dumb question about kalkwasser

[astroboy]

I've been topping off with kalkwasser for a few years with pretty good results. This is a dumb question. A white sludge accumulates in the bottom of the top off tank. Do I need to add more kalk mix powder, or will the stuff in the bottom go into solution? Is is inert?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[johnnybv]

In my experience a good quality Kalk will completely dissolve as it is used up.  I have tried many kinds over the years, and the one that left me the most grey gunk was the cheap pickeling lime. I would recommend sucking out the undissolved stuff before replenishing, and consider a higher quality product.  I have had good results with ESV, and D&D.

john

[bbyatv]

My first thought is that I would suggest you stop dosing kalk as top off.  This is a very risky method of adding kalk.  You can find hundreds of threads discussing all corals dead because of an overdose of kalk in a top off application.

 

I would suggest using a dosing pump to pump fresh water into a kalk stirrer and then have it overflow into the sump.

I have written an article that describes how to set this up.  It is way more stable and way less risky.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QJJLprX7aQclZsN2pyLU1zTU0/view?pli=1

 

As for the sediment that gets left behind at the bottom of the stirrer, I think this is normal.  The contents of this leftover sediment is described in the article by Randy Holmes Farley (the king of water chemistry) in the section "What Gets Left Behind On The Bottom Of The Limewater Container?".

 

There is also a ton of other information about the benefits of dosing kalk and how if helps your system.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

 

Good luck,

Bruce

[Origami]

The undissolved sludge can be a combination of impurities and precipitated calcium carbonate. Clean out the reactor from time to time.

 

Sent from my LG-V510 using Tapatalk