best time to add calc & alk??? how far apart?

[Hendersonracing]

how far apart do you guys & gals add your additives??? I was thinking of adding my alk at night why ph is at its lowest...and calcium in the morning???? does this sound the best???? my ph is usually 8.35 during the day and at night it drops to 8.24 with the fuge light on>>>when I add my alk additive it goes to 8.30...

[DevilBoy]

honestly, if thats all your pH swings, i would not touch it with adding anything...

[Hendersonracing]

I just figured adding at night would keep the ph up a little....we add our alk supplement at night and calcium in the morning...about 9 hours apart!

[Hardhead Cat]

I just add my calc when I think about it - - I don't have any specific schedule but it seems to work fine.

HHC

[pastina]

i add calc on saturdays and alk on thursdays, in the middle of the day

[tabwyo]

I add dose kalk on a delayed top-off at night. I have my float tied into my pin-poin ph controller. So when my ph drops at night the float acts as a shut off for my diy kalk reactor.

[Hendersonracing]

I dose everyday.....a 1/2 cup calc and a 1/2 cup of alk

[reefBoyDc]

i drip calc constantly, a little at a time

[tdwyatt]

The constant drip approach woud be best, it maintains the normal swing in the system pH (remember, it is nt alkalinity ontent that controls pH, it is CO2 content of the water, buffer only prevents wide variations from the standard 8.2-ish, test your pH 1 hour after bulk additiion of alkalinity... ), and by constant drip additions, there will be lesst variation in salintiy due to the volume of the additions, very helpful for maintaining conditions suitable for most echinoderms.

HTH

[Hendersonracing]

I would prefer to drip my cal & alk what is the best drip system???Im dripping kalk now...Id like to drip cal & alk through electronic drip...say dose a certain ml in the morning of alk & a certain ml in the evening of the calc

[tdwyatt]

Probably best is a system that uses both a slow peristaltic pump and a float switch to control the on-off function of the pump. A good choice would be something along the lines of a Tunze Osmolator or an Ultralife float switch with solenoid (included with the switch) to control an AquaMedic 3000 peristaltic pump attached to a kalkreacktor (Neilssen reactor) connected t a ro/di reservoir. The idea is to have something that will aproximate your daily evaporative rate, but with a backup switch to both cut the pump off if it exceeds the evap rate (to prevent flooding or overdosing the sump with kalk), or to make sure it comes on when the rate of evaporation exceeds the off time limits. A rather expensive but ideal alternative is to use a Spectrapure Litermeter set with a floatswitch backup (just in case) as it has an adjustible rate for the pump. Of the alternatives, I like the use of the aquamedic peristaltic pump with an ultralife float or homemade float switch the best (price and reliaility), although if money were no object, then the tunze osmolator and the Spectrapure Litermeter with some fancyschmancy kalkreacktor would be the choice. When I personally run kalk, I use the Aquamedic and a homemade float switch and a bucket of kalkwasser, although I am making a kalkreacktor for the replacement of the bucket.

I have in the past just poured a lb of pickling lime into a bucket and placed a powerhead attached to the side of the container about 2 inches off the bottom connected to a float switch to run q ghetto reactor. In that manner, the kalk is mixed when I add fresh water to the bucket, I float a piece of styrofoam on the surface of the buciet to reduce CO2 reaction with the kalk, and the saturation for the kalk is reached quickly when water is added and the kalk settles out. You have to watch this, though, it is not something that can go unattended for weeks like the above.