I use kalk from time to time. to start with, only so much can actually disolve in RO water. Something like 2 teaspoons full per gallon. the rest will settle to the bottom along with the crusty crud that forms. that would be the crusty scum floating on the top. that comes from reacting with CO2 in the air making a carbonate. so after letting settle for a few hours , or overnight, the clear clear solution is saturated kalwasser you can drip to your tank.
some of the stuff on the bottom is insoluable precipitates from the kalk, and some might be undisolved calcium hydroxide. when you add mor RO water , the remaining hydroxide will disolve. plus you add more. never add the mud at the bottom, or the crust from the top , if at all possible. the clear stuff between top and bottom is good.
There are some good articles from Randy Farley holmes on Reef Central. Scroll down to the limewater/Kalwasser section.
everything you need to know. I use Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime, which I have bought at walmart, of Food Lion, in the pickling department.
ken, you wrote: that comes from reacting with CO2 in the air making a carbonate. so after letting settle for a few hours , or overnight, the clear clear solution is saturated kalwasser you can drip to your tank.
is there something wrong with mixing the mrs wages with rodi water and adding it immediately??
i use a 128 oz clear plastic bottle for making mine i use 2 table spoons of pickling lime and shake it for around 2 or 3 minutes, then let settle over nite. the clear water will be poured in tank over the next four days and then i just make another bottle of water and pickling lime. there are some days i dont add it just because i forget or am lazy. so sometimes it will last me a week.
It will still have lots of sediment in it, making it milky looking. that will just make silt in your sand beds. it does no good. Im pretty sure Randy explains that in those articles. I make mine in an IO 6 gallon bucket. 6 gallons of RO, 4 heaping tablespoons of Mrs. Wages, stir well, and cover with the lid to settle and store. the heaping spoons full are a bit more than can disolve. but as some gets nutralized with air CO2 and makes a crust on the top, the undisolved leftovers on the bottom can disolve to keep it saturated. but the sludge stays. I think Randy makes a 50 gallon plastic barrel full at a time, keeps it covered and a little extra kalk on the bottom keeps it good for months for him. but you have to keep it covered.
I use kalk once every week or two weeks, about 2 1/2 or so teaspoons for 2 gallons of top off water and 15-30 mls of vinegar mixed in with it. This gets added into my top off system so as I need to top off the kalk mixture is added as top off. As the week progresses it becomes less and less diluted as i add RO into the containers and not kalk.
A separate kalk dripper I have is simply a 1/2 gallon jug with a tube inserted and sealed into the bottom that sticks out about an inch from the bottom of the jug. I use this to drip RO/kalk into the tank.
I’m not sure with Kent Kalk, as I’ve never used that. Not sure on what the four different layers are either. You can get a layer at the bottom of undissolved kalk or precipitated out impurities in your make up water and some ‘scum’ looking stuff floating on the top.
I add my kalk from an inch of the bottom of the container to avoid adding the possible ‘gunk’ at the bottom or ‘scum’ at the top.
Paul, I’ve always added kalk somewhat immediately with no ill results (AFAIK), except for some milkyness that will collect in areas of your sump (or whereever you add it)
Doesn’t need to be an exact science and you don’t need a precise addition rate and of course YMMV.