I'm just gonna come right out and say it: Retail Kalk stirrers and reservoirs are so insanely overpriced. I don't understand how they can possibly justify charging $200-$400+ for a plastic container.
Just bought a 40 gallon frag system yesterday and it’s just tank and Stand. My goal with this system is to make some money selling frags.. Looking for good lights and a sump, the goal is BUDGET if anyone has any recommendations I’d love to hear them. Hopefully I can get a bunch of corals in this system and start dosing kalkwasser
Thank you. Very informative. I am setting up my Kalk dosing right now. Best advice I heard was from BRS when they interviewed the guy from Tropic Marine and he said to put your ATO outlet on a manifold or T your dosing lines into it that way every time your ATO turns on it cleans the crust off the dosing lines.
You have no control over how much you dose that way - your alkalinity consumption won't be the same as your evaporation. And it'll fudge up your ATO pump.
@ReefDorkXtra Thanks for the response! That makes a lot of sense. I'm new to stony corals so I haven't had to worry about dosing until now and I already have an ATO but not a dosing pump. I was just hoping not to need to buy new equipment
Yes sir! Thanks to ur videos I'm confident enough now that I can do it. Just bought my first dosing pump and getting some kalk tomorrow! can't wait to start this next step in reef keeping.@@ReefDorkXtra
Iam moving over to kalkwasser from doising . As my ph is round 7.6 but ive notice that my alk jumps up to to around 9.5 alk when iam dosing . As normal it sits at 8.5 alk before dosing kalkwasser do u think that will effect my corals
Hi mate, where is the best place to drip the kalkwasser, with the skimmer or overflow display box? And what the best time in the night to drip it please, cheers pal 🇮🇪
Anywhere high flow (into the overflow box is perfect). Best not to have it straight into equipment with a pump (skimmer or return) but if it's high flow, it'll be fine.
Well thought out setups. Very similar to my systems. I also use Versa pumps and love them. Only problem I had was with the old dosing tubing supplied with purchase. Kalkwasser dissolved them, and they leaked into the motor ruining it. Yes, I didn't have them oriented vertically, as you do, so my setup was very poor. EcoTech quietly changed the materials used for these dosing tubes, and I haven't seen issues since. They also honored their warranty. I also use a tub, and a stirrer on my frag system. Obvious advantage with the stirrer is that you are only running RODI, not Kalk through the pump, mitigating the likelihood of tubing corrosion. I also had an AvastMarine Kalk-stirrer start to leak at an acrylic seam after a year (something to keep in mind since yours is in your sump, as it was the bottom seam. If this happened in your system it would be wiped out). Easy fix with epoxy and has been a great device since. Leak monitor caught it early. Would've been a disaster over a few days since I dose over a gallon of Kalk every night. Cheers, mate.
Seeing complex tanks like the last tank with sumps and all the cables, accessories etc. give me anxiety and makes me never want to upgrade to larger than 40 breeder. But thanks for the informative video as always!
Per instructions on kent marine kalkwasser, only mix enough kalkwasser to last one week. Addition of magnesium is also important because magnesium levels affect the corals ability to uptake calcium.
Hi Alex very helpful and interesting video iv learn a lot from it. Currently I have reefer 300xl and jebao 4ch doser would that be OK to dose kalkwasser? Also versa is a bit expensive for my budget are there any other continues pumps on the market. Perhaps a topic for a vidio for your 2nd channel
It'll probably be fine - the doser might wear out faster than it would otherwise because it's being used more. But that's very much a long-term issue years away. Check out the D-D P1 STP and Kamoer FX STP for CD alternatives to the Versa.
Hi Alex. Great video again! I’m on All for Reef for my WB 90.3 setup. I’m struggling to raise my PH level and is contemplating to switch 100% to Kalk. What’s your opinion if I use Kalk to supplement AFR for the purpose of raising PH? Are there any cons on doing this. Thank you
Awesome video. I'm following these videos closely as a friend of mine has just made the switch and I'm convinced this is the way forward for me to. Mad to see it on your fluval, I was going to set up all for reef on my nano but I'm thinking of going kalk on that now as well
hello i m dosing kalwasser as well over night, i got 90 gallon in which my tank evaporation in miami is around 3 to 4 gallon every 4 days. i dosing around 560ml daily in 12 hours period my alk in two weeks jump from 8.0 to 8.8 and calcium did drop from 410 to 398. i been increasing little by little. but my ph is not getting any effect in which perhaps my ph is the same 7.82 to 8.15 ???
hi. Might you help me. I have problems with my ph is very low 7.8 7.4 I want to dose kalkwasser but I am new to this Marine business my tank is 90 gallon and I want to know how to calculate how many ml should be dosed to raise the ph to 8.2. Sorry my english is not very good.
You should only dose kalkwaser to increase alkalinity, if you do it just to increase pH your alkalinity will get dangerously high. So test your alkalinity and dose according to how much it drops week by week. I've made a few kalkwasser videos that explain in more detail.
How many ml/ min do you program on your versa on the big tank? I have the same versa and deltec kalkreactor, and i cannot have this slow drip out of it. Any tips for that ?
Nice bottle of Vibrant there Alex :-). The only trouble I have had with the Deltec stirrer is when the output tube blocked on the beastie, the dosing pump kept on pumping water into the stirrer. right up until the little hole at the top of the cylinder. Then kalkwasser started leaking into the dry part of my sump which was not a biggy as there is nothing else in the compartment. From a casual glane everthing looked OK in the sump until I started to notice my pH dropping.
Great video Alex, really informative. Been using Kalk now for over five years and wouldn’t do without it. I supplement it with TM All for Reef which IMO is the perfect combination. I use the Reef Flowers kalk which contains mg so if you’re concerned about yours being slightly on the low side maybe you should switch from the cheap crap you use 😂
Alex thanks for the video, I had a feeling you were going put one out today. Question about the nano. Are you dosing kalk to keep alkalinity up or are you just dosing it to give the tank a small boost? Are you testing alk on the nano? Or are you just doing weekly water changes ?
I dose kalkwasser to replenish calcium and alkalinity and for the side benefit of increased pH. I test alk on all 3 tanks and aim for around 8, but really anywhere between 7 and 9.
Hey Alex, Just added two new wrasses to my tank and my old wrasse has gone full terminator on them both the new wrasses have hidden under sand for 2 days any suggestion ??
Good question. It'll be fine with the John Guest tubing, but it will degrade the tube assembly in the dosing head over time so I'll replace that part every year (about £15 I think). I had a leak in the tube assembly a few months after I started using the Versa (I bought it 2nd hand) which I suspect was caused by the kalkwasser.
Hello, I have a question. I just got 5 gal bucket and I mixed 5 tbs of Kalkwasser. I am waiting till all powder goes down to use clear water with Kalkwasser. But do I have to mix it daily? It seem like you have machine that always mix it.
No you don't, a kalk stirrer works completely differently - with your method, stirring it every day is detrimental as it'll just introduce co2 into your mixture.
Is it ok if you can do a video all about how a refugium works, and what it is specifically with the fluval evo as i think you mentioned 8 months ago that you will do a separate video a few weeks down the line 😂😂 a little late Great video by the way 🎉🎉
I've made a couple of videos on refugiums on my main channel. Decided against it for the Evo - I like the simplicity of a filter sponge, gfo and water changes
HI! i have been having issues with my LPS coral not branching, not growing and will only open half way. Could this be from too much light or too little? i dont think it is but any ideas for what my issue may be?
@@ReefDorkXtra thank you for replying! I have been using a mechanical checker with one of those little pointy arrows. I run the same fluval 13 you have, just with no ATO and I top with fresh water every 2-3 days after some has evaporated. Is an ATO worth looking into buying for this little tank?
@@ReefDorkXtra hey again! bad news my torch polyps are all bailing, i was messing around with my light schedule and have been trying to raise alk as instructed to me by the LFS owner. Not to point fingers lol. i was also told to unplug my tank heater. Anyways, everything else in the tank looks fine besides the torches could it just be everything above combined? thank you again for any words of wisdom i appreciate it as i have looked to you for any info possible. also my salinity is sea level 1.026ppt
I bought an Avast Marine DIY Kalk stirrer and a X1 pro dosing pump. I’m going to modify my ATO container so my new pump can pull from there. Looking forward to setting this system up
I'm just gonna come right out and say it: Retail Kalk stirrers and reservoirs are so insanely overpriced. I don't understand how they can possibly justify charging $200-$400+ for a plastic container.
Just bought a 40 gallon frag system yesterday and it’s just tank and Stand. My goal with this system is to make some money selling frags..
Looking for good lights and a sump, the goal is BUDGET if anyone has any recommendations I’d love to hear them.
Hopefully I can get a bunch of corals in this system and start dosing kalkwasser
Any of the main brands 2nd hand would be good
Thank you. Very informative. I am setting up my Kalk dosing right now. Best advice I heard was from BRS when they interviewed the guy from Tropic Marine and he said to put your ATO outlet on a manifold or T your dosing lines into it that way every time your ATO turns on it cleans the crust off the dosing lines.
This kind of video is much better then the style of your main channel minus the livestream
I like both !!!!
Is there a reason you can't put the Kalkwasser directly into the ATO system? Then it would automatically adjust to your fresh water consumption
You have no control over how much you dose that way - your alkalinity consumption won't be the same as your evaporation. And it'll fudge up your ATO pump.
@ReefDorkXtra Thanks for the response! That makes a lot of sense. I'm new to stony corals so I haven't had to worry about dosing until now and I already have an ATO but not a dosing pump. I was just hoping not to need to buy new equipment
Looking inside your main tank control cupboard makes me feel better about the mess I have with my wires. 😂
Most esteemed Alex, Thanks again for another excellent presentation. Your electric bill must be scary for the largest tank
I was listening to everything you was saying,,,until I just saw the bottle of vibrant …..come on man
I bought that to take a photo for a thumbnail of a video I made about the whole vibrant scandal.
What settings are you using with the prime?
ruclips.net/video/_RSxla7IUws/видео.html
Never dosed and I’m really thinkin about dosing kalk don’t have that many corals right now. Looks simple but man I feel like ima mess it up 😅
Best way to learn!
Yes sir! Thanks to ur videos I'm confident enough now that I can do it. Just bought my first dosing pump and getting some kalk tomorrow! can't wait to start this next step in reef keeping.@@ReefDorkXtra
Hello, I'm trying to recreate your glass bottle kalkwasser container. What adapter did you use for the cap?
It's a John Guest 1/4 inch bulkhead
@@ReefDorkXtra thank you very much!
What is the concentration of the kalk on the 10g?
I mix up 1.5 grams per litre of freshwater on all tanks then choose how much to dose depending on alkalinity consumption.
Iam moving over to kalkwasser from doising . As my ph is round 7.6 but ive notice that my alk jumps up to to around 9.5 alk when iam dosing . As normal it sits at 8.5 alk before dosing kalkwasser do u think that will effect my corals
Do you run a protein skimmer on your fluval?
No, just a sponge and water changes
Hi mate, where is the best place to drip the kalkwasser, with the skimmer or overflow display box? And what the best time in the night to drip it please, cheers pal 🇮🇪
Anywhere high flow (into the overflow box is perfect). Best not to have it straight into equipment with a pump (skimmer or return) but if it's high flow, it'll be fine.
@@ReefDorkXtra thanks Pal, also I presume to drip it best in the night time preferably when the lights are off?
@@Michael-cw4rk Probably. I started doing it 24 hours a day a while ago - not sure it really matters though tbh!
I love kalk. Can't beat its benefits for sure. Great episode 👏🏻 👌🏻
Kalkwasser is the way my friend! Right on. Im dosing kalk to pH, but almost any kalk method will get the benefits.
So are you saying that the Kalk on the big tank is not enough and you have to use two-part?
Yep, kalk provides the baseline but needs topping up with something else.
Well thought out setups. Very similar to my systems. I also use Versa pumps and love them. Only problem I had was with the old dosing tubing supplied with purchase. Kalkwasser dissolved them, and they leaked into the motor ruining it. Yes, I didn't have them oriented vertically, as you do, so my setup was very poor. EcoTech quietly changed the materials used for these dosing tubes, and I haven't seen issues since. They also honored their warranty. I also use a tub, and a stirrer on my frag system. Obvious advantage with the stirrer is that you are only running RODI, not Kalk through the pump, mitigating the likelihood of tubing corrosion. I also had an AvastMarine Kalk-stirrer start to leak at an acrylic seam after a year (something to keep in mind since yours is in your sump, as it was the bottom seam. If this happened in your system it would be wiped out). Easy fix with epoxy and has been a great device since. Leak monitor caught it early. Would've been a disaster over a few days since I dose over a gallon of Kalk every night. Cheers, mate.
Seeing complex tanks like the last tank with sumps and all the cables, accessories etc. give me anxiety and makes me never want to upgrade to larger than 40 breeder. But thanks for the informative video as always!
Where do you get your manganese from Alex
Just my LFS - I use Reef Zlements
Thank you Alex can you tell me why you dose this and how much a day
Per instructions on kent marine kalkwasser, only mix enough kalkwasser to last one week. Addition of magnesium is also important because magnesium levels affect the corals ability to uptake calcium.
What lights are those at 9:13? For the sump, that’s amazing. I always have to use my phone to see anything under my tank.
Philips Hue with a Hue motion sensor
Hi Alex very helpful and interesting video iv learn a lot from it. Currently I have reefer 300xl and jebao 4ch doser would that be OK to dose kalkwasser? Also versa is a bit expensive for my budget are there any other continues pumps on the market. Perhaps a topic for a vidio for your 2nd channel
It'll probably be fine - the doser might wear out faster than it would otherwise because it's being used more. But that's very much a long-term issue years away. Check out the D-D P1 STP and Kamoer FX STP for CD alternatives to the Versa.
Hi Alex. Great video again! I’m on All for Reef for my WB 90.3 setup. I’m struggling to raise my PH level and is contemplating to switch 100% to Kalk. What’s your opinion if I use Kalk to supplement AFR for the purpose of raising PH? Are there any cons on doing this. Thank you
You shouldn't use kalk just to boost pH - use it to maintain calcium and alkalinity with the pH boost as a side benefit
Awesome video. I'm following these videos closely as a friend of mine has just made the switch and I'm convinced this is the way forward for me to. Mad to see it on your fluval, I was going to set up all for reef on my nano but I'm thinking of going kalk on that now as well
The little clips holding the dosing tube…where can I find?
Gorgeous tanks, mate! You should do a video on your 40gal. Lovely.
ruclips.net/video/0tLaeCcDhQk/видео.html 🙂
hello
i m dosing kalwasser as well over night, i got 90 gallon in which my tank evaporation in miami is around 3 to 4 gallon every 4 days. i dosing around 560ml daily in 12 hours period my alk in two weeks jump from 8.0 to 8.8 and calcium did drop from 410 to 398. i been increasing little by little. but my ph is not getting any effect in which perhaps my ph is the same 7.82 to 8.15 ???
Too much to unpack here - ask on a forum for a detailed discussion
hi. Might you help me. I have problems with my ph is very low 7.8 7.4 I want to dose kalkwasser but I am new to this Marine business my tank is 90 gallon and I want to know how to calculate how many ml should be dosed to raise the ph to 8.2. Sorry my english is not very good.
You should only dose kalkwaser to increase alkalinity, if you do it just to increase pH your alkalinity will get dangerously high. So test your alkalinity and dose according to how much it drops week by week. I've made a few kalkwasser videos that explain in more detail.
Hey Alex! Can I use both all for reef and kalkwasser for ph benefits?
Yes but only when you have high alkalinity consumption that demands both
How many ml/ min do you program on your versa on the big tank?
I have the same versa and deltec kalkreactor, and i cannot have this slow drip out of it.
Any tips for that ?
I just set the volume then time period (eg 2L over 12 hours) so I don't know the drip rate...
I have a glass lid so my evaporation is extremely low. Does that mean I can't really dose kalk?
Yep
This video was incredibly helpful
Nice bottle of Vibrant there Alex :-).
The only trouble I have had with the Deltec stirrer is when the output tube blocked on the beastie, the dosing pump kept on pumping water into the stirrer. right up until the little hole at the top of the cylinder. Then kalkwasser started leaking into the dry part of my sump which was not a biggy as there is nothing else in the compartment. From a casual glane everthing looked OK in the sump until I started to notice my pH dropping.
😆 I bought that bottle solely for the purposes of taking a photo for the thumbnail of my video!
So you replace the evaporated water with the solution, over a timed period? would'nt your ATO just keep any evaporation loss topped up? Thanks
Correct - the ATO just comes on less often when you're dosing kalkwasser
Great video Alex, really informative. Been using Kalk now for over five years and wouldn’t do without it. I supplement it with TM All for Reef which IMO is the perfect combination. I use the Reef Flowers kalk which contains mg so if you’re concerned about yours being slightly on the low side maybe you should switch from the cheap crap you use 😂
How much all for reef would you dose per day as well as Kalk?
Great Video Alex Thank you !!!
Alex thanks for the video, I had a feeling you were going put one out today. Question about the nano. Are you dosing kalk to keep alkalinity up or are you just dosing it to give the tank a small boost? Are you testing alk on the nano? Or are you just doing weekly water changes ?
I dose kalkwasser to replenish calcium and alkalinity and for the side benefit of increased pH. I test alk on all 3 tanks and aim for around 8, but really anywhere between 7 and 9.
Hey Alex, Just added two new wrasses to my tank and my old wrasse has gone full terminator on them
both the new wrasses have hidden under sand for 2 days
any suggestion ??
He might just chill out in a few days, putting a mirror up might help, or you can remove the problem wrasse.
pls do a vid on the reef factory smart feeder.
This video has come at such a great time for me! Thanks for continuing to make such informative content!
On the 40g tank, have you any concern that the Kalk will damage the Versa pump over time?
Good question. It'll be fine with the John Guest tubing, but it will degrade the tube assembly in the dosing head over time so I'll replace that part every year (about £15 I think). I had a leak in the tube assembly a few months after I started using the Versa (I bought it 2nd hand) which I suspect was caused by the kalkwasser.
holy spaghetti junction
Great video and info!
Hello, I have a question. I just got 5 gal bucket and I mixed 5 tbs of Kalkwasser. I am waiting till all powder goes down to use clear water with Kalkwasser. But do I have to mix it daily? It seem like you have machine that always mix it.
No you don't, a kalk stirrer works completely differently - with your method, stirring it every day is detrimental as it'll just introduce co2 into your mixture.
@@ReefDorkXtraThank you
Great video cheers Alex 👍
Nice video
Good vid thanks. Question, how air tight does the kalk container need to be?
If it's properly air tight, it'll create a vacuum as the Kalk is dosed out so it just needs to be tight, not like a rubber seal.
What saturation do you mix the kalk for your 10 gallon
100% - 1.5g per litre
Do you run an ATO to add RO water to the tank, and run dose Kalk at the same time?
Yep
Hey Dork Reef i has a question ? How many fish can i put in a 40 gallon breeder (which actually 47 gallon) reef tank ?
Depends massively on what fish you go for but as a rough idea, I have 6 small fish in my 40g and I wouldn't want to add more...
Oh ok but if i has let just say a better sump, a better skimmer, and a better fliter then. Can i still add like let say 2 more fish then ?
Awesome rundown ;)
Do you have 2 Nero 3's in the fluval? Holy flow!
1 and a jecod slw 10. The Nero gets noisy above 50%..
Is it ok if you can do a video all about how a refugium works, and what it is specifically with the fluval evo as i think you mentioned 8 months ago that you will do a separate video a few weeks down the line 😂😂 a little late
Great video by the way 🎉🎉
I've made a couple of videos on refugiums on my main channel. Decided against it for the Evo - I like the simplicity of a filter sponge, gfo and water changes
Yeah i saw the videos, i wanted one for a nano tank but not to worry.
Oh yeah I understand where your coming from. Appreciate the quick reply
Great video.
Do you have link to the small bottle
Can't find it I'm afraid - it would have probably been from amazon or ebay
HI! i have been having issues with my LPS coral not branching, not growing and will only open half way. Could this be from too much light or too little? i dont think it is but any ideas for what my issue may be?
Salinity is the most common cause of problems with corals. Calibrate your salinity checker then test. If it's OK, post some photos on a forum
@@ReefDorkXtra thank you for replying! I have been using a mechanical checker with one of those little pointy arrows. I run the same fluval 13 you have, just with no ATO and I top with fresh water every 2-3 days after some has evaporated. Is an ATO worth looking into buying for this little tank?
@@ReefDorkXtra hey again! bad news my torch polyps are all bailing, i was messing around with my light schedule and have been trying to raise alk as instructed to me by the LFS owner. Not to point fingers lol. i was also told to unplug my tank heater. Anyways, everything else in the tank looks fine besides the torches could it just be everything above combined? thank you again for any words of wisdom i appreciate it as i have looked to you for any info possible. also my salinity is sea level 1.026ppt
Hi Alex! Witch PH probe you use?
Reef Factory pH Meter
I’d love to go to a kalkwasser setup, but I’m already so heavily invested in two part and the cost of those stirrers is insane.
All you need to get started is a plastic tub and a spare dosing head...
@@ReefDorkXtra I’m going to look into it. It’s so much cheaper than 2 part that even buying a kalk stirrer would pay off pretty quickly
I bought an Avast Marine DIY Kalk stirrer and a X1 pro dosing pump. I’m going to modify my ATO container so my new pump can pull from there. Looking forward to setting this system up
I understand that kalkwasser is great for boosting ph… but isn’t it also boosting ca?
Yes, and alkalinity. You should only use it to boost alk/calc - pH is just a side benefit
And how about all the trace elements? You do dose a bit manganese and iodine but what about the rest. 😅 isn’t there also a big deficit building up?
@@niklassc.6003 Not necessary in my opinion...
Could you put kalk in your ATO?
No, really bad idea - you then have no control over how much you dose so your alkalinity will be off and it'll clog your ATO pump.
@@ReefDorkXtra ok thanks for the advice