Kalk question again

[jwils27]

so i mixed a gallon of kalk per the directions, shook it up and let the extra kalk settle to the bottom. i add this to my five gallon top off and bada boom im done for the week with my tank. So the question is, can i reuse the settled kalk at the bottom and make another batch or do i have to start all over and add some more?

 

[warloc4326]

Personally I add kalk to my makeup water when I do a water change (weekly) all contents are then added to my tank. My usual regiment is to add 1 heaping tablespoon of kalk to my 5 gal salt water. I have used the drip method previously and found that it was more of a headache than anything. Now I just use the above method. I may add a kalk stirrer to my setup once I have my reefkeeper2 or reefkeeper elite set up.

 

[warloc4326]

In addition I wouldn't try using the left over, I would just start from scratch as it's cheap enough. In the future try adding a little less and you may notice you don't have as much left over... that is if it's all added at one time.

 

[jwils27]

i guess i dont understand the differnce btwn add in it all in at once and reusing the leftover. the only thing i could see is maybe the ratio of ca in mix would be off due to prior mix

 

[george]

As long as the old stuff stayed completely in RO water and didn't dry up, it should be ok. A kalk reactor/stirrer works off the same load of kalk for a month or more.

When I used to mix in jugs instead of a reactor, I'd just fill up the jug afterwards with more RO water and shake it up and use it the next time. After a while, you get to being able to eyeball if there's enough leftover kalk so that you don't need to add more for another batch.

 

[glxtrix]

I usually just top off my reactor with fresh kalk. However I do try to mix the old thats in there so there is no "channeling" effect.