Kalkwasser drip 24/7? Is that good or bad?

[Novicereefer]

Hey,

I just installed a drip system to drip kalkwasser into the return chamber of my sump. Tank has 4 fish, snails and lots of stoney corals from Acros and Monti to Cyphastreas and chalice and everything in between. Alk been stable at around 8-8.5. It dipped to 6.5 when I went away for 5 days and lost 1 Acro. The rest were kind of upset. I noticed that my alk drops about a half dkh a day I'm guessing because of the Cyphastreas and chalices. Everything basically regained color. I'm going away again for about 4 days later this week and with this drip system dripping 1 drop every 4 seconds from a 5 gallon bin, my ph went from 7.9/8 - 8.3 in basically 1 day but alk stayed around 8.5. I was told to try to increase evaporation by adding a fan. I finally feel good about keeping higher end pieces and was told don't worry about ph because at night it'll automatically drop.

I want to know, should I let it drip 24/7 or disconnect it at times to avoid ph climbing too high?

 

[dschuffert]

If you can contract the drip rate, you can calculate how much you need and set that rate. I use a continuous doser to drip 7ml per minute, and it runs 24X7.

 

[exnisstech]

I dosed 24/7 but used a brs dosing pump on a timer. Many people dose when lights are off to take advantage of the pH boost. Either way is fine I think. Are you using a gravity drip? The end of the hose can get crusty and plug.

 

[rc8t6353]

As others have said, the best way to accomplish what you're looking to do is with a doser. I use the Kamoer X1 pumps to dose Kalkwasser every 2 hours 8ml.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I’m switching to 24/7 right now while I have stopped using 2 part and started using a carx. It’s a pita. I’ve managed to creep my Dkh up a full point in the last week.

 

[MoshJosh]

I used kalk in my ATO for quite some time with good success. I see no reason you can't do a drip 24/7. . . though at some point your coral growth might/will outpace the kalk (even at full saturation) and you will need to switch to another way of dosing cal and alk. When it happened to me I switched to 2-Part dosing on a pump for more control, but All-For-Reef works really well if you are looking for something a bit simpler.