911! Is this trouble looming in my tank?

DarthOcellaris

Reefing newb
I am dripping Kalk (mixed 1 tsp / gallon ro/di water) at the rate of ~1 drop / second.

Here is what I found after about an hour:
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DSC03812.JPG


Is this precipitation? What should I do?
 
This is wrong u should NEVER see the white milk of kalkwasser in the tank.U should mix up your kalk 1 spoon to one gallon ,let it set a couple hours till u get a clear liquid all the white milk should be on the bottom of the container .Pour off the clear and trash the milk on the bottom.Kalk is a very valuable tool. When u us it it makes a differs if the water is cool or room temp too.Kalk can be used to raise calcium or maintain.Most us it to maintain.The instructions I gave is to maintain calcium.Always drip at night with the lights OFF.Pure kalkwasser has a ph of about 12.So we drip at night when the ph in our tanks fall,to prevent a ph spike.
 
I'm thinking what happened is that the cool solution is condensating on top of the warmer water. I have a 40 watt bulb on the sump (to help the Cheato grow and combat the night ph drop).

I siphoned off the milk and isolated my sump from the main tank and stirred up the sump. I then tested the ph and it rose to 8.5. I guess the best thing to do is cut all my lights and let the ph drop naturally?

ps..I let the gallon of kalk settle for about two hours or so before starting the drip. I've read that was the best thing just like you said :D
 
What has me confused is why is it only staying on the top one inch of the water. Is that not the sump you are putting it in? It should be mixing back into the tank.

Andy not sure if you are new or not or what the coral load of your tank is yet.
Typically kalk is for tanks with medium to heavy coral load.

If you are dosing Kalk and nothing is using it the calc and alk, it will eventually get so high that you calcium carbonate will fall out of substance causing a snow storm in your tank.

Can you tell us what your Calc/Alk/PH is currently?

Also like fish mentioned.
1) did you let the liquid clear up before dosing?
2) you are typically better off dosing at night.
 
DarthOcellaris said:
I'm thinking what happened is that the cool solution is condensating on top of the warmer water. I have a 40 watt bulb on the sump (to help the Cheato grow and combat the night ph drop).

I siphoned off the milk and isolated my sump from the main tank and stirred up the sump. I then tested the ph and it rose to 8.5. I guess the best thing to do is cut all my lights and let the ph drop naturally?

ps..I let the gallon of kalk settle for about two hours or so before starting the drip. I've read that was the best thing just like you said :D

just to clarify you let it settle in one container, then poored the clear into a different container before dosing it into the tank?
 
Ca = 440
alk = 4.8 meq/l

I have a pretty hefty load when you consider all the coralline and frags.
That makes total sense to do it at night. However, I have a light in the opposite cycle as my main tank's to help keep the ph stable. Does this matter?

It is the sump you see. I'm fairly sure it's the cooler water of kalk getting condesated immediately on the warm tank water. Since that pic, the cloud disapated and I've done a small water change. I cut the return off to isolate the sump. I got rid of the cloud as best I could and ph measures @ 8.5
 
bkv1997 said:
just to clarify you let it settle in one container, then poored the clear into a different container before dosing it into the tank?
Negative. I mixed it in a gallon jug and let that settle then started dripping straight from that jug. I have a small filter to keep out the undissolved stuff that's inline so I'm fairly sure that's ok.

I LIKE that idea though. I'll start doing that. :D

I started using kalk yesterday so I AM fairly new at it. :D my Ca has been dropping at a pretty good rate and I just recently got SeaChem's ReefAdvantageCalcium, ReefBuilder, and Kalkwasser so I can keep them in balance.
 
I seriously think that alot of people are dripping kalk and adding calcium to their tank and should'nt be. My tank had over 40 corals in it before the heater incident and I never dripped a drop of kalk. I did add calcium maybe every 3 or 4 weeks. Water changes are your best natural bet for a tank full of softies and a few hard. The load that needs kalk dripped is a medium to full tank load of those calcium hungry sps corals.

I would rethink the decision to drip and decide if that is an extra headache you could do without.

Andy, even though your tank has coraline and alot of frags doesnt mean you need to drip kalk.

Just trying to save you all some time and effort...

I challeng you all to switch from Instant Ocean to Oceanic which tested for calcium right after a fresh mix is a considerable amount higher than IO. Fishman did the test and he got 360 for IO and Oceanic he couldnt get the amount because his test kit didnt go that high I believe..

I think your salt choice could solve alot of your problems..

Sorry I got off topic.
 
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Well, maybe I will hold off on the kalk for a while then. I keep having to raise my ca though on a regular basis. My mg is fine so it's not a magnesium problem.
 
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