Kalk Slurry DIY Automatic Delivery

[Jimbo]

I was thinking about adding kalk slurry to my tank on a dialy basis. But how to do it automatically seemed to be a problem.

Thinking about it I made up some slurry and and then froze a thin brick of it. Then left it open in the freezer to dehydrate it. Now my idea is to use a daily fish feeder to deliver a pellet of it on a daily basis. Anyone tried this? Will dehydrating the slurry cause it not to dissolve in the tank correctly?

Well will be trying it in the next few days manual method and if it works well I will put it in a fish feeder to deliver predefined amounts once a day.

[Geoff]

i know exposing kalk to CO2 is not the best thing for it. i do not know the chemistry in it though. so maybe freeze drying it gets around this somehow.

interesting idea!

G~

[Jimbo]

I'm now a proud owner of a rondomatic 400 automatic fish feeder, $21.50 used off of ebay, these units sell for about $69 so think I did well.

Now I'm just wondering why I couldn't just put kalk powder in the thing.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by Geoff

i know exposing kalk to CO2 is not the best thing for it. i do not know the chemistry in it though. so maybe freeze drying it gets around this somehow.

interesting idea!

G~

I've seen articles (on advancedaquarist.com i think) that talk about mixing the kalk with vinegar. Basically it provides enough CO2 to go beyond precipitation and into a fully disolved state. Afterwards there is little risk of precipitation. I tried it and it stays in solution.

BE CAREFUL to anyone who reads this. Test pH, Alk, and Ca before and after and follow the directions at the link I will post only if someone asks for it

If you were to do this, then you wouldn't need to worry about the CO2 problem. You could mix a bit of pure kalk and vinegar with no water, and then freeze-dry it (if that's possible afterwards) into a pellet.

[Jimbo]

Yes, David please post that link , I was looking for more info on this.

I did try a small junk in a high flow area and it did disolve completly or almost completly, so I don't think that will be an issue. I wonder if the dry stuff will suck moisture out of the air and become gooey. Maybe we could put the kalc powder in a pill content holder to keep the moisture out. But not sure if the pill containers are nonvolatile for marine tanks. vinager could be worth trying also .

Even though I froze a brick, was thinking of putting some drops, 1/8-1/16 teaspoon size (or little spoon that comes with test kit) on some wax paper and freezing it that way. That way the dose would be more controlled.

[Jimbo]

Oops, tried another junk today and it did not disolve completely, about half a 1/4 penny junk disolved. Now I'm thinking that it is fixing co2 out of the water before it can disolve. So junk size needs to be determined that can disolve before fixing co2.

Hay learned a new word Fischfutterautomat- de(dutch?) automatic fish feeder or translated by me fisch-fish futter-feed automat-automatic. Interesting how they combine the different words to form one.

[Jimbo]

After some experimentation I finally used a gelatin capsule for the kalk powder and almost all of it disolved. Works best if in high flow area, but just about anyplace will work. They float so some surface turbulance is recommended.

Now I wonder if the gelatin or vegetable capsules would be better or worse for the tank.

How much to deliver each day for a 40gal with a calcium hungry clam will be the next test.

I've dumped in several junks of kalk today so will wait until tomorrow to do the calcium test. I did check the PH and alk 8.2 & 9dkh. Everything looks ok in the tank.

I'm going to do some studying on how kalk affects water chemistry.

[jesspaul]

I think I saw a post from tdwatt about how letting moisture in your salt container could cause some undisolovable lumps to form but I am not sure this would be the case while dehydrating the solution. Have you been keeping a log of pH and Alk and Ca while doing this? That would be the proof that it works.

[Jimbo]

Yes jess I started last night, will post results, my calcium is high right now so waiting for it to come down. Still awaiting the automatic feeder and ordered a probe for my ph meter.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Yes, David please post that link , I was looking for more info on this.

I did try a small junk in a high flow area and it did disolve completly or almost completly, so I don't think that will be an issue. I wonder if the dry stuff will suck moisture out of the air and become gooey. Maybe we could put the kalc powder in a pill content holder to keep the moisture out. But not sure if the pill containers are nonvolatile for marine tanks. vinager could be worth trying also .

Even though I froze a brick, was thinking of putting some drops, 1/8-1/16 teaspoon size (or little spoon that comes with test kit) on some wax paper and freezing it that way. That way the dose would be more controlled.

Here's the vinegar article I was talking about:
http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/b...alkwasser.html

I really like www.advancedaquarist.com
Here's a good article (has some cool references too):
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

[Jimbo]

I have the rondomatic hooked up and set to dump twice a day durning the night. I put one of those little spoon fulls (spoon with salifert kit) of Kalk in each bin. This should be good for 14 days. I've checked several times with this small of a dose and it does not affect PH or alk much. Still awaiting Ph probe for my meter but am going to dump a little in each day. This is certainly not enough to maintain calcium with two clams in a 40g tank

My Calcium is only down to 550 but not to worried, but will monitor it every other day. Alk is 11 DKH I have been keeping a log and will post it in a few days.

As the calcium goes below 450 and I get the PH probe will start putting more in the bins and monitor PH, hopefully determining how much I can add safely within a .2 ph varience.

[Jimbo]

Here's my records so far. Yeah I know that calcium is to high, I did not think a little scoop of kalk would raise it so much. Oh I verified the calcium level with 2 kits.
ffice:smarttags" /> 9:56pm Calc is measuring at 750ppm redsea kit, probably about 650ppm

PH 8.2 corals look fine. 11 dkh

11/9/04 8:30pm Calc is measuring at 700ppm

11/10/04 9:03pm calcium is measuring at 750ppm Hardness 11 dkh ph 8.2 cleaned bottom of tank.

11/12/04 8:00pm calcium> is measuring at 650ppm (redsea) salifert is 550 dkh 9.3

11/13/04 10:40pm added two scoops kalk to today and cal is 750 to high, need to cut back. Dkh 9.5. PH 8.2