Boosting The Amount Of Kalk Added

[danny]

I currently dose Kalkwasser (limewater) to replace evap at a rate of about 3 litres a day (well night mainly) and replace 15 litres of water a fortnight. But this on it`s own does not maintain Calcium levels so for a while along with frequent testing I have been adding kent super buffer and labpak Calcium Chloride to keep things nearer NSW (only just).
I am now planning on changing my top up regime so that I remove 1 litre of tank water every evening and add 4 litres of kalk per 24 hours and each morning add approx 35grammes of salt (into the skimmer so it mixes).
The idea being that over a two week period I would still be maintaining my 15 litre water change ( almost) but would be adding 25% more Kalk.
It is not a new idea as I think Robsmarines did something similar, but I would be interested if any one else is doing it or if you have any thoughts :)
BTW the tank has a volume of about 130 litres
Cheers Danny

[tuan]

Can you increase evaporation to allow more lime water additions? Also you can use the "balling-like" method of dissolving kalk in vinegar which allows more to be dissolved.
In the long term you'll probably need to hook up a calc reactor as the daily routine of removing water & adding salt can be tiresome.

[danny]

I could keep the fan running at night to increase evap but I like the idea of combing the top up and water change, atleast that way I am taking stuff out of the tank and not just concentrating everything. Not sure about vinegar, I`m worried that it would result in impurities in the Kalk or RO making it into the tank in a more available form.
I want a reactor but Xmas is a long way off, and I would need two xmas`s anyway ;)

[danny]

Anyone else????

I thought it was an interesting idea, perhaps everyone else is thinking "Buy a Calcium Reactor you tight git."

[xxmattyxx]

Originally posted by danny@Sep 2 2004, 08:38
Anyone else????

I thought it was an interesting idea, perhaps everyone else is thinking "Buy a Calcium Reactor you tight git."
Nope, up your stirers avtivity...............

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Matt

[tuan]

The vinegar method does work well - the organics in the vinegar helps the bacteria population as well.

With your method of adding salt, the problem is, how much calcium/alk are you actually increasing? Say if you're taking out 1 ltr of water at a low level of say, 350ppm for calcium, adding 35grams of good quality salt say at 450ppm, you're adding 100ppm net for that litre, but when diluted down to your tank volume it's not very much for a lot of hard work.

[danny]

Tuan,
The idea is aswell as the new salt providing a tiny amount of calcium I am adding an extra litre of lime water a day. It is the equivalent of using Limewater instead of RO for mixing up your salt mix.
If this doesn`t keep up then perhaps I could increase evap too so I would be adding 5 litrs a day.
Mat, I don`t have a stirrer I make it up in a 5litre bottle and drip it in. But even if I did upping it`s activity would not enable me to put more into the tank unless I take some water out. Or am I missing something.
Thankyou both for replies :thumbsup:
Danny

[tuan]

Oh ic.. forgot about the extra ltr of lime water. You'll get some extra mileage out then. Still sounds a bit too much work.

As I don't have probs with condensation/humidity issues I pretty much run fans over the sump increasing evaporation all year round to allow me to add lots of lime water automatically, hence my suggestion.

[xxmattyxx]

Danny, sorry, I just assumed you were using a stirrer, my apologies.
Still, it would still be possible to up your kalk addition without a stirrer, run a fan, as Tuan does to increase evaporation rates, thus allowing more volume of water to be added, dosed with Kalk.

Matt

[EnglishReefer]

Certainly does sound like a load of agro for not much return. I have used the vinegar method and found it to work well - however I did find some major clumping of the sandbed occured. If I were to do this again I would obtain a purer (sp?) form of acetic acid and use that to reduce the likelyhoods of clumping or algae growth.

Stirrers dont have to be expensive, there are plenty of salt bucket reactors in use - I'm f#'£$d if I'd pay £££ for certain well known kalk reactors that dont lasty for very long.

If your interested do a search on them, I'm sure theres a thread or 2 about them or UR.


FWIW

[elliot]

Could the clumping just be due to excessive kalk binding the bed - as it is more concentrate?

Why would acetic acid bind the bed ?

Thanks

elliot

[EnglishReefer]

I belive that C.Bingman put the sand clumping down to bacterial activity being increased when using vinegar (some bacteria was using the excess carbon in the vinegar as food).

Vinegar is a watered down acetic acid with various other 'pollutants' in it, hence a purer form having less pollutants for bacteria to thrive on and hopefully less sand clumping.


HTH

[EnglishReefer]

Sorry should of said my sand clumping was fairly soft and could be broken up easily (bacteria clumping), as opposed to the harder 'concreting' of sand that can sometimes happen when excess calcium is added very close to a sandbed.

Unfortunatly I didnt notice the excessive clumping for a long while (prolly 2 week or more), under the surface clumping the sandbed was going bad (for wont of a better word) with (I think) anoxic hydrogen sulfide areas building up - all this dispite a shallow sandbed of no more than 2" in most places.

HTH

ps please excuse the terrible spelling!

[Glenn@home]

Danny

Why not build a kalkstirrer? Having witnessed your diy skills it wont be beyond you.

FWIW I think i told you i made one out of glass and it works fine, i had old glass laying around, so total cost for mine around 20 quid including a new ph to stir it with.

Its linked to the auto top up and stirred using the iks for timing and my alk/ca is rising towards normal levels and already i have seen increased growth from my montipora digitata, pavona and hydnopora.

HTH

Glenn

[danny]

I don`t think a Kalk stirrer will enable me to get any more Kalk into the tank than I currently do by dripping it in. So if I make anything it will be a Calcium reactor.
I do currently run a fan while the lights are on but may chage to full time to increase evap.
Remember though the volume of my bottle is only 5 litres as that is as much as I can bring home on my bike each day from work. :lol:

I have considered using vinegar but I am worried that it would let any phosphate in the RO water into the tank in a free form rather than the calcium precipitating it out into a less available form. I don`t use rowaphos at present and don`t want to start as my mangroves and macroalgae seem to keeping up with supply.
:thanx:

[Glenn@home]

Danny

Quite right, it wont increase the amount of evap on your tank. Duh !!! stupid me. Still its an easy piece of kit to make and it might prove useful if you were to increase your evap rate.


Still i hear what you say.

Glenn

[xxmattyxx]

Originally posted by danny@Sep 3 2004, 10:42
............if I make anything it will be a Calcium reactor.
I do currently run a fan while the lights are on but may change to full time to increase evap.
Remember though the volume of my bottle is only 5 litres as that is as much as I can bring home on my bike each day from work. :lol:


Forget the calcium reactor, make a new bike........

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[danny]

What do you reckon, add a trailer? :lol:

[Glenn@home]

Its kinda funny the things that end up on the back of my bike, the first frags were bunjied on the pillion to no ill effects,

i wonder if my pavona is the first 100mph sps?

:lol: :lol:

[Rabbit]

Nah....bound to have been a frag of Mr Garratt's (perhaps on the Blackpool run)

[danny]

Well, I invested in a new rucksack yesterday.This one will carry TWO :o 5 litre water containers. :lol:
BTW Glenn, I only have a moutain bike so I think 28 mph is my record ;)

[elliot]

Originally posted by Glenn@home@Sep 3 2004, 14:39
Its kinda funny the things that end up on the back of my bike, the first frags were bunjied on the pillion to no ill effects,

i wonder if my pavona is the first 100mph sps?

:lol: :lol:
Not unless the planes are flying at ultra-slow / driving speed! :P :P :P

e

[Glenn@home]

Danny you need to find a bigger hill mate!!

Have you tried noakes hill between basildon and billericay? I have on a bike and i found it frightening, god knows how they sustain speeds around 50mph on professional cycling.

GLenn

[danny]

:lol: Jeez, my legs won`t go any faster than 28mph.