Kalk in ato reservoir? Who does this and what size tank do you have?
- Thread starter J.guokas
- Start date
I was thinking about doing this also. My worry would be if for some reason my overflow lost suction, or the return pump pumped water out faster than was coming in to the sump, thus lowering the sump level, and the ato pump kept running the entire time, dosing the tank with way to much Kalk. I think Id add a float sensor to the tank possibly to tell my apex to shut off the ato if the water level rose to much in the display.
I did with my 28g nano cube several years back. I used a 2.5 gallon plastic food container with lid modified for the pump and tubes I was using at the time. I'd keep about a half cup in their at all times. I didn't have a stirrer or agitator on it so I set it up so the pump would pull the lime water from about 1 inch above the surface of the settled kalk. Occasionally I would stir it by hand if the ato had just topped off the tank and I knew I had time for the slurry to settle before running again.
It seemed to work just fine. The tank was about 60% sps. Personally though I feel two BRS dosers on two part is a better way to go on smaller tanks like that.
I run an aquamedic kalk stirrer on the 200 now and control the output with the higher rate BRS doser which pulls from my ato reservoir. My 200 Evaps too much to have it hooked directly to the ato pump and I came close to over dosing the tank when I first set it up.
In my opinion this is the best way to run a kalk reactor, constant stir so you always have fully saturated limewater in a separate container from the ato reservoir and run a high rate BRS doser pulling from the ato reservoir on a controller to dose the effluent slow and steady during the night when pH drops.
It seemed to work just fine. The tank was about 60% sps. Personally though I feel two BRS dosers on two part is a better way to go on smaller tanks like that.
I run an aquamedic kalk stirrer on the 200 now and control the output with the higher rate BRS doser which pulls from my ato reservoir. My 200 Evaps too much to have it hooked directly to the ato pump and I came close to over dosing the tank when I first set it up.
In my opinion this is the best way to run a kalk reactor, constant stir so you always have fully saturated limewater in a separate container from the ato reservoir and run a high rate BRS doser pulling from the ato reservoir on a controller to dose the effluent slow and steady during the night when pH drops.
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I use kalk in my ato, and its pretty much the only additive I add on my 75g, and works great. I have been at max saturated solution for about a year now, and as such occasionally, about once a month, have to adjust the alk a tad up, as my tank uses slightly more alk then I can put in with the kalk. Generally though my tank stays right between 410-420 calc and 7.2-8.0 alk, and doesnt waver much from that
When I started though I started with a half saturated solution and slowly worked up from there, so 1 tsp per gallon. So with you tank I would start slow, monitor your levels and adjust the solution accordingly.
When I started though I started with a half saturated solution and slowly worked up from there, so 1 tsp per gallon. So with you tank I would start slow, monitor your levels and adjust the solution accordingly.
In the BRS 160 video series (52 weeks of reefing) they discuss this, suggesting 1/2 to 2.5 (saturated) teaspoons pergallon. I've been doing it on my 120 for the last few weeks. The tank is new with a light coral load so I only add 1/2 teaspoon per gallon in my 5 gallon ATO reservoir (so 2.5 teaspoons in the 5 gallon reservoir). For the time being, this seems to work, but I think you need a stirrer as you approach saturation - otherwise kalk tends to settle in the bottom where the pump is and create inconsistency in how much you are dosing. As others have noted, if you have an ATO issue, you could overdose the tank, but at the dilution I am running, it doesn't seem to be an issue.
I've tried running it in my jbj auto top off with a Marineland powerhead before at full saturation and it almost nuked my tank with the fluctuations. The 6 second delay dumped too much in at one time and my calcium and carbonate sky rocketed. My calcium was over 520 and my dkh was 12, then over a short time it dropped to 8 and I tried again with 1/2 tsp and it still fluctuates too much for my liking. If I were to keep using kalk I would use a drip method instead of my ato. I've also thought about putting a ball valve on my pump to slow it way down because at this rate it puts about 2 cups of water in at 6 seconds. Which is a lot and I don't want my salinity to bounce around either. Hth
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If you cannot drip in the Kalk, then it you are driving the CO2 off too fast. Anybody who is dealing with kalk should have muratic acid on hand and know how to dose it to combat a kalk overdose. I have seen people with ATOs have the pump dump into a canister with a drip.
Mrs Wages is cheap and very good, BTW.
Be careful. Kalk is just as dangerous as muratic acid.
Mrs Wages is cheap and very good, BTW.
Be careful. Kalk is just as dangerous as muratic acid.
