iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
Just working away at it... love this hobby, very fulfilling, wish it wasn't so much so that more people could enjoy it.
My 75gal obsession lol
- Thread starter iantower
- Start date
teebone110
Distinguished Member
Beauty! Do you use kalk or 2 part, or any other additives?
iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
Well... lol... I drip kalk all the time around 1 drop/ 2sec, I use a two part calcium/alk supplement when needed. I do regular 5-10% WC every week or two. Over skim (150gal rated skimmer on a 75gal tank). Over feed. Vodka dose. Photoplankton feed. Amino acid supplement. Lugols solution every week. RO/DI water. Selcom addition (soak frozen marine food and I add it directly to tank twice a week). 80W of T5 and 400W of MH split between a 250W 14000K pheonix and a 150W 14000k.
Thats about it.
Always researching new methods and looking for new things to try. I think I'm as far as I can get with this tank.. and we all know what that means lol... upgrade anyone? Saving up for it.
Thanks for the reply, if you want any further info on specifics let me know!
Cheers!
Thats about it.
Always researching new methods and looking for new things to try. I think I'm as far as I can get with this tank.. and we all know what that means lol... upgrade anyone? Saving up for it.
Thanks for the reply, if you want any further info on specifics let me know!
Cheers!
teebone110
Distinguished Member
Sounds like a smooth operation.. any pics from under the hood (sump)?
iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
Yeah for sure here are a few more!
teebone110
Distinguished Member
It's always neat to see the setups from others! What is the black acrylic box in your sump area? Also, I see that you have a tee with two shutoffs coming from your return pump. Where does the other outlet go?
Thanks
Thanks
iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
That box is my Remora protein skimmer, HOB design, love it, works great!
The tee just goes back into the first sump chamber where my overflow goes into. Easier then turning off the return pump if I want to shut the flow off to the tank I just divert flow back into the sump and shut the return block valve to the tank.
Cheers!
The tee just goes back into the first sump chamber where my overflow goes into. Easier then turning off the return pump if I want to shut the flow off to the tank I just divert flow back into the sump and shut the return block valve to the tank.
Cheers!
pulpfiction1
Reef Scavenger
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Location
- 42.418807, -82.174073
I'm thinking of trying the kaulk meathod for a few different reasons,read something on here someone posted awhile back,how do you find the stuff to work with?been 2 part here for long long time and have mixed pump jugs mixed all the time,I'm thinking the kaulk might be less time consuming
iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
Hey buddy,
Yeah I recommend dripping kalk to everyone, well people I trust would know better then to shock their tanks and kill everything lol. It is a little time consuming if you use to small of a jar. The article I read on how to drip it used a 750ml pop bottle, that would of been annoying. I started off using a 1gal jug from walmart and had to shake up a new jug every day, I was ok with that but the jug broke and when I went back to get another one I saw the 2.5gal that you see in the pic at walmart for like 14 bucks so I go tthat and now Im only shaking up a batch every 2-3 days depending on how fast I drip. This alone keeps my Calcium/Alk/Mag all in range, though I don't have sps I do have corals that will take all the calcium that your willing to give them.
Do you have a pH probe? I dont but I guess it is strongly recommended. I can see why, Kalk in the clear solution that you drip has a pH of 12 and you can crash your tank pretty quick I would guess. I don't have a pH personally, but I stick to the drip that has worked for me without any problems yet so Im not worried.
Some say to drip only at night when your pH drops, which is good and all if you want to deal with it every night and morning, I don't want to, so I drip constantly at a slower drip, 1drop every approximately 2secs. This way I start the drip and though sometimes you need to tweek it a bit because it gets clogged up a little and slows down or you have to give it a little blow because some air gets trapped, but it is really simple and my tank has doen really well after starting it. Before I couldnt stay above a pH of 8 for the life of me and I was spending a lot on two parts.
Anyways Ill get you the website that shows how to make the drip if your interested!
Cheers!
Yeah I recommend dripping kalk to everyone, well people I trust would know better then to shock their tanks and kill everything lol. It is a little time consuming if you use to small of a jar. The article I read on how to drip it used a 750ml pop bottle, that would of been annoying. I started off using a 1gal jug from walmart and had to shake up a new jug every day, I was ok with that but the jug broke and when I went back to get another one I saw the 2.5gal that you see in the pic at walmart for like 14 bucks so I go tthat and now Im only shaking up a batch every 2-3 days depending on how fast I drip. This alone keeps my Calcium/Alk/Mag all in range, though I don't have sps I do have corals that will take all the calcium that your willing to give them.
Do you have a pH probe? I dont but I guess it is strongly recommended. I can see why, Kalk in the clear solution that you drip has a pH of 12 and you can crash your tank pretty quick I would guess. I don't have a pH personally, but I stick to the drip that has worked for me without any problems yet so Im not worried.
Some say to drip only at night when your pH drops, which is good and all if you want to deal with it every night and morning, I don't want to, so I drip constantly at a slower drip, 1drop every approximately 2secs. This way I start the drip and though sometimes you need to tweek it a bit because it gets clogged up a little and slows down or you have to give it a little blow because some air gets trapped, but it is really simple and my tank has doen really well after starting it. Before I couldnt stay above a pH of 8 for the life of me and I was spending a lot on two parts.
Anyways Ill get you the website that shows how to make the drip if your interested!
Cheers!
pulpfiction1
Reef Scavenger
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Location
- 42.418807, -82.174073
yes,please do,i picked up a 2.5 gallon as well as a jar of kaulk powder.been just wanting to go the safest way,plan to drip real slow,you said you shake yours every few days,you dont seperate the layers?ive read that you will get a top crusty kinda layer,a clear layer and the bottom sludge,the article i read awhile back i think sheynah posted and i think he mentioned same thing about shaking the brew up and just dosing with it,post that link if you locate it and i will try to see if i can find that older post i mentioned
thx
thx
iantower
Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
- Location
- Sarnia, Ontario
Well let me start by telling a story lol.
After posting what I did last night I went home after night shift and went to take a look at my tank. Of coarse its dark in the house but there was a faint light coming in from the street lights and I could see some white stuff on the floor by my yank stand running along the floor. Now I had just worked 12 hours so Im not all there at this time but I tried to make due. I got down on all fours and looked at this stuff, whipped some up with my finger and smelt it... then it hit me... it was dried kalk powder... container must of sprung a leak... I immediately threw on all the lights expecting to see all my tank inhabitants floating on the surface of the water. Everything looked ok, night coral were out, clowns were swimming in their anemone, I begain to breath again lol. So I open my sump doors and my 2.5gal jug is almost empty, was just put in there 14 hours before when I had left for work, and that much kalk in that time would of been the end of it... but the acrylic I had it sitting on was bowed in just the right place that the kalk water when leaked out of the contained dripped away from my sump and onto the floor... Thank God.
So I have had a problem with every jug Ive bought cracking, I don't knwo what the problem is, I suspect its the strong solution of kalk wearing away at the plastic making it weak causing it to crack, and the force put on it when I shake it and blow in the syphon hose puts extra pressure on it. So Im in the search for a better solution.
The moral of the story is to be aware of all possible outcomes. Where should I place the kalk jug? What happens if it sprung a leak? As you can see by the pics its sittign on my sump on a piece of acrylic, so really it was in an unsafe spot for what happened.
So dont put the jug near your sump where in the case of failure it can leak completely into your sump. And dont buy a jug like the one you see in my pic or any jug that is of thin plastic like one because they don't hold up at all in my experince. A thick plastic like used on 5gal pails like the pails you can buy bulk salt in for your tank is the type of plastic we need. Thicker the better and still needs to be air tight.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.php
So this is the method I use. They use a small pop bottle but Im looking for something in the 2.5-5 gal range but it still holds true. Whatever jug you use just take off the lid and do the same thing to it as they did with the pop bottle lid. Drill the hole a tad bit smaller then the air hose your using and pull it trough with needle nose pliers to make sure that the jug remains air tight after the drilling. Then all you have to do is add RO water and kalk and give a good shake.
Now for your question. This solution you just shook has to be given time to settle. About 12hours. At this time you will have a clear solution with a sludge on the bottom. The sludge we don't want in the tank so thats why we are drippign out the clear(maybe a bit cloudy) solution. This solution has a pH of 12, thats why we have to use caution.
Once you have dripped all you can drip, wash out the sludge down the sink and repeat the process every 2-3 days if your in the 2.5gal range.
Remember this is like top off water... use fresh RO water, dont add salt.
And thats about it lol.... hope your still with me after all of that. Need anything else let me know!
Cheers!
After posting what I did last night I went home after night shift and went to take a look at my tank. Of coarse its dark in the house but there was a faint light coming in from the street lights and I could see some white stuff on the floor by my yank stand running along the floor. Now I had just worked 12 hours so Im not all there at this time but I tried to make due. I got down on all fours and looked at this stuff, whipped some up with my finger and smelt it... then it hit me... it was dried kalk powder... container must of sprung a leak... I immediately threw on all the lights expecting to see all my tank inhabitants floating on the surface of the water. Everything looked ok, night coral were out, clowns were swimming in their anemone, I begain to breath again lol. So I open my sump doors and my 2.5gal jug is almost empty, was just put in there 14 hours before when I had left for work, and that much kalk in that time would of been the end of it... but the acrylic I had it sitting on was bowed in just the right place that the kalk water when leaked out of the contained dripped away from my sump and onto the floor... Thank God.
So I have had a problem with every jug Ive bought cracking, I don't knwo what the problem is, I suspect its the strong solution of kalk wearing away at the plastic making it weak causing it to crack, and the force put on it when I shake it and blow in the syphon hose puts extra pressure on it. So Im in the search for a better solution.
The moral of the story is to be aware of all possible outcomes. Where should I place the kalk jug? What happens if it sprung a leak? As you can see by the pics its sittign on my sump on a piece of acrylic, so really it was in an unsafe spot for what happened.
So dont put the jug near your sump where in the case of failure it can leak completely into your sump. And dont buy a jug like the one you see in my pic or any jug that is of thin plastic like one because they don't hold up at all in my experince. A thick plastic like used on 5gal pails like the pails you can buy bulk salt in for your tank is the type of plastic we need. Thicker the better and still needs to be air tight.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.php
So this is the method I use. They use a small pop bottle but Im looking for something in the 2.5-5 gal range but it still holds true. Whatever jug you use just take off the lid and do the same thing to it as they did with the pop bottle lid. Drill the hole a tad bit smaller then the air hose your using and pull it trough with needle nose pliers to make sure that the jug remains air tight after the drilling. Then all you have to do is add RO water and kalk and give a good shake.
Now for your question. This solution you just shook has to be given time to settle. About 12hours. At this time you will have a clear solution with a sludge on the bottom. The sludge we don't want in the tank so thats why we are drippign out the clear(maybe a bit cloudy) solution. This solution has a pH of 12, thats why we have to use caution.
Once you have dripped all you can drip, wash out the sludge down the sink and repeat the process every 2-3 days if your in the 2.5gal range.
Remember this is like top off water... use fresh RO water, dont add salt.
And thats about it lol.... hope your still with me after all of that. Need anything else let me know!
Cheers!
S
shayneh
Guest
I allow my siphon hose to suck up the sludge in the bottom of my kalk container as well and drip it in the tank. I also never clean my kalk container but just add some vinegar with my daily kalk drip and allow it to dissolve before I add my water. Regardless of what method a person uses I just want to point out that it's of no consequence if the sludge winds up in the tank.
pulpfiction1
Reef Scavenger
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2010
- Location
- 42.418807, -82.174073
i do appologize iantower,never ment to hijack your thread,that said,
ive been concerned about the sludge myself,ive got myself a 2.5 gallon water jug,some john guest fittings and shut-off,gonna replace the drinking water tap with the shut off and plumb the line directly into my sump,now the jar of kalk i have says 1 tsp per gallon,this sounds about right?yes?no?i can eliminate the 2 part i currently use after i start this?i really dont have any high calicium demand corals or life in the tank.my tank is about an 8.6ph,505ppm cal,mag is 1200ppm,alk 8.8dkh
ive been concerned about the sludge myself,ive got myself a 2.5 gallon water jug,some john guest fittings and shut-off,gonna replace the drinking water tap with the shut off and plumb the line directly into my sump,now the jar of kalk i have says 1 tsp per gallon,this sounds about right?yes?no?i can eliminate the 2 part i currently use after i start this?i really dont have any high calicium demand corals or life in the tank.my tank is about an 8.6ph,505ppm cal,mag is 1200ppm,alk 8.8dkh