Kalkwasser Is NOT For pH (You're Using It Wrong)

[@dusk1947]

It is actually true :) Nice lead in. The pH effect is a pleasant extra effect. It's nice to see clickbait title that's completely accurate. And speaking from personal (painful) experience, you can actually overdose your system with Ca as easily as swinging the Alk too far... I was stupidly using Kalk to boost pH & only measuring the Alk for my own heavy Kalk dosing regime, and it took me awhile to realize that I had overdosed Ca. Oddly, it was my Scolymia's which died off first. And I didn't realize what I had done until they were past saving. Don't get me wrong, I still dose Kalk and I still love that it boosts my pH over night. But, that was the consequence of my own chasing pH. It, as you specifically mentioned, can go poorly if the intent is solely chasing pH without properly monitoring the rest of the chemistry as well. To put it in numbers. I lost $1,200 in Ultra grade Scoly's by misusing a $40 container of Kalk. And I specifically said "Misusing", because that fault is mine, not the Kalk. It did exactly what it's supposed to do chemically.

[@aquamind9996]

Meckley is rowing across the pond right now 😂

[@pocilover02]

If youre mixing Kalk in an air tighr container and dosing it via a dosing pump...how long would you use it before mixing another batch? I mix it once then seal the container to dose from.

[@pocilover02]

nearly air tight

[@ReefDork]

I refill my container once a month ish, it probably loses a bit of potency by then but not enough to bother me personally

[@jtdr2023]

Reef Dork- Loved the way you did this video. Beautiful coral shots while talking about Kalk. Can’t get any better. Thanks you for your contribution to this epic hobby!

[@sasco9608]

Great video! I was wondering what salt you recommend to use?

[@ReefDork]

I use Tropic Marin Pro, but any of the main brands are fine

[@josephposada1830]

Excellent presentation, yet again good Sir. Stability is indeed the key. My question is about regular test kits besides Hannah instruments. Which brands would you recommend for Nitrates and Phosphate levels as well as for Alkalinity.

[@timjohnson3913]

I had pH in the range of 7.8-8.0 and I used Kalkwasser to get up to and stabilize at 8.2 pH. The timid filefish and fox face just seem way happier/healthier and swim in the front of the tank even if my face is 2 inches from the glass (they would mostly hide and keep to themselves before Kalk with or without me near the tank). The eyes became crystal clear on my fox face; I used to think fox face just normally had a slightly cloudy eyes (and others reported the same with their fox face rabbit fish and agreed me it was normal on forums). Now I believe it was an issue with suppressed pH of 7.8 - 8.0.

[@helenchambers169]

My tanks evaporation is about 2 litres per day and I’m currently dosing 300ml of clear Kalkwasser over night. Should I be aiming (slowly) at replacing the full evaporation with Kalk?

[@ReefDork]

No, not really - the target should be to dose enough to keep up with the alkalinity and calcium your corals consume. If that ends up at 2L per day, cool. If not, also cool!

[@JFTB-i8y]

I use kalk to peg my pH at 8.35 my dkh went from 7.5 to 12 and i've had only benefits. I'm convinced DKH is only important when you have wild pH swings. my doser able to keep it at 8.35 24/7

[@power21100]

I use reef crystals and the last time i checked it came with 13dkh straight from the box.

[@douglasachaiba7885]

This is what Chris Meckley from ACI has been saying for years now

[@6jdhd]

When dosing kalk the first time and the right way. Your alk will raise because it's releasing carbonates that is trapped in your rock. This will last for about 3 week then drop back to normal.

[@Merknilash]

@@power21100 I use Coral Pro from Red Sea but that 10+ dkh disappears pretty quickly in the tank - just like it does when you're mixing the salt.

[@andrew5762]

Hi Alex since dosing kalc (300ml per hr .2.400ml per 8 hrs over nite ) I’ve noticed my mag has dropped significantly 🙈have you come across this .

[@wilfwill]

How much do u find your alkalinity goes up using kalkwasser mate

[@ReefDork]

Depends but just go very slowly and test a lot

[@wilfwill]

Hi mate who would u Suggest buying kalkwasser off i know there is a medical grade i can get but cant remember who

[@ReefDork]

I've used Seachem and APC

[@wilfwill]

@@ReefDork brilliant i will get that one then cheers mate

[@douglasachaiba7885]

pH is more important than alkalinity. Chris Meckley from ACI has stated this numerous times. His alk went up to like 12 he said. I think things have turned the corner with alk not being more important than pH.

[@ajj_gamer]

agreed- i think with these studies, kalk is more important. the thing is, if you already have great pH & or little to no top off needs then the chris meckley method is not really viable.

[@6jdhd]

​@ReefSector . No one PH is high at night. Everyone's ph drop at night. I never came across a person with 8.2 ph. The average is 7.8 high side for every reefer. The problem most reefer dont know there PH is dropping that much at night. And night is when coral grow. Hard to do when stressed with low PH.

[@enricojaun2880]

Agreed. Ive been doing this 20yrs and have literally gone 5yrs at a time only checking my PH and adjusting my dosing accordingly. i respectfully disagree with this video completely.

[@douglasachaiba7885]

@@6jdhd I think tissue growth is more prevelant during lights on. Skeletal growth occurs lights on and lights off.

[@douglasachaiba7885]

And I think where issues where being had with so called alkalinity swings .. it could have been lower pH being the issue.... and creating a stressor. When pH is low...it's harder to stabilize alkalinity. So correct pH and those swings wont be an issue. pH also affects the microbiome... So bacterial issues are more prevelant at lower pH.

[@grantrogers2878]

I was dosing high amounts of Kalk and had my kH bouncing around all over the place with no negative effects. However, I have backed it off and taken a similar route to what you suggested.

[@EEKProductions]

Wouldn’t the increase in OH anions from kalkwasser increase the pH alone?

[@mosreef1]

Only if there was no Co2 In your tank. It binds CO2….

[@EEKProductions]

​@@mosreef1 Right but pH is dependent on OH- concentration (higher OH-, the higher the pH)

[@hakman239]

Would 8kg of dry live rock be enough for a 110l salt water tank

[@ReefDork]

Sounds fine - I go on how it looks rather than kilos per gallon

[@oliverburns1984]

Been using kalk slury for last year and only one thing I keep stable is Ph and don’t monitor Alk at all . My alk in the morning is 7.4 and in the evening 6.5 , SPS never been better .

[@lovermansmith9082]

Nice breakdown. You difinately put in the work on this . Thank you !

[@daliuskesarauskas7464]

How quick does it show on Alk testing when starting dosing Kalk? I mean if i start dosing today - am i able to see it Alk test lets say next day?

[@ReefDork]

Yep, you can probably notice within a couple of hours, maybe even less.

[@geraldfichtner]

remember "Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank" little bites at the apple

[@shadyacres87]

Really useful video, as a newbie it is sometimes difficult to not get swept up in whatever big trend is going on at the current moment in time, rather than just focussing on the basics. Side note could I ask what coral is that at 0:34, it is fantastic?!

[@ReefDork]

European Pikachu acropora

[@shadyacres87]

@@ReefDork thank you!

[@PeterAndWillAnderson]

I’m not so sure chasing ph is the “current trend”. Other long time experts have said that chasing dkh is a “recent trend” and that stable high ph has always been the more important metric.

[@kernalbert4939]

@@PeterAndWillAnderson There are guys who understand the science and guys who "figured it out" by doing one thing that was actually doing another. The dudes that extoll the benefit of a stable high pH were actually maintaining a proper stable Alkalinity with a proper Calcium/Magnesium balance; the stable high pH is the result of that and not necessarily the other way around.

[@kahldrogo8657]

greetings. thanks for the information. As I am a new reef aquarist I do not understand many things but thanks to the information you share it is very helpful. I will wait for the next video. sorry for my bad english 🤣

[@vargagergely152]

I have a stable kh-ca and it incrase ph and lower phosphat ..best thing is to use kalkwasser + balling is the best thing what you can do ..

[@markbull923]

I've just started dosing kalk, but not dosing 2 part just yet, my dkh is 8.2, now was 7.9 dkh before i started dosing kalk, calcium is 420, mag 1380, with Ipc test once a month, 😊, my pH was 7.8 and struggling to get above 8, during day now its 8.2, through the day and down too 7.8 over night,

[@MumRah]

I need to get my pH up and Alkalinity down. It's quite difficult. 😢

[@aqhan]

So basically, if I understood it right, kalkwasser is for KH and Calcium first and foremost?

[@ReefDork]

Correct 🙂

[@amoore311]

Chris Meckley at ACI says otherwise✌🏻 I don’t think the answer is as simple as you’re making it seem.

[@Carlos23reef]

Watch Chris Meckleys interviews and used these methods for years before Chris started pushing his methods and I can say it works well

[@reefkichards2345]

Hi Dork, great video. Unrelated question - just wondering what your main tank nitrates are currently? (Not suggesting anything wrong just curious)

[@ReefDork]

Average is 9, currently 16. I'd prefer lower...

[@Reefkeepers_Archive]

Stop showing us your beautiful reef tank, you're putting my 7 month old tank to shame 😅 Great informative tutorial, I might start dosing kalkwasser in my setup, though is Kalk compatable with a neptune trident/dose, thinking of getting one, once I can afford it...

[@bopeep7806]

Dork your technically wrong :( ph is very important as it increases calcification of coral skeletons and when you do this you will need more kh as uptake will go up so Kalkwasser is an awesome way to maintain ph and kh :)

[@kernalbert4939]

No one said pH wasn't important. He said if you're using Kalk to primarily increase your pH, then you may be overdosing on your Alkalinity and Calcium, two things which are more important to control than your pH.

[@rixon2000]

You are not going to be overdosing. What happens is by lowering carbonic acid, bound up alk gets released and adds more on top of the Alk already in the system. In time that number stabilizes as it actually gets used up. The problem is people panic when this happens while the corals are happy.

[@wilfwill]

3:34 whats this corals name i got one and can't remember 😂

[@ReefDork]

Jingle bells cyphastrea

[@wilfwill]

@ReefDork thank you mate

[@johnwilliams4806]

Well put

[@superdragon3060]

Can we get a video on oddball fish?

[@PnCBio]

If you’re obsessed with pH and have a nano, where CO2 scrubbing is near useless due to skimmer size (ask me how I know), load your tank with cheap stony coral so your alk demand is high enough. LPS barely move it, think montis, cyphastrea, yongei or florida acros.

[@6jdhd]

You can dose kalk at night to your total evaporation you have in 24 hour. That will bring you ph up and keep cal and alk stable and won't have to dose. Cause it a nano.

[@PnCBio]

@@6jdhd If you use that method in a small system, the alk spike in an under stocked tank will fry most SPS

[@6jdhd]

@PnCBio No, they recommend dosing kalk with a low stock nano tank. Instead of dosing 2 part. In a nano, you're dosing very little for evaporation compared to a bigger tank.

[@nickm9922]

​@@6jdhdnot true.... smaller tanks more evap cause of heat from gear My 75l system has 15l evap a week (20%) while my 360l system had around 35l evap per week (10%)

[@PnCBio]

@@6jdhd who recommends that? Alex literally says the opposite, and my 75L acro tank agrees.

[@MabuyaQ]

Now what if we have been wrong with focusing on alkalinity? Stable slightly raised Ph in the 8.3x to 8.4x range seems to only improve SPS growth even at elevated alkalinity (with 11 not even being a problem).

[@6jdhd]

Yes we have been wrong. I been dosing kalk at night supersaturated for 2 years. Keeping my PH at 8.3 to 8.5 and my growth is insane. We have been doing this all wrong.

[@kernalbert4939]

@@6jdhd What are you saying? You think the pH of the reef doesn't also drop at night? You think evolution doesn't account for natural pH swing?

[@6jdhd]

@kernalbert4939 Ph swings but does not get and lower then 8.2 in the wild. Do your research. Or watch Chris Mackley's Ph. video. He gets into real depth.

[@kernalbert4939]

@@6jdhd Do YOUR research. The current average pH of the Ocean is 8.1 and in reefs the pH drops to 7.96 to 7.99 EVERY night. No offense meant, but It only sounds like depth if you don't actually understand Chemistry. That's not an insult. I don't know F-all about cars, so some dude can talk about the Nitrogen exchange volume capacity of a fuel injected carburetor and it could sound deep to me.

[@6jdhd]

@kernalbert4939 And you understand all the organisms in the ocean that help with ph at night that we don't have in ower reef tanks. There are a dozen species of plankton that come out at night that convert co2 to oxygen in the reef. Regual oceans that have no reefs suffer from low ph. The great barrier reef maintains a ph because of all the organisms that Coinside at that reef that helps PH. There are plenty of biology books about the great barrier. You talk about Chemistry of water, but no one even keeps There tanks at NSW levels. Hight alk , hight cal, high mag. So far everyone that's been keeping there PH stable at 8.2 to 8.5 we all have notice that not stable cause STN and RTN. There has been alot of studies showing we were reefing all wrong.

[@rixon2000]

This is completely wrong, according to Chris Meckley of ACI. And it is in fact controversial to say. We’ve actually got the cart before the horse, and we’re only now discovering pH is the priority to keep stable instead of Alk and Cal. Please be careful following this advice.

[@ReefDork]

It's worked for 20+ years...

[@Richs_reef]

3:12 Tank looks phenomenal in the video at this point Alex 🎉

[@KentuckyReef]

People hear “parts” of what Chris has said and take it out of context.

[@ReefDork]

Yeah, I agree. I love what he's doing but I don't think it applies to 99% of hobbyists.

[@adama8955]

That's misleading title and false statement. I've been using Kalk for over 25 years with a Milwakee PH controller to keep my PH steady at 8.3

[@kawaiizombiegal]

heres my experience with kalk it works well, at a stable ph level and a slightly lower kh, i have seen coral growth and stablitly, so long as levels stay stable things should be fine, a kh of 7-8 which for most can be low and a ph of 8.4-8.2 throughout the day cycle, and with a higher ph and stable kh i have seen growth and color be improved than with a lower ph and stable kh,