Kalk: Alternatives?

hi,

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ? Do LFS sell fresh Kalk? Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

thanks again and again

I don't know if this is the best way but I use Kent Turbo calcium
Even for a FOWLR tank I would say yes you would want to maintain a level of
calcium in your tank. It's lower than reef and ....My computer is
crashing...oops !

"grad21" wrote in message
...
hi,

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ? Do LFS sell fresh Kalk? Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

thanks again and again

No it's not a must for a fowlr tank. You can add it or
other forms of calcium to maintain good coraline algae growth.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



grad21 wrote on 9/8/2006 8:35 AM:
hi,

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ? Do LFS sell fresh Kalk? Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

thanks again and again

"grad21" wrote on Fri, 8 Sep 2006 :
It seems theres gonna be enough to deal with the tank without me having to
put on the chemist hat too.

It seems unlikely that you can run a successful sal****er tank without
understanding at least a little chemistry. Kalkwasser is pretty easy to do,
and if that troubles you then I wonder about the other aspects of water
chemistry for you (test kits, nitrate cycle, mixing up new sal****er, etc.).

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock
or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has
a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it
doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it! (It's rather like getting
tenure.) -- Daniel Dennett, _Consciousness Explained_, p. 177

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ?


I would say it is the easiest of the available options.


Do LFS sell fresh Kalk?


Not sure what you mean by "fresh Kalk". I assume you mean Kalk that has
already been added to water. I have not seen this for sale in a LFS. I
imagine if they did sell it, it would be a costly way to purchase Kalk.


Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

IMHO it is not a must, but it does to many good things for any aquarium
(coral or no coral) to overlook.

Dosing Kalk does several good things to your aquarium:

-it increases your Ca++ concentration
-increases your alkalinity/pH.
-causes phosphate to precipitate out if present in your kalk dosing water
and tank water.

Your pH will gradually fall as your alkalinity is depleted. The best way to
combat this IMHO is to dose Kalk.

I'm not sure why this has you so uptight. I buy my kalk (CaOH) as pickling
lime from the grocery store. Just add two teaspoons to 1-gallon of water,
stir, then let it settle to the bottom. Drip in gradually to your sump or
tank.





thanks again and again

No it's not a must for a fowlr tank. You can add it or other forms of
calcium to maintain good coraline algae growth.

Huh? Kalk is ONLY good for maintaining coraline algae growth?? It doesn't
do anything else GOOD?



Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



grad21 wrote on 9/8/2006 8:35 AM:
hi,

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ? Do LFS sell fresh Kalk? Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

thanks again and again

Yes, it adds calcium for other ecncrusting critters
including corals. It helps rais the ph, it precipitates
phosphates.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Stoutman wrote on 9/8/2006 6:09 PM:
No it's not a must for a fowlr tank. You can add it or other forms of
calcium to maintain good coraline algae growth.

Huh? Kalk is ONLY good for maintaining coraline algae growth?? It doesn't
do anything else GOOD?


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



grad21 wrote on 9/8/2006 8:35 AM:
hi,

The Kalkwasser angle has me a little uptight. It seems theres gonna be
enough to deal with the tank without me having to put on the chemist hat
too. Is there some kind of ready-mixed product alternative to the Kalk
treatment ? Do LFS sell fresh Kalk? Is Kalk a MUST for a FOWLR tank?

thanks again and again

It seems unlikely that you can run a successful sal****er tank without
understanding at least a little chemistry. Kalkwasser is pretty easy to
do,
and if that troubles you then I wonder about the other aspects of water
chemistry for you (test kits, nitrate cycle, mixing up new sal****er,
etc.).

I beg to differ with you: I understand nothing about chemistry and my tank
does fine for 5 years now. I never had Chemistry in school, I do know how to
read a test kit and do water changes. But to be perfectly honest, other
then matching colors against a color chart and knowing where my levels
should be, and using a hydrometer and knowing where that needs to be..I
don't understand a lick of it. Then again I only have a FOWLR. I would love
to do corals but not understanding chemistry, its seems like to much work
for me.

It seems unlikely that you can run a successful sal****er tank without
understanding at least a little chemistry. Kalkwasser is pretty easy to
do, and if that troubles you then I wonder about the other aspects of
water chemistry for you (test kits, nitrate cycle, mixing up new
sal****er, etc.).

"Peter Pan" wrote on Fri, 8 Sep 2006 :
I beg to differ with you: I understand nothing about chemistry and my tank
does fine for 5 years now. I never had Chemistry in school, I do know how to
read a test kit and do water changes.

You do understand that reading a test kit is simple chemistry, right?

You realize that fish produce ammonia waste, bacteria convert that to
nitrites, other bacteria convert that to nitrates, right? That's (simple)
chemistry too.

But to be perfectly honest, other then matching colors against a color
chart and knowing where my levels should be

What happens if your levels are wrong? Surely it takes a little understanding
of what's going on in the tank in order to diagnose the problem.

and using a hydrometer and knowing where that needs to be..I don't
understand a lick of it. Then again I only have a FOWLR. I would love to do
corals but not understanding chemistry, its seems like to much work for me.

I don't see how corals require any harder chemistry than sal****er fish.
They're simply more sensitive, so you can't let your water get as toxic as
you can with fish. But other than that, it's basically the same.

How is mixing kalkwasser any harder than mixing new sal****er? In fact, it's
easier, since with sal****er you need to be sure you end up with the right
density, whereas kalkwasser "automatically" winds up at the right place if you
put enough kalk in the mixture. (The excess precipitates out before you use
it.)

Corals (often) require stronger lighting, and cleaner water, than fish. But
other than that, I don't see how a fear of "chemistry" should keep you from
them. The chemistry isn't significantly different between a FOWLR tank and
a reef tank with corals.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal,
particularly in women. Chief among them is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL
convertible. -- PJ O'Rourke.