parameters for the next several days.
I do test for Iodine levels and Magnesium levels too, to keep them maintained properly.

Is it a good/bad idea to occasionally use kalkwasser to scrub the tank of phosphates? I could certainly add it slow enough to minimize effect on the PH.

Does cyano prefer my lower natural PH? Will the kalkwasser have an effect on the cyano?

OK. Tell me I did a bad thing or a good thing. I'm sitting down. I can take it!

Thanks!

[mps9506]

I personally use kalkwasser for all my top off water. As you noticed it helps with several things, including maintaing Ca/alk levels, it can help keep the pH up if you are having issues with that, and it can help out with phosphate. My 40 gallon tank (~60 gallon system) would get anywhere from 1.5gallons-5 gallons of kalk dosed into it a day through the top off system.
The kalkwasser won't directly have any effects on the cyano, however the increased stability it can provide as well as your continual decrease of nitrates and phosphates will only help you get rid of it. Keep up with water changes to minimize the detritus buildup in those areas it accumilates and it will eventually go away.

[lgerold]

Hi!

What about my calcium level? If I keep using the kalk daily, I expect my calcium level to go through the roof. Should I just use a more diluted solution?

Thanks so much...

[sasquatch]

Great thread! for the life of me confusion reigns about how much to add, how do you balance the calcium hydroxide to the ro/di and then theres the vinager thing, (wonders if somebody could do a kalk 101?) Steve

[lgerold]

Snelly started a similar thread recently kalkwasser

There are some great links on that thread.

I diluted my kalk back to 1 tsp/gallon. The ph is staying up over 8.0 now even during the day, 8 hours after the last kalk addition.

The one big thing I have noticed is that my refugium plants are now growing like CRAZY. That has to be a good thing.

Lucy

[mps9506]

Originally Posted by lgerold

Hi!

What about my calcium level? If I keep using the kalk daily, I expect my calcium level to go through the roof. Should I just use a more diluted solution?

Thanks so much...

Kalk will not raise your Ca or alk levels, only maintain them.