Kalk wasser

Ocean

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Please help me here i know what kalk was does but the thing i dont know is when you add it to the Dripping divice and u shack it, it goes cloudy then sits on the bottom how does that work?Is the CA already in water? Doyou need to keep it moving?
 
Howzit Ocean, I bought a Reeftek kalkwasser from Eco-aquatics with a pump in a closed loop system. The pump runs off a timer and comes on every 3 hours for 1 minute - mixing the kalkwasser with the RO water.
When the water level drops(due to evaporation) and the float switch activates the RO pump, it pumps the RO through the kalkwasser and drips the clear calcium enriched water into your tank. Hope this helps.:wave2:
 
It does thanks.
 
the thing i dont know is when you add it to the Dripping divice and u shack it, it goes cloudy then sits on the bottom how does that work?Is the CA already in water? Doyou need to keep it moving?

The calcium dissolves into the water, and remains dissolved even when the water is clear. the correct way to go about this is to stir/shake the solution well, then let it stand for a few hours to allow the solids to fall out of suspension, and to then carefully pour/siphon the clear liquid into a second container and to then use only the clear liquid in the dripping device.

Once dissolved, you don't need to mix/keep the water moving.

Hennie
 
Shall we stir things up a bit and talk about Calfo's slurry method ;)
 
Okay
 
what i do is take 4 tsp of kalkwasser throw it into ro drum(25l), shake well and place pump from auto top up in drum to suck upper layer out, when water evapurates.
don't have $$$ for kalkstirrer, and it helps allot in my system
 
what i do is take 4 tsp of kalkwasser throw it into ro drum(25l), shake well and place pump from auto top up in drum to suck upper layer out, when water evapurates.
don't have $$$ for kalkstirrer, and it helps allot in my system

Suggestion: dissolve it with vinegar, it helps dissolving it into the water column.
 
Will do that war thanks for all the help guys.
 
Suggestion: dissolve it with vinegar, it helps dissolving it into the water column.

one "proppie" vinegar, hey warr, will this be enough with 4 tsp kalk in 25l ro water?
 
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cant think of the English name for it.( coke bottle has a red proppie)
how much vinegar should be added.
war said it helps dissolving it into the water column.(don't really understand)
 
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Shall we stir things up a bit and talk about Calfo's slurry method ;)

To those who don't know what the heck we are talking about.

Here is a quote from Anthony Calfo's The Book of Coral Propagation, page 185.

And so, it is my advice to aquarists who responsibly test for the additives they use, to dose calcium hydroxide in increments (whisked briefly in a cup of cold purified water) that do not raise the pH of a system by more than two tenths of a point. The portion will begin conservatively small (starting with 1/16th of a teaspoon per one hunderd gallons of system water) and increase until the pH climbs two tenths of a point or the tested amount satisfies the daily demand for calcium in that portion, whichever comes first. A digital pH monitor makes very short work of this process and is highly recommended with this style of dosing calcium. Most systems less than 3 years old and under 200 gallons in capacity can have their daily demand for calcium satisfied in a single shot of slurried kalkwasser after the sun goes down: a one minute procedure after the parameters have been set. To maximaize phosphate fallout and calcium uptake, it has been observed that kalkwasser additions are more effective if they can be safely dosed into the main display rather than the sump. This method of calcium supplementation should appeal to aquarists and coral farmers who cannot afford or choose not to invest in calcium reactors. I do not even believe that calcium rectors are necessarily better, although they are excellent vehicles for calcium and alkalinity maintenance. The contrast between the methods is simple. Calcium reactors are convenient but expensive. Manual applications of kalkwasser could be very inexpensive, but requires daily attention. Coral farmers starting up or operating large facilities are advised to dose kalkwasser manually until they are so wealthy (wink) that they can afford such delightfully convenient toys for each system. Until then, dosing really isn't so bad. The nature of coral propagaion is inherently labor intensive and requires consistent, daily attention. The one-minute diversion of dosing kalkwasser is simply part of a farmer's day. Private aquarists are otherwise encouraged to seriously consider automated calcium supplementation, as cost management is not quite so critical in not-for-profit operations.
I actually don't like kalk slurries for most hobbyists. Too much can go wrong and you can end up with a Carbonate snowstorm. Putting the slurry directly into the main tank can cause precipitate to fall on corals and burn them. Putting the slurry into a sump can cause abiotic precipitation and ruin heaters and pumps.

For folks in the states, I have other reasons for not liking the slurry method. I won't do this and it isn't the pH that I'm worried about. Kalkwasser has impurities like anything else does. If you are saving money by using Pickling Lime I would have concerns about the heavy metals you are adding to your tank. Kalk has the ability to remove heavy metals from solution. Server error! That's obviously a good thing but that only works with the supersaturation method. With the Slurry method you are pouring the pollutants right into the system.

Why do the pollutants concern me? Here's why....Most Calcium Hydroxide that you buy is coming from my back yard. Well it's an hour and a half away but I've been there many times. It's coming from theMississippi Lime Company in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. It's an awesome place if you are into history as it is the only original French Colonial Village intact in America. If you are into history like me it's worth a visit. Unfortunately, the lead poisoning effects of the Doe Run smelter has been found in Doe Run, Herculaneum, Leadington, Ironton, Ste. Genevieve, etc. I.e. Cities that are miles apart. The EPA forced the Doe Run Corporation to buy out a couple of whole towns due to lead poisoning. BTW....they also smelt copper. Give that one a thought if you have any invertebrates in your tank. I'm not going into any more details to protect the owners of this board. However, a Google of "Doe Run + EPA" will shed some light on the subject.

The thing that goes through my mind is, once a heavy metal like lead or copper is introduced into my system, how do I get it out???
 
Kalkwasser can be confusing to use at first, but it doesn't have to be.

Even though I'm not a famous reefing author, you can see from my previous post that I'm not a fan of the slurry method. That's my opinion. Other's may disagree. But Calcium Hydroxide additions are easily the most inexpensive way of maintaining Calcium and Alkalinity once your system is balanced. I've explained why I prefer the supersaturation method recommended by Reef Maniac (at least for Americans getting their Kalkwasser from Missouri).
 
Excellent reply, Mantisfreak. I use both methods (slurry and supersaturation) and both work for me.

Not sure where South Africa gets it Calcuim Hydroxide supply from, but I would think heavy metal poisoning would still be a concern wherever it came from.

Need to see if there is any info on the local supply
 
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