Reef nutrition

Kalkwasser

Ahruk

Ahruk

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Hey Everybody,
Looking into adding kalkwasser with an ATO to tank, have already done quite a bit of research but wanted to get some first-person expertise. Do you guys buy kent kalkwasser or just food-grade pickling lime? Where do you buy it? Any advice you could give about your experience with it would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)
 
Should I get "Bulk reef supply Lab Grade Kalkwasser" or go to Safeway and buy Mrs. Wage Pickling Lime and add that to my ATO?

The pickling lime is suppose to be cheaper but what's the downside if any?
 
That's a good question and without knowing the exact composition of each product the answer is uncertain.

I've used Kalkwasser for decades, either from Two Little Fishies or Mrs Wages Pickling Lime. Personally, I haven't noticed any difference between the two in any of my tanks over the years.

Since I have a Nano tank I don't have to buy very often. A Google search on Mrs Wages Pickling Lime should bring up plenty of places carrying it.
 
I thought that when I did the calculations it was actually cheaper for me to buy the big tub of two little fishies kalkwasser at marine depot than it was to buy the pickling lime from another site and have to pay for shipping.
 
I'm interested too. I've looked in various retail stores and have not found Mrs. Wages PL. Any hints were it would be available?
 
Walmart, and it's $2 & some change per pound, they don't always have it but some stores do during pickling season, I've managed to find it at the Union City location a few times so I bought a bag or 2 every time I was there. I've used kalkwasser for a year now and I probably used less than half a bag.

I don't used fully saturated kalkwasser, it gums up the tubing in my peristaltic pump so I do 2 teaspoons/1.5 gal of RO water + some vinegar, I dose it for 1 minute out of every 10 minutes throughout the night while lights are off, now this isn't a formula you want to follow for your tank since your chemistry is different than mine.

If you're going to try kalkwasser I recommend you read this;

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

Then read it again, simply because Kalkwasser can be great but it can also wreck your entire tank if it goes wrong. It is not recommended to put kalkwasser in your ATO but I'll admit I've done it, I would say do not dose it this way unless you've exhausted all other options and you have no choice, ie; no room for equipment or if you have no sump. Now that i have a sump, first thing I did was separate my ATO from my kalkwasser this way no disasters are going to happen. Also it helps if you have a controller that monitors PH because you can set it to shut your kalkwasser off if PH gets up too high while you're dosing (very good fail safe). I can go on & on talking about kalkwasser and many other variables that come with it but it's best to have your own understanding of the chemistry taking place here, that article is better than anything I could fit in a post here :)
 
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