Dosing Kalkwasser Manually

KyRo · Mar 13, 2023

I know not a lot of people recommend this, but I'd like to dose Kalkwasser manually in my top off water (not ATO). I have a 15 gallon tank and was thinking that if I can calculate my water evap ever day, I can add a bit of Kalkwasser every morning to that as it shouldn't be too much. Would anyone have any information on the best way to do this? There is not too much information out there besides automating the dosage.

ilikefish69 · Mar 13, 2023

Are you needing to dose for a specific reason? With a 15 gallon tank I think general consensus would be water changes will keep everything where it needs to be. With such small water volume it would be difficult I imagine to dial it in properly but erring on the side of too little wouldn’t hurt. Up to you but with a hobby that is so difficult already why make it harder than it needs to be

FishTruck · Mar 13, 2023

You can add a kalk slurry in a shot glass daily. Calculate the dose, mix it in cold water and hit it once a day.

Cold water works better.

Anthony Calfo describes that in detail in his 2001 book on coral propagation. I did it for awhile back in the day.

KyRo · Mar 13, 2023

Thanks guys. Basically covered in 2 responses! I'm not dosing for specific reason yet, but I had some from a buddy that wasn't using it, so I wanted to possibly implement it into mine if I needed.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2023

Do you know the alk demand daily? Once a day dosing is OK for very low doses , and not OK for higher doses.

The concern with once a day dosing is the pH spike. Adding 1.4 dKH of alk via hydroxide (as in kalkwasser or sodium hydroxide) will instantly boost pH by about 0.6 to 0.7 pH units, which is, IMO, too much for most tanks unless the pH is very low to begin with.

Court_Appointed_Hypeman · Mar 14, 2023

I tried manually dosing, but adding .5ml per gallon seemed to sudden for me, so prior to using it in my ATO, I used a jug and airline tube with a bleeder valve to make it a very slow drip.

Issue with this is, it will clog quickly, but I had much more stable results and ran like that for a while.

MERKEY · Mar 14, 2023

If your worried about using a doser there are alternatives.

The "little dripper" that are used for reptile enclosures work wonders for kalk application in low demand environments.

Mind you this isn't as precise as a doser but I would imagine it's better than dumping kalk once a day.

They come in half gallon and gallon sizes and have a dripper that comes with it.

Just a thought

exnisstech · Mar 14, 2023

I wouldn't look forward to dosing and definatly would not unless necessary. Like @ilikefish69 stated the hobby is difficult enough already.
That said I dose kalk but in a larger system about 220g total I dose to keep alk up and also dose 2 part. The kalk I drip with a brs doser on a timer 24/7 45 minutes on 5 minutes off.

Saltyanimals · Apr 4, 2023

ilikefish69 said:
Are you needing to dose for a specific reason? With a 15 gallon tank I think general consensus would be water changes will keep everything where it needs to be. With such small water volume it would be difficult I imagine to dial it in properly but erring on the side of too little wouldn’t hurt. Up to you but with a hobby that is so difficult already why make it harder than it needs to be

^^^^ This ^^^^

With 15 gallons, your tank will be overall much better IMHO if you just did a simple water change since your consumption is likely low in the moment. A 5 gallon bucket would be about a 33% water change which while large, shouldn't be too much for the system. Ironically I say this when I personally don't change water, but that's only because the effort is just too much in a larger system. I am however working towards basic plumbing in place to support large water changes through tubes passing through the walls so that I can easily do one day. =)

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 4, 2023

KyRo said:
I know not a lot of people recommend this, but I'd like to dose Kalkwasser manually in my top off water (not ATO). I have a 15 gallon tank and was thinking that if I can calculate my water evap ever day, I can add a bit of Kalkwasser every morning to that as it shouldn't be too much. Would anyone have any information on the best way to do this? There is not too much information out there besides automating the dosage.

You may know this guy

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2023

Dosing is always cheaper than water changes to maintain calcium and alk. I have never understood the rationale to try to do it by water change.

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 4, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Dosing is always cheaper than water changes to maintain calcium and alk. I have never understood the rationale to try to do it by water change.

Did you watch that video? What do you think?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2023

thatmanMIKEson said:
Did you watch that video? What do you think?

I don’t generally have time to watch posted videos.

Is there a specific point that is of interest?

Troylee · Apr 4, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don’t generally have time to watch posted videos.

Is there a specific point that is of interest?

1/4 tsp dumped into a cup of water and poured into a display per 50 gallons every hour.. that sums it all up.. lol

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 4, 2023

Troylee said:
1/4 tsp dumped into a cup of water and poured into a display per 50 gallons every hour.. that sums it all up.. lol

That’s a fine approach.

Adding 1.4 dKH this way at once boosts pH by about 0.65 pH units (varies with alk and starting pH).

If you add that in ten equal portions spread out, the pH boost each time is small and it’s fine to do.

I’m not a huge fan of not dissolving the calcium hydroxide each time, but if you add it to a high flow area, it is likely ok.

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 4, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don’t generally have time to watch posted videos.

Is there a specific point that is of interest?

That's OK i know your busy, it's a short video that pertains to this thread, I was just wondering what you thought about the subject matter, as I respect your thoughts and knowledge. I assumed that you wouldn't suggest these ideas in the video or maybe you would, I was generally just curious about what you thought.