[Mkelly]

Ok been a rough couple of weeks. Alk has been way outta wack, my own doing thru a mis- use of Kalak and alk buffers coupled with not using the correct multiplier to figure dkh. So 150 gallons and two weeks of water changes later I have the parameters squared away.

dkh 12
Ca 400 Will raise this this week.
Ca dropped 50 points after 150 gal changes. This I can't explain Ca was 450 when I noticed the Alk was way off.

Ok so after all the background heres the question. From everything I have read starting to drip kalk now should maintain the correct parameters, correct?

Part two. Raising Ca directly will drop alk?

May seem silly to some but after the headache I have had with this I want to be 100% certain before I change anything today.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Spanky]

Mike,

I'll chime in until someone more chemistry minded catches up with this.

Your Ca probably dropped because your salt mix was lower in Ca. Just bump it back up.

I've always found that just dripping kalk couldn't keep up with any of my tanks demands. Unless you have enough evaporation that you can replace enough water with kalk, it won't. I used to drip kalk and then bump it back up with a Ca supplement.

Raising Ca directly will not drop alk unless you go entirely too high with the Ca. As long as you stay within normal Ca ranges, you'll be fine.

Jerel

 

[Mkelly]

Your Ca probably dropped because your salt mix was lower in Ca. Just bump it back up.

Was the plan but was afraid of wacking the alk again. Sound advice I'll raise it slow.

Unless you have enough evaporation that you can replace enough water with kalk, it won't. I used to drip kalk and then bump it back up with a Ca supplement.

I actually do. The tank is 180 gallons and I loose 1/4 inch or more out of the sump daily. I have to look a little closer at this and see if a drip can keep up with the evaporation.

If the drip can not keep up then what? Kalk has to be added slowly correct? If that's the case then how is it people use top off systems for kalk based on float valves? This to me would seem to create a flush or inrush of kalk.

I'zzz confused

Thanks for the help as always Jerel

Mike

 

[Spanky]

Mike

Kalk supplies Ca and Alk at the same time, but you know that. Anywho, if your systems demands are higher than you can add kalk, and adding kalk is dependent on how much evaporation you have, then you're going to have to supplement it. Same with Ca and Alk independent of each other. Usually it's alk that you need more of, so you might have to add more buffer along with the Kalk too.

 

[cyberchef]

Using a float valve to operate a topoff system will maintain the water level at a specific "place" based on where the float is mounted. My auto topoff uses a mag pump to pump kalk water from a brute can to the overflow of the tank. The float is mounted in the same part of the sump as my return pump. The level only has to drop about 1/4"- 1/2" for the float to activate, this equates to about 2-3C maximum. This happens about once an hour. The incoming kalk water mixes with the overflow water and then mixes with the water in the sump before it ever makes it back to any of the tanks. Unless your topoff were adding 1-2 qts at a time I don't feel you will need to worry about adding it too fast. Also the reason I use the overflow for the place for the kalk water to get added to is so that the kalk feed is higher than the brute container and I dopn't get a siphon going and flood the house... :lol:

 

[Doug1]

Dons right, a well designed sump should have the intake for the return pump, and the float switch in a fairly small volume area. That minimizes the amount of topoff required to bring it up to cutoff level, helping avoid pH spikes with kalk, as well as minimizing the amount of water that can be pumped back into the main tank in the event an overflow gets clogged or something like that. Yat another reason to go with dual overflows even when planning slow flow rates thru a sump/fuge setup