help with kalk dripper

[Milez803]

i plan to created my own kalk dripper, ...as a college student..i'm pretty much on a budge, was thinking about using a 5 gallon water container, use 2 tube and small flow adjuster....i was wondering if its is okay to constant drip the whole 5 gallon into my 130 gallon tank..even thou..i still have a auto topper, which only top off fresh water..would that effect my water chemisty? does that even sound right? i already have life stock..don't want to take the risk and kill them all.. and as of right now i'm still dosing 2 part..how long should i wait till i stop dosing it..before i can set up the kalk dripper..any advice would be really helpful.. ...

 

[NaH2O]

How do your parameters test? A lot of people will drip kalk overnight. Kent makes a doser Kent Aquadoser with an "IV line" that alot of people use to drip their kalk. Your top off won't add any new water until it is needed. How much water do you evaporate in a day?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Do you need Kalk? Lot of SPS or many clams? Coraline algae taking over and consuming minerals? Are you trying to maintain alk or Ca which was falling otherwise?

Many reefkeepers dose one way or another when they don't need to mess with anything other than periodic water changes.

 

[Milez803]

newbie to sps..been trying to maintain sps..but having alot of problem with acropora.. ..i have no problem with montipora cap, but my purple bonsai seem to have brown out..but since i pick up the frag, the coral has encrusted on the frag stone i glue it too.. i have check my water chem..

calcium- 380 to 500 ppm.. (change alot until i got the auto topper)
nitrate and phos - not detectable
alki- not sure
carbonate hardness- 7 or 8
mag- dont have test kit. (will purchase one soon)

not sure why my acro tend to brown out, but as for my montipora, the purple rim cap is super neon green.. ..
my tank evaporate about 1 gallon a day.. running 2x400watts and 2x53 t5..
my tank set up is about 130 gallon and 30 gallon of sump..with refugium..
right now i'm doing 2 part solution ..every sunday 1 cap of each A and B, and 2 cap of mag. and on weds i also dose again.. with my api test kit..i tested calcium at 420 yesterday prior to dosing.. as for my zoos, they look fine.. only problem is keeping acro from keeping the color.. as for water change i try to change at least 15 gallon a month..premade with IO salt... reason why i want to set up a 5 gallon dripper is so i don't have to dose A and B andn also i heard it help alki.... thanks again for the advice ...

 

[Milez803]

as for live stock..
fish:
3 chromis, 1 purple tang, 1 yellow eye tang, goby, and yellow wrassa
coral:
sps and lps
purple cap, bright red cap, purple rim green cap, red cap, orange cap
green digi, orange digi, purple bonsai, green hydro, slimmer, and some acro frag
star galaxy,
softie:
xenia, and alot of different frag of zoos..and blue cloves..

 

[Milez803]

another quick question...if i do set up the dripper, do i require to drip the kalk 24/7 ?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

newbie to sps..been trying to maintain sps..but having alot of problem with acropora.. ..i have no problem with montipora cap, but my purple bonsai seem to have brown out..but since i pick up the frag, the coral has encrusted on the frag stone i glue it too.. i have check my water chem..

calcium- 380 to 500 ppm.. (change alot until i got the auto topper)
nitrate and phos - not detectable
alki- not sure
carbonate hardness- 7 or 8
mag- dont have test kit. (will purchase one soon)

not sure why my acro tend to brown out, but as for my montipora, the purple rim cap is super neon green.. ..
my tank evaporate about 1 gallon a day.. running 2x400watts and 2x53 t5..
my tank set up is about 130 gallon and 30 gallon of sump..with refugium..
right now i'm doing 2 part solution ..every sunday 1 cap of each A and B, and 2 cap of mag. and on weds i also dose again.. with my api test kit..i tested calcium at 420 yesterday prior to dosing.. as for my zoos, they look fine.. only problem is keeping acro from keeping the color.. as for water change i try to change at least 15 gallon a month..premade with IO salt... reason why i want to set up a 5 gallon dripper is so i don't have to dose A and B andn also i heard it help alki.... thanks again for the advice ...

If the SPS is encrusting, water is probably fine, could be the change in lighting as some sps corals take time to adjust to changes. Do you have good alternating or random water flow? If your Ca and carbonate hardness are fine, why dosing?

another quick question...if i do set up the dripper, do i require to drip the kalk 24/7 ?

Many have best results dripping at night to help keep PH higher when lights are out. I think if you quit dosing and allowed things to balance out, might find things start to color up. Often it is the chasing of measurments that keeps corals from settling in.

 

[plack]

People drip Kalk usually because they are running a calcium reactor and are experiencing constantly lower levels of PH like 7.9 sometimes lower.

They drip kalk or use it with there auto water top off to bump it to more normal levels.

If you have a calibrated PH probe and this is your condition then go ahead and drip.

Some do it to add calcium and alkalinity when there is little demand and they will drip at night as the PH in your tank always drops a little at night

I have heard dripping from a sealed bag like an i v works better as the drip "rate" is supposed to stay more constant .

They only real problems I see is if you were to not monitor the ph as that could get too high if un checked.

I had the tube get clogged allot when i tried dripping things 24/7 But I dont remember if it was the Alk the CA or the Kalk that clogged.

In my 180 all my top off is Kalk. Every month or so I check the Magnesium as Too much kalk can lower that and then cause PH instability.



Paul

 

[Milez803]

i was wondering if their is a package test kit...i can purchase to test calcium, alki, and also ph...because most saltwater reef test kit only provide carbonate hardness, calcium, po4, nitrate... because my purple bonsai look like the polyp on the brand doesn't fully extend, but it encrusted and the polyp in the encrusted seem to be more extend..maybe it might be due to too much light...i am running 2x400 watts for a tank that is only 22in deep..and its way at the top...my light is about feet off the water.....