dripping kalk

[Loralie]

Can doing weekly water changes eliminate the need for dripping Kalk? I am thinking after Josh is gone I am gonna do weekly 10% water changes on the 92.

[Sea monkey]

I use this for my kalk . uses an optical eye that will only fail in the off position and has a float switch as back up in case all hell breaks loose : )

The liter meter is the best solution but this isn't bad at half the price.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...product=TZ4111

[David Grigor]

I am very fond of Kalkwasser use and really any tank I maintain now and future will incorporate kalkwasser. I will say that I have never used the Kent dripper, but have tried many dripper type methods in the past. If you can't automate Kalkwasser ( safely as to have redundancy in place to prevent overdosing ) then you likely not to use it long. It can be tedious with lots of tinkering with the dripping method and frankly, you probably won't have the patience to keep it up for long.

I personally am not that fond of float switches ( because of the failure rates ) but as long as you incorporate some redundancy features as to not overdose then I don't really have a problem with it. I much prefer time based systems over water level systems. Becuase if something happens to cause the water levels to lower abnormally and not from just water eveoporation then your still insuring that you will not overdose the Kalk. Dosing pumps is my prefered method but still need to add some redundancy features to prevent overdosing.

While I don't know of any recent cases of overdosing, it does happen, Scott Jensen a former TCMAS member who moved away, lost his 75g tank to float switches and Kalkwasser. Bill Bramucci had a failure as well but becuase his system was so large 450g it didn't cause any livestock problems but did overflow the sump and ruin a $300 circulation pump.

I covered this topic pretty thouroughly in the rendancy paper that should be out on the TCMAS website.

[HFG]

Originally Posted by Loralie

Can doing weekly water changes eliminate the need for dripping Kalk? I am thinking after Josh is gone I am gonna do weekly 10% water changes on the 92.

Depends entirly on how much stony stuff you have (and corline to some degree). If you have a mostly softy tank ... well, duh

...................
I have been using the SP3000. They absoulty need that back pressure valve installed, they seem cheep, the service is worse to none... but they can be had for 90ish retail.

My qustion is, can you add a float valve for further protection, or would the back pressure ruin the pump (thus making a float switch the only option)?

[Sea monkey]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

While I don't know of any recent cases of overdosing, it does happen, Scott Jensen a former TCMAS member who moved away, lost his 75g tank to float switches and Kalkwasser. Bill Bramucci had a failure as well but becuase his system was so large 450g it didn't cause any livestock problems but did overflow the sump and ruin a $300 circulation pump.

my floats have failed up and down stairs. downstairs the second float has always kicked in and stopped any real problems. however upstairs I was an idiot and only had one float and it failed. Had to be the day that i just filled the reservoir and it dumped in 10 gallons of kalk into my 90. when i woke up to the gurgle my tank was milky white and had a PH of 9.5 . I dumped in some vinegar to get it back down to 8.5 immediately. Only thing that died was a few snails , crabs, shrimp and the xenia.

never trust a float switch unless you are the type of person that cleans them weekly and even then only if you are willing to risk the tank.

[rihanssu]

does anyone have a favorite dosing pump to use?

[Sea monkey]

liter meter is the favorite but the most expensive also.

[HFG]

OK, I give up, who is that in your avitar Rih. .?

[David Grigor]

It also depends on your needs. The refurbished medical dosers are considerably cheaper but they can only do 1.8gph. So if you evaporation needs are higher which isn't hard to do on a large tank then you probably need to look at others. I believe the litermeterIII max is 99 liters per day so about 25g. Expensive but are nice. Much like Tunze Streams rarely will you find someone that owns one say it was money wasted.

[stuckey_t]

One other option to consider is picking yourself up a copy of Calfo's Book of Coral Propagation. He talks about dosing Kalk using a slurry method that is poured into the tank. I have used this myself and it does work with no ill effects if done right. Basically you can add enough Kalk powder with water mixed in a slurry and pour it into the tank as long as your tank PH doesn't raise by more than a .2 of a point (EX: 8.3 to 8.5 is okay but 8.3 to 8.5+ or higher is bad news...) The starting amount of slurry is like 1/16th teaspoon of kalk powder mixed with purified cold water to dissolve it for every 100 gallons of system water. When you first try this, you are supposed to add the slurry before your lights shut off for the night to offset the depressed evening pH. It is manual dosing but once you know how much kalk/calcium your tank needs at a time it takes about 20 seconds tops to dose this way. A digital pH monitor and test kits are essential to get this right but it works well once you know the calcium demands of the tank. Considering you should have a pH monitor and test kits anyway it is easy!! Calfo says "most systems less than 3 years old and under two hundred 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."

Trust me, i'm not making this up but I would recommend you get his book and read it before trying this method. Otherwise come over and I'll show you what I have done/do.

Later,

T.

[rihanssu]

Originally Posted by stuckey_t

essential to get this right but it works well once you
Trust me, i'm not making this up but I would recommend you get his book and read it before trying this method. Otherwise come over and I'll show you what I have done/do.

Later,

T.

doh! wish i hade asked this question a week ago!

Originally Posted by HFG

OK, I give up, who is that in your avitar Rih. .?

hehehe if your serious thats zoolander!

[mtfatwork]

that is what Matt looks like clean shaven...

[rihanssu]

Originally Posted by mtfatwork

that is what Matt looks like clean shaven...

good luck ever seeing that!

[mtfatwork]

Originally Posted by rihanssu

good luck ever seeing that!

[HFG]

Never heard of, him?