Kalkwasser...

[jnarowe]

Tube sock or dress sock?

that's disturbing dude. fish net only over here.

 

[jnarowe]

Must not be using the Medusa then! That's part of what drove me crazy with it..... the one degree swing allowed before the annoying "beeeeeeeppppp".

Tagging along
D

Still don't have it hooked up Dan. Yes, I am THAT lazy. BTW, I allow my tank temp. to float on purpose. It saves a LOT of electrical energy!

Actually I had a little snafu yesterday involving the AC temp. probe. I was messing around with the COND probe and unplugged it. What I didn't notice is that I also unplugged the temp. probe accidentally. Then I started getting the alarm emails and went down to investigate. When the temp. probe is off, then everything esle gets FUBAR'd because they use the system temp. as part of their formula, so the ORP and pH readings were all off.

So when I plugged it back in, I did not get the correct readings. I then reset the ACIII Pro and it appeared to solve the problem. However, I noticed throughout the day that the temp. did not get up to where it normally would, nor did the pH. Up this morning and the pH is at 7.80. So this means I now have to calibrate the temp. probe (and all probes) to get back on track.

Once I have it done correctly, I will pull the erroneous data points so it will not mess up my report on the Two Little Fishes kalkwasser. I had expected to post about it today with graphs etc. but I am guessing it will be another day or two before that is all ready for public consumption.

Just to do a quick update on the kalk, the TLF is still going fine. When I lowered my stir times by one minute, the alkalinity took nearly a 1 point dive in about 30 hours, so I re-programmed it back to 4 minutes per stir rather than 3. The alkalinity did go back up, so I am interested to see where it sits today, even with the temp. probe screw-up.

That is all.

 

[ziggy]

Ever try to run it through a sock?? :shock:

Does anyone know what the micron size is on kalk? Depending on size the sock could be moot.

 

[jnarowe]

can't use a sock man, it just turns into a vase.

 

[jezzeaepi]

In order to prevent fluctuations in the amount of kalk water delivered, I just use a dosing pump to deliver a fixed amount of kalk at fixed intervals throughout the day. I use the "wave" function on my AC JR to turn my dosing pump on for 1 minute every 10 minutes. I have an ATO take care of any other needed top off. Althoguht I am not maxing out the amount of kalk I am delivering to the system, I feel it is more stable which makes dialing ina stable alk easier for me.

I look forward to the rest of the results from your experiment. Ive been using ESV kalk for a long time and would like to see if theres a better choice out there for me.

Peace

 

[jnarowe]

Yeah, your method is more stable for sure especially if you have it worked out so no fines get into the water column. I guess in my situation I can't quite match that due to the evaporative nature of my system and the design of the kalk stirrer. In fact, the LiterMeterIII is designed to do just that. Break up the dosing into 150 equal doses throughout the day.

The solution for me would be to change out my reactor, but I am just not willing to spend that much cash on it.

 

[jnarowe]

Ok, time to post some data. I have had a couple issues occur that have kept me from being my best in terms of this round of testing. The first is I have a slipped disk in my lower back so working on the tank or even getting water samples is reliant on my 11-year-old son to participate.

Second, I pulled my ORP probe to work on it some more and accidentally unplugged the temp. probe as well. I was going to remove the errant data, but decided to leave it as-is and note it. I hate messing with data anyway.

So the first week of using Two little Fishes (TLF) Kalkwasser:

Week 2:

Week 3:

I have to say that when evap. rate is good, this product is really doing well. I am very happy with its performance and will continue to use it until we see the curve start to drop. Again, the weather issue sort of mangles the data so I will keep that in mind and inform as needed.

 

[jnarowe]

Quick Update on the Kalkwasser testing: I have not heard from Kevin in a while as he has been traveling on business. I have been battling back problems but have been doing alkalinity tests nearly every day and the TLF is still working well. My alkalinity is staying above 8.0 and depending on weather the range is 8.0 to 8.6.

I have lost my connection to my AquaController due to some network issues so I cannot print out graphs this weekend. Hopefully this problem will be resolved soon. I will add that even with the short amount of time I have been using the TLF, I have observed dramatically increased growth rates in most SPS. I am very happy about this as anyone would expect, but it is coming to the time I should probably try another product.

I really feel that there is a difference between these products and am very happy to report things are going well with my corals in general. One interesting side note as I slowly design a new system, is that although I "enjoy" the electrical efficiency gained by allowing my reef's temperature to float up and down, it does make for some sporadic kalk dosing in its current configuration. Just warming up the tank room can increase the evap. rate and therefore the alkalinity, but this has its downsides like inconsistent dosing and lower O2 levels.

 

[jnarowe]

Today I swapped out for the Warner Marine Kalkwasser. The TLF was still going strong IMO, but I really want to move this along. A couple of unfortunate situations have sullied the "results" for the TLF testing including back problems and home network issues. I lost contact with my aquarium controller for quite some time, and in trying to get things up and running, I had to re-start the controller which cleared some days of data.

I also discovered a pinhole in my CO2 delivery line, which resulted in virtually no Ca reactor performance for an unknown but extended period of time. The reason why it went un-noticed for so long (other than the obvious lack of low pH) was that this tiny stream landed in an area that could have been wet for other reasons. This again goes back to not being fully competent (IMO) to analyze situations correctly. I knew the pH was not dropping in the CA reactor, but assumed that was because it was not coming on often enough due to low tank pH. And you all know what happens when you ASSUME!

I have to say that I am very pleased with the TLF. It has worked well and stayed virtually residue free. It has also kept the alkalinity within a respectable range despite various environmental issues and mild retardation on my part. I definitely give it a thumbs up and would recommend it to other reef keepers.

Here are the graphs which show the tail end of the network snafu. I did take measurements throughout and added them in so the graph looks a little jumpy but includes input from my alk testing.

Unfortunately, because of all the crap going on during this "test" period, i don't feel I have really come to any definitive conclusion, nor can I lean on the results as I feel they are not accurate enough for our purposes. But I post for everyone's entertainment anyway!

 

[jnarowe]

So on to the Warner Marine Kalkwasser (WMK)...as quoted from the manufacturer's web site:

ReefPure Kalkwasser is the premier Calcium Hydroxide product available today. It is produced entirely from ultra-pure Calcium Hydroxide, the highest quality raw material in the hobby. Inferior competing products are produced using poor quality Calcium Hydroxide, this inferior Calcium Hydroxide contains up to 30X the heavy metal concentration, including Lead compared to ReefPure Calcium Hydroxide. Warner Marine Research is the only manufacturer to use these fine quality raw materials. Most importantly ReefPure Kalkwasser is highly effective at adding high quality bio-available Calcium without the unnecessary impurities found in the competitors products.

I find it interesting the mention of heavy metal content because I have always found a fair amount of metal dust attached to the kalk stir bar especially with the ESV. With the TLF, still there but at a greatly reduced quantity. I am not sure if this is what WM is referring to, but I will be interested to see if this changes with their product.

Also note, this is the calcium hydroxide, not the calcium oxide. In a discussion with Steve Weast, I learned that he had been using WM Calcium Oxide (called ReefPure Kalkwasser Plus) for quite a long while. It is interesting to read about it on their site as well.

So I have completely cleaned out the kalk stirrer and added 400g of WMK. It's currently settling out and will be brought online later this evening.

 

[jnarowe]

Aug 30 2008 20:56:24

Temp pH ORP Cond pHA1
80.8 8.12 289 00.0 6.41

 

[jnarowe]

Nice change: So this morning the tank pH is at 8.02, meaning it did not go below 8.0 last night for the first time in a very long time.

 

[plack]

orp 289 ?

Why are you not using ozone with the awesome settup of yours I have seen so far.

I am guessing it is by choice?

I tried it once--Have had the generator /air dryer forever---recently got another skimmer for use as a reactor Carbon.

I am letting my controller Turn it on and off.

Seems like a good thing if your Tank is low--And as I Have just re-settup mine The # Jumped out at me !!

Just Curios about that and If you got to Comparing Mrs Wages Pickeling lime against other Kalk's Yet And to see the difference (That's what I use !)



paul

 

[jnarowe]

Yeah, it will dip down to or below 300 when I feed and that's usually at the peak temp. for the day. That's fairly normal. I changed my filter floss after it went below 290.

I don't use ozone mostly because I just haven't gotten to it, but I have done a bit of research on it and I don't think it is necessary for a healthy reef. It certainly will clarify the water of course, but IMO not a must-have.

 

[ziggy]

Yeah, it will dip down to or below 300 when I feed and that's usually at the peak temp. for the day. That's fairly normal. I changed my filter floss after it went below 290.

I don't use ozone mostly because I just haven't gotten to it, but I have done a bit of research on it and I don't think it is necessary for a healthy reef. It certainly will clarify the water of course, but IMO not a must-have.

My orp is at 162 which I know is low but I am unsure how to raise it. What is that # attributed to?

 

[jnarowe]

Start here: ORP

 

[jnarowe]

I have been getting asked on various forums how the kalkwasser "testing" is going so here is a brief synopsis:

I am currently into the second week of using Warner Marine Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide) and can report excellent results. My system appears to have stabilized with the following tests today:

Alkalinity: 8.8 (Salifert)
Calcium: 385 (Salifert)
Salinity: 1.024 (Had 3 overskims in a row with it already low so I need to get his back up)
Magnesium: 1420 (Salifert)

These numbers have been stable for the last week. Coral growth is visibly accellerating, but I have had one colony RTN. No idea why.

I will continue to use the Warner Marine until it is "exhausted" or I just plain get bored and switch to a new kalkwasser. I figure at least 3 - 4 weeks to properly gauge its performance.

 

[jnarowe]

Quick Update:

Sep 10 2008 20:00:15
Temp pH ORP Cond
81.0 8.12 285 00.0
pHA1
6.41

Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 400 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.40
Magnesium: 1380

SLight dip in alk due to over-filling my sump to get salinity up. This then shuts down the top-off until the water has evaperated off enough, and usually is for about a 24 hour period. Otherwise, all is good!

 

[jnarowe]

OK guys and gals...not very good news tonight about the kalkwasser testing. I have been noticing a slow decline in the "potency" of the Warner Marine kalkwasser and tonight had to dose baked baking soda.

Please keep in mind that every system is different so while it may not be working well for me now, that's not to say it wouldn't work for others. I am kind of surprised though since the system is very well tuned and I have nearly a whole canister of it in my reactor.

It does still look perfectly "white" so this goes along with our judging quality by limited residue. Here are the charts since I started with this media:

I really like these guys and enjoyed the conversation I had with them at the beginning of this "experiment" so I will look forward to trying out their calcium oxide as well. I will probably watch it and dose as needed until this weekend and then decide if I will switch out to a new media.

 

[jnarowe]

Water parameters are good, although there was a dip during the controller snafu. Things are looking well but a couple of corals have shown some stress due to the fluctuating alkalinity and low Ca levels of late last week.

The kalk testing is continuing and oddly enough, the controller incident happened at the time I was planning to swap media, but what I have found is that the Warner Marine seems to be doing fine right now. Alk is slightly low, but I am going to let it go for another week and see what happens. I did dose alkalinity and calcium during the time the system was down, so perhaps I am seeing residual effects of that, but only time will tell.