How long does it take for kalkwasser to raise ph? Is it instant?

Reef Puncher

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 23, 2024
Messages
474
Reaction score
225
Location
Raleigh, NC, United States, north carolina
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Im trying to balance my ph swings. for past few months i been playing around and tinkering (which i know tinkering is often not worth it, i know i know) and trying to get my ph to have less variance in the high day ph of 8.3- 8.4 and the big drop at night. i dose kalkwasser at night, and AFR during the day, as AFR doesnt raise ph. i also like the trace and mag that AFR brings to the table. my ph dips the most around 5am to 9am, and im not sure when to start and stop my kalk dosing to acheive the best results, and the least swing.
So is ph instantly raised the second the kalk hits the water in my tank? like lets say every 30 min my doser does 10mls, is that 10mls instantly raising the ph? or does it take like an hour or several hours for the ph to rise? and more importantly, does extra kalk qty raise the ph more? so if i bump from the current 10 mls to 20 mls during the low hours, would that raise my ph even more?
If your ph instantly rises, then i should dose the most kalk at the lowest ph hours of 5am to 9am right? but if its not instant, then i need to raise the kalk for other time adjusted variables.
 

Dburr1014

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2016
Messages
11,300
Reaction score
10,981
Location
CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Im trying to balance my ph swings. for past few months i been playing around and tinkering (which i know tinkering is often not worth it, i know i know) and trying to get my ph to have less variance in the high day ph of 8.3- 8.4 and the big drop at night. i dose kalkwasser at night, and AFR during the day, as AFR doesnt raise ph. i also like the trace and mag that AFR brings to the table. my ph dips the most around 5am to 9am, and im not sure when to start and stop my kalk dosing to acheive the best results, and the least swing.
So is ph instantly raised the second the kalk hits the water in my tank? like lets say every 30 min my doser does 10mls, is that 10mls instantly raising the ph? or does it take like an hour or several hours for the ph to rise? and more importantly, does extra kalk qty raise the ph more? so if i bump from the current 10 mls to 20 mls during the low hours, would that raise my ph even more?
If your ph instantly rises, then i should dose the most kalk at the lowest ph hours of 5am to 9am right? but if its not instant, then i need to raise the kalk for other time adjusted variables.
Instant locally.
Then it settles.
It should stabilize and you will see the trend flatten out.

All my spikes are Kalk additions.

Screenshot_20240808_112035_APEXFusion.jpg

The big spike is 9pm because I don't run Kalk during the day. All my ato water runs through Kalk.

I should mention I have a 50g tub as a sump. So locally it sees the spike but I'm sure the tank doesn't see it.
 

drolmaeye

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2022
Messages
217
Reaction score
279
Location
Chicago
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The (local) pH increase happens instantly, so the effect on your tank is as quick as the total volume mixes and circulates. If you are trying to time your kalk additions to minimize pH swings you should not adjust the time for any delayed result.
 
OP
OP
Reef Puncher

Reef Puncher

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 23, 2024
Messages
474
Reaction score
225
Location
Raleigh, NC, United States, north carolina
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The (local) pH increase happens instantly, so the effect on your tank is as quick as the total volume mixes and circulates. If you are trying to time your kalk additions to minimize pH swings you should not adjust the time for any delayed result.
do you know if qty affects the rise more? so right now im dosing 10mls every 30 min during the hours where its lowest. if i bumped it up to 20mls every 30 min, would i see an even higher ph?
 

drolmaeye

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 8, 2022
Messages
217
Reaction score
279
Location
Chicago
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
do you know if qty affects the rise more? so right now im dosing 10mls every 30 min during the hours where its lowest. if i bumped it up to 20mls every 30 min, would i see an even higher ph?
Yes, the pH increase will be higher or lower if you add more or less kalk, respectively. One thing to keep in mind is that one typically uses kalkwasser to supplement calcium and alkalinity, and then enjoys the pH boost. But one shouldn't typically use kalkwasser to control pH directly, as over time this could lead to unusually high/low/varying calcium and alkalinity levels in the tank.
 

Salty_Northerner

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 21, 2023
Messages
1,255
Reaction score
1,381
Location
Brandon
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How big is the tank and have you figured the actual water volume with everything in the tank and or sump?

And no to mixing up kalk stronger. It's a waste and if using a good kalk mix like BRS pharma grade kalk you'll be able to see if your using much as there will be a heap of kank that's settled on the bottom the container. I use a 5000ml acrylic dosing container and can visually see there is the slightest dusting on the bottom. I used to add 2.5tsp and now I'm down to 2 tsp and the potency is no different. If you want it potent then buy some crappy kalk like seachem and it'll look like milk days after mixing. Dose that and watch the pH raise like mad! Lol.. anyways to answer you question about going from dosing 10ml every 30min to 20ml every 30 min it will raise the pH for sure. I've got a Waterbox 35.2 AIO and total water volume is 30 gallons and I'm dosing 24/7 830 mls
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20240813_022242_Mobius.jpg
    Screenshot_20240813_022242_Mobius.jpg
    62 KB · Views: 29
OP
OP
Reef Puncher

Reef Puncher

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 23, 2024
Messages
474
Reaction score
225
Location
Raleigh, NC, United States, north carolina
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How big is the tank and have you figured the actual water volume with everything in the tank and or sump?

And no to mixing up kalk stronger. It's a waste and if using a good kalk mix like BRS pharma grade kalk you'll be able to see if your using much as there will be a heap of kank that's settled on the bottom the container. I use a 5000ml acrylic dosing container and can visually see there is the slightest dusting on the bottom. I used to add 2.5tsp and now I'm down to 2 tsp and the potency is no different. If you want it potent then buy some crappy kalk like seachem and it'll look like milk days after mixing. Dose that and watch the pH raise like mad! Lol.. anyways to answer you question about going from dosing 10ml every 30min to 20ml every 30 min it will raise the pH for sure. I've got a Waterbox 35.2 AIO and total water volume is 30 gallons and I'm dosing 24/7 830 mls
lol i have been using the seachem and it always looks like milk
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
72,100
Reaction score
69,741
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Im trying to balance my ph swings. for past few months i been playing around and tinkering (which i know tinkering is often not worth it, i know i know) and trying to get my ph to have less variance in the high day ph of 8.3- 8.4 and the big drop at night. i dose kalkwasser at night, and AFR during the day, as AFR doesnt raise ph. i also like the trace and mag that AFR brings to the table. my ph dips the most around 5am to 9am, and im not sure when to start and stop my kalk dosing to acheive the best results, and the least swing.
So is ph instantly raised the second the kalk hits the water in my tank? like lets say every 30 min my doser does 10mls, is that 10mls instantly raising the ph? or does it take like an hour or several hours for the ph to rise? and more importantly, does extra kalk qty raise the ph more? so if i bump from the current 10 mls to 20 mls during the low hours, would that raise my ph even more?
If your ph instantly rises, then i should dose the most kalk at the lowest ph hours of 5am to 9am right? but if its not instant, then i need to raise the kalk for other time adjusted variables.

As soon as that 10 mL mixes in, the pH is typically as high as it will get.
 

HAVE YOU EVER KEPT A RARE/UNCOMMON FISH, CORAL, OR INVERT? SHOW IT OFF IN THE THREAD!

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
Back
Top