Kalk Reactor Question

[schwaggs]

I just fired up a Precision Marine Kalk reactor 6 days ago. I put 1.5 to 2 cups of kalk powder in the unit and am topping off during the overnight hours through the reactor. I estimate about 2 gallons of water per night so lets say 12 gallons of kalk water total so far. The first 3 nights, the pH of my tank rose dramatically, about .1 per night up to a peak of 8.35, which is nice! The question is, over the last 3 nights, the pH has not risen any more even though the same amount of kalk water has been dosed. My pH is hovering around 8.30. I'm not complaining about the pH level, I'm wondering if the lack of pH rise means it is time to add more kalk to the reactor.

When do you know it is time to refill the kalk powder in your reactor? Should all the powder from the bottom of the reactor be gone (I still have 1-2 inches in the bottom after it is settled)? Do you monitor pH and when the pH does not rise when dosing, do you add more? Help...

 

[hud3339]

tagging along, I still need to hook mine up

 

[schwaggs]

So my pH started dropping overnight (since starting the Kalk reactor, my pH was fairly steady) and dropped from the mid 8.3X to the low 8.2X even though there was still 1" of Kalk settling on the bottom of the reactor. I added more kalk powder and my pH is back into the mid 8.3X range. I guess this is the indicator to add more powder. (see attached graph)

Anyone else have recommendations?
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[schwaggs]

So an update for everyone.... I run about 12-15 gallons ot top off water and it seems I need to add ~ 2 tablespoons for each gallon to keep the pH up around 8.3

If I let the the reactor go for longer without adding kalk, my pH flattens out around 8.2 (see attached). The graph looks pretty choppy but notice the range is between 8.17 and 8.27. .10 swing for the entire week!

Other items contributing to the flat pH range:
90 gallon refugium filled with macro algae on reverse lighting schedule to the display.
I only top off and therefore dose Kalk when the main lights are off.
I have a 70 gallon frag tank also on a reverse lighting schedule (it really makes a difference).
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