purple up enough for calcium?

[bv_reefer]

thats a good idea marie i'll have to set something like that up in a couple days, get an airline check valve and some kalk pretty soon. is that a weeks worth of dosing, or more?

[marie]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

thats a good idea marie i'll have to set something like that up in a couple days, get an airline check valve and some kalk pretty soon. is that a weeks worth of dosing, or more?

Thats a 6L container and for me its 1 nights dosing (I also use a calcium reactor).

When you get started you will have to monitor your alk daily to make sure you are adding the right amount of kalk for your system. 2tsp per gallon of RODI water will give you complete saturation with a ph of something like 12.65 (or there abouts).

[Myka]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

thats a good idea marie i'll have to set something like that up in a couple days, get an airline check valve and some kalk pretty soon. is that a weeks worth of dosing, or more?

What's the check valve for?

[marie]

Originally Posted by Myka

What's the check valve for?

Its to control the drip rate of the kalk

[bv_reefer]

about what drip rate do you set it at, or in other words how much solution would you drip for a 40 gallon?

[marie]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

about what drip rate do you set it at, or in other words how much solution would you drip for a 40 gallon?

The kalk that you drip will replace the water that evaporates. How much water do you evaporate in a 24hr period?

I would start out with a light dose of kalk, say 1tsp of kalk per gal of water and try to time the drips of the kalk to top up your tank by morning. Test your alk and if it has dropped then you need to make a stronger solution of kalk, if the alk has gone up then you need to add less kalk to the water the next night.
To get the right amount (unless someone else knows of an easier way ) it is going to take some fiddling and lots of testing.
While going through this stage I never bothered testing cal until I was sure I had alk stable. Once I figured out how much kalk I needed to keep alk stable, I checked the cal to make sure it was inline (it saves money on test kits).

By dripping at night when the ph is lower you lessen the impact of the higher ph. You will probably notice the ph of your tank going up a bit overall anyway but as long as your not just dumping the kalk water into your tank then small ph blips shouldn't be anything to worry about

[bv_reefer]

Originally Posted by marie

The kalk that you drip will replace the water that evaporates. How much water do you evaporate in a 24hr period?

I would start out with a light dose of kalk, say 1tsp of kalk per gal of water and try to time the drips of the kalk to top up your tank by morning. Test your alk and if it has dropped then you need to make a stronger solution of kalk, if the alk has gone up then you need to add less kalk to the water the next night.
To get the right amount (unless someone else knows of an easier way ) it is going to take some fiddling and lots of testing.
While going through this stage I never bothered testing cal until I was sure I had alk stable. Once I figured out how much kalk I needed to keep alk stable, I checked the cal to make sure it was inline (it saves money on test kits).

By dripping at night when the ph is lower you lessen the impact of the higher ph. You will probably notice the ph of your tank going up a bit overall anyway but as long as your not just dumping the kalk water into your tank then small ph blips shouldn't be anything to worry about

marie, i evaporate about (give or take) 3L/day, that being said it'd be smart to start at about 1/2 a tsp/gal. i have both of those test kits so i'll be monitoring thru-out for the first week or so. as for a pH swing, my pH is already at 8.3 so i'm hoping it settles at no more than 8.5 after i'm done dialing in my kalk dosing? already made a kalk dripper, sooo techy too~! a 1 gallon jug, whatever works for me-

[Myka]

Originally Posted by marie

Its to control the drip rate of the kalk

Don't you mean a ball valve then? How would a check valve work for that...?

[marie]

Originally Posted by Myka

Don't you mean a ball valve then? How would a check valve work for that...?

Actually a check valve wouldn't work...unless your worried about syphoning all your tank water out through the airline.

I think they meant ball valve or those little clamp thingies that fit on the outside of the hose (which is what I tried and kept breaking).
I just knot the airline, its cheap and adjustable

[Marlin65]

The small air line valves work real well. They plug up after time but they are cheap. JL has a bag of 6 for about $10 if I remember right.
I use them to drip acclimatize my fish as well.