Dosing a lot of Kalk but...

Bobblehead · Sep 16, 2020

I've been dosing Kalkwasser for about 5 months and in the last couple of months I've been noticing that the consumption rate is increasing. Of course I know that as corals grow, they will increase their uptake but I'm getting the feeling that the quantity I'm dosing is a lot. It's a 65 gallon tank with a handful of SPS frags and other assorted LPS and soft corals. Nothing really big other than a montipora that's growing well. I'm at 2.5 litres of full strength Kalkwasser daily on a constant drip but levels are still dropping so am going to increase to 3L. Is this still a normal amount considering the coral load?

xxkenny90xx · Sep 16, 2020

Corals look happy so I'd say your doing fine. What are your #s looking like?

KrisReef · Sep 16, 2020

That seems like a big addition. How do you keep the salinity in check?

KStatefan · Sep 17, 2020

As long as your chemestirty is stable and you are not adding more then is evaporating

Bobblehead · Sep 17, 2020

I keep my salinity at 35ppt with the use of a Tunze ATO.

Alk at 7.5-8
Calcium usually at 420, just dropped to 390 on last check
Nitrates near 0, currently working on this
Phosphates .01, also working on this

I have been adding baking soda for a while as Alk has been dropping faster than Ca. Seems not to be the case now so am increasing total dose of Kalk and backing off baking soda.

Also not exceeding evap rate, ATO still using a litre or two a day.