Dosing with Kalkwasser

[rohnds]

To increase my pH (8.2) level and Ca levels (390-400), I have being looking into dosing my tank with Kalkwasser. Everyone agree that dosing should be done very slowly over period of time. But the rate varies from author to author. Some suggest drip dosing the tank, at rate of one drop per second while other suggest adding an 5gal dose of Kalkwasser to your tank provided that the tank is at least 55gal in size. Yet others suggest adding Kalkwasser dosed water when you top off your tank.

My tank is 70gal with a 10gal sump(half filled). And I do about 10gal water change every other week. How much and how should I dose the tank? How does everyone dose their tank with Kalkwasser?

Rohn

 

[fsn77]

I would avoid dosing a large quantity of kalk at one time, regardless of how large the tank is. Dripping kalk and adding it to top-off water are more or less the same thing (depending on how low you let the water level get before topping off). The dripping method in many cases is set up at a rate to replace evaporation as it occurs.

Have you seen this article?

While I don't currently dose my tank with kalk, I have considered it, did some research, and I'm planning do so once I can get an appropriate drip / auto top-off system put together for our tank. Buying the food grade pickling lime mentioned in the article above is far cheaper than buying calcium, pH, and alkalinity buffers. So far, I've only used it in a paste form to kill aiptasia in our tank, so I don't have any before / after results from dosing it regularly.

Nonetheless, there's as many ways to to do things in this hobby as there are people in the hobby. It's best to consider the options, do a little research, and choose the one that works best for you.