Kalk doser

Kalk doser is only needed if you have a calcium demand. Kenya trees don't use calcium/alk. Don't bother until you start keeping LPS/SPS.

--AJ

 

They need some, but if you're doing water changes on a regular basis, your salt mix is probably an adequate source of calcium.  If anything, I'd switch to Reef Crystals or another salt brand (if you don't already use) that is meant for coral that require a bit more calcium.  And unless you plan on starting off with a large sps colony, you won't need much calcium until your frags grow a bit /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif
Aside from what I just wrote, your kalk container should be closed as much as possible.  Make sure your tubing is not sucking up the residue off the bottom, but the super saturated water that sits above that.  I add kalkwasser to my top-off water each week........I let it sit several hours before I turn the ato back on so that it has all settled.  There was/is a thread on this somewhere on Reef Central, but its been awhile since I set mine up.

 

your lfs is correct but like fawn said if you are doing regular water changes, you dont need to worry about calcium until you really start getting a collection and start using calcium. Have you tested too see where you are at a couple days after a water change?

 

Do you run an ATO? I would hook it to that, personally.

 

yeah cant you put lime in with your top off water and it will work aswell?

 

only problem I see with that is the kalk could eventually gum up your return pump

 

Kalkwasser is German for "lime water" or "chalk water", so that's exactly what they are talking about.
--AJ

 

Also, don't use kalkwasser if your drip is controlled using a solenoid.  The kalk will gum it up and cause problems.  This applies to any ATO that uses an solenoid, not just the DIY ATOs.
--AJ

 

Stop using the Kent salt, may be OK for fish only, but worthless for reef systems.

 

read these they should help you out            http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.ph
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2...x.php

 

New Kent Marine Reef salt is great salt.

 

I'm w/ AJ. Don't even bother with Kalk yet. If you have any limestone (rock, sand, etc) you will have plenty for some softies, even stony coral. Heck I had lots of hard corals before I started dosing anything (not recommended, but it worked for a while) when I started out. Water changes will go a long way.

When you do Kalk, use it with a good quality ATO. The container is really trivial-the dosing mechanism is the most important part!

Matt

 

I'm w/ AJ. Don't even bother with Kalk yet. If you have any limestone (rock, sand, etc) you will have plenty for some softies, even stony coral. Heck I had lots of hard corals before I started dosing anything (not recommended, but it worked for a while) when I started out. Water changes will go a long way.

When you do Kalk, use it with a good quality ATO. The container is really trivial-the dosing mechanism is the most important part!

Matt

 

Learned that the hard way! But I still do it...two solenoids!

 

I might also have to add...Matt, sand and rock won't dissolve in an alkaline environment so for any practical intents and purposes it will not act as a calcium "buffer" in the marine tank. However I think you, like me, probably used sand and aragonite products in freshwater tanks where things like this and crushed coral substrate act as effective carbonate buffering systems to maintain pH. You have a good point about the mechanism though!. The "IV bag" system of dosing kalk really sucks because it discharges kalk that has settled out in the bottom of the container into the tank, and it gums up the bleed valve and you don't get very consistent dripping.
Kalk has other benefits too don't forget! It precipitates phosphates. This is also an argument against large batch dosing kalk because it will create localized deposition of PO4 and is a great way to culture cyano and hair algae in your sand bed! I've seen people put 1/2-1 gallon of kalk in their display tanks at a time (usually only partially saturated solns) and then wonder why they have diatoms and cyano in their sand and rocks (the ones directly beneath where they just poured in the kalk).
Edit* I see Fawn already pointed out the problems with the mechanism, I guess I don't know what dosing product you're using. But I think the thread/article from RC she's talking about is this: The Degradation of Limewater in Air by RHF, and I guess apparently air degradation of kalk is essentially inconsequential.