What is a kalk dripper?

cnl83 · 08/18/2010, 02:32 PM

Forgive my noobiness. What exactly is a Kalk dripper? and how is this actually working?

I saw one here a few post down. It was made from a simple milk jug.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...6#post17529736

Tuscaquatics · 08/18/2010, 02:36 PM

It's a DIY way of administering Kalkwasser to your tank, which needs to be done slowly. Kalkwasser is a fancy way of saying limewater, which is a fancy way of saying "water with lots of calcium and alkalinity in it."

So it's a method of replenishing calcium and alkalinity to your tank when you have calcium-loving corals that use it up quickly. It needs to be dripped because the pH of Kalkwasser is very high and we drip it to avoid shocking the tank and causing calcium to precipitate.

I do the milk-jug with airline tubing and a little valve on the end. You can buy fancy peristaltic pumps that will do the same thing more efficiently. Or you can buy a calcium reactor to do the same thing, but in an even more efficient and automated way.

You really don't need to worry about it too much until you plan on seriously getting into corals. But feel free to read more about it and learn ahead of time.

08/18/2010, 02:32 PM	#1
cnl83 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 140	What is a kalk dripper? Forgive my noobiness. What exactly is a Kalk dripper? and how is this actually working? I saw one here a few post down. It was made from a simple milk jug. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...6#post17529736

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08/18/2010, 02:36 PM	#2
Tuscaquatics Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Tuscaloosa, AL Posts: 1,324	It's a DIY way of administering Kalkwasser to your tank, which needs to be done slowly. Kalkwasser is a fancy way of saying limewater, which is a fancy way of saying "water with lots of calcium and alkalinity in it." So it's a method of replenishing calcium and alkalinity to your tank when you have calcium-loving corals that use it up quickly. It needs to be dripped because the pH of Kalkwasser is very high and we drip it to avoid shocking the tank and causing calcium to precipitate. I do the milk-jug with airline tubing and a little valve on the end. You can buy fancy peristaltic pumps that will do the same thing more efficiently. Or you can buy a calcium reactor to do the same thing, but in an even more efficient and automated way. You really don't need to worry about it too much until you plan on seriously getting into corals. But feel free to read more about it and learn ahead of time.