Tank Update

[Conski]

Been a while since i posted anything about my tank. The dino fight continues but i feel as though after 6 monthes or so of fighting the ball is in my court. I have dosing baking soda for a while now and i got it up to 9 from 5.5. Then this last 4 days i used kalk and got it up to thirteen (which is high but i know higher alk means helping) but i dont quite understand this whole kalk dosing thing.., i definitly added way to much kalk to a five gallon bucket (a tsp for each gallon) and to top off the water after the evap of the night the pump needs to stay on for 20 minutes. So what im gonna do is empty the bucket and add five gallons of water to it and then put 2.5 tsp of kalk in the bucket. This way it doesnt get any higher but hopefully sustains the level without dropping it to fast. (good luck me on this cause im totally winging it)

My chalices ARE FINALLY COLORED UP AGAIN. amen

heres some pictures. Hopefully by next month my tank will be back on the right track for the first time in a year. alot of credit goes to a kid whos my age in my area i finally met who kept me in the hobby when i was just about to quit.

Last pic is dino

[Ace25]

With Kalk, I used to mix 28 grams (measured on a scale) for a 5G bucket of water. I would mix it really good in the bucket then let it sit for 24 hours, then carefully scoop out the top 50% of the clear water in the bucket and put that in my ATO bucket along with 50% freshwater, to make it 1/2 strength. Then I would fill up the Kalk bucket and mix again. You can use the Kalk bucket 3-4 times, taking out 50% each time, before I feel the kalk is "spent". I then clean out the bucket and start over after 4 times. This was when my tank was stuffed with corals though. Now I don't use Kalk at all since the Alk/CA consumption has gone way down. As you found out, Kalk is very strong and will raise Alk quickly, too quickly sometimes, if your not careful.

My tank is FINALLY back to good again.. took a year to get there.. loooong wait, but I am finally algae free and my corals are growing again for the first time in a year. Hopefully your tank is going to follow right behind mine and "get in line" shortly. ;)

[leocom2000]

Keep it up, don't let it win!!!!

[Conski]

Ace would it be okay to stop dosing alk al together now and let it come down on its own naturally seeing as though i dont have a lot of corals?

How much Kalk would you suggest for me to add to the kalk bucket using your method?)

[Ace25]

well.. you already spiked it up pretty quickly.. I would try and not let it just come down naturally. To many big swings is not good for the corals, plus your still trying to get rid of the last of the dino, which I think you want to keep the Alk up high anways, in the 11-12 range. So I would let it come down just a touch to that range but then try and keep it stable at that.

On the Kalk mix, I always like to mix a 5G bucket at full strength.. makes it easy to follow the instructions that way, and if I want to weaken it, I mix the full kalk with RO/DI water in my ATO bucket to "cut" the strength of the Kalk mix. I believe you use an ATO right? If so, I would cut back to 1/4 strength on your setup. I use a 1/2G pitcher to scoop water out, so 1 pitcher of Kalk water vs 3 pitchers or RO/DI water into your ATO bucket if you have one.

BTW, Hanna released a bunch of new handheld meters, one of them is an Alk meter for around $50. Highly recommend it, especially if your playing around with Alk levels on the tank.

http://socaltropicalfishoutlet.com/catalog/hanna-alkalinity-colorimeter-p-1129.html

[Conski]

Alk down to 10.. wow