How many Aiptasia can you zap with kalk paste before it affects your tank?

[JoJosReef]

I am finding a paste made out of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime to be quite effective at reducing Aiptasia. Sometimes it doesn't take. Sneaky Aiptasia spitting it out, maybe. But otherwise, I'm finding this a preferable method to the commercial ones. Boiling water is also effective, but I've got so much coral now that I can't boil an Aip without boiling my coral too.

So I was wondering, how many Aiptasia can you squirt kalk paste on before it starts to mess with your tank parameters and adversely affect your coral. Any thoughts?

 

[tbrown]

I think this is a very generic question with a wide range of answers sir! For instance, in my 5 gallon I can likely hit 1 or 2 and see a spike in Alk. In my 125 I was getting away with 10-20 daily with no adverse effects and in my 70 I could potentially do 10-15 with no problem.

However, it also depends on how thick of a paste you make and how heavily you inject the Aiptasia... I make a thick paste, inject until the Kalk overflows out of the Aiptasia, and then I bury it in Kalk... If you took Kalk, injected it into the mouth until it closed and then stopped, you would likely be able to do 3 or 4 times as many without seeing any rise in Alk. If you mix it thicker like toothpaste you're going to see a rise in Alk significantly sooner than if you mix it to a Limewater consistency but the Limewater won't be as effective as killing them.

 

[tbrown]

In other words, yes?

 

[JoJosReef]

I think this is a very generic question with a wide range of answers sir! For instance, in my 5 gallon I can likely hit 1 or 2 and see a spike in Alk. In my 125 I was getting away with 10-20 daily with no adverse effects and in my 70 I could potentially do 10-15 with no problem.

However, it also depends on how thick of a paste you make and how heavily you inject the Aiptasia... I make a thick paste, inject until the Kalk overflows out of the Aiptasia, and then I bury it in Kalk... If you took Kalk, injected it into the mouth until it closed and then stopped, you would likely be able to do 3 or 4 times as many without seeing any rise in Alk. If you mix it thicker like toothpaste you're going to see a rise in Alk significantly sooner than if you mix it to a Limewater consistency but the Limewater won't be as effective as killing them.

Yes, good point, derrr. Clearly haven't had my intern bring me my coffee yet today. What can you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You can use this calculator to determine how much a teaspoon of dry calcium hydroxide will boost alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Calculator

reef.diesyst.com

Enter an alk and tank volume, then determine kalkwasser needed in gallons, and divide by 2. That gives the effect of that number of teaspoons.

 

[tbrown]

Yes, good point, derrr. Clearly haven't had my intern bring me my coffee yet today. What can you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You don't like my coffee though, not enough dessert for you!

 

[tbrown]

You can use this calculator to determine how much a teaspoon of dry calcium hydroxide will boost alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Calculator

reef.diesyst.com

This is a way better answer than mine.

 

[JoJosReef]

In other words, yes?

Iveygot the lofty goal of testing ALK on BOTH of my tanks today, so we'll see. Hit about 10 of the. Yesterday in the 10g tank and maybe another 10 or so in the 40. The 10 is a softy only tank, so I usually ignore ALK and it sits around 7dKh (or lower), but the 40 is an ALK hog.

 

[JoJosReef]

You can use this calculator to determine how much a teaspoon of dry calcium hydroxide will boost alkalinity

Reef Chemistry Calculator

reef.diesyst.com

Enter an alk and tank volume, then determine kalkwasser needed in gallons, and divide by 2. That gives the effect of that number of teaspoons.

Thanks Randy! I didn't post this in the chem forum so as not to bother you with such a layperson question, but much appreciated and I'm sure this will also help others who stop by!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks Randy! I didn't post this in the chem forum so as not to bother you with such a layperson question, but much appreciated and I'm sure this will also help others who stop by!

Its not a bother.

Happy reefing.