dosing kalk without auto drip?

after all this talk about kalkwasser reactors i would like to try out using kalk instead of my normal b-ionic doseing and turbo calcium/reef builder for tweaking.  i don't have any pH drop problems, and now that i'm running a reverse daylight refugium (thanks to the recommendations of people here) my ph swing is .1 or less.

unfortunately i don't have the ability to set up an auto-top off due to space limitations which is what most people are using to dose their kalk slowly it seems.  right now i am adding topoff RO every two days and have to add about 1-2 gallons.  twice a week i have to add the B-ionic to keep things good as far as ca/alk are concerned.

i read a post by mark somewhere saying it was safe to add up to 5% of the total aquarium volume kalk solution over the course of a few hours without causing a major pH swing.  while i'm sure kalk will provide enough ca/alk i'm worried about the ph spike it might cause if added too quickly.

what do people do for adding kalk if they don't have auto top off / drip systems?  i was thinking about making a 1/2 strength kalk solution (50/50 kalk r/o) and using that for top off which gets added every two days 1-2 gallons as i said.  you guys think that will spike the pH too rapidly over the course of 15 minutes of so to add it?  i don't know if i can bare to wait any longer pouring in top off which i usually just dump in all at once.

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated
-dwn

hey mark, thanks for the reply...  i guess i never really thought of just a milk jug with a pinhole in it.  setting up a whole system/glug jug would be a pain because it really is quite tight under my tank.  30gal main, 20 tall underneath taking up 75% of the room and a stupid small door in the front that i actually had to shave just to get the 20 underneath!

mixing in a 5 gallon -> transfering to milk jugs -> just pricking it sounds like a great idea if i can make a little mount to let it drip down into the sump without getting all over the place.  i worry a bit because everyone says its so caustic, i don't want to be splashing it around too much underthere!

-dwn

Sorry Rod. I didn't answer your question. I kinda thought you were joking.

5% seems a bit high to me, also. I drip an IV bag (1 liter) into my
200 gallons and it bumps the pH.

I have mine in a 3 gallon jug that has a spout on the side. The
undissolved solids fall to the bottom, and the kalk saturated
water stays in the middle, where I can just use the spout to pull
it off. Then, I put it in a bag above the tank, adjust the roller
clamp and voila! the pH is a little bit higher!

I might just get a milk jug, though! That sounds too easy! But, I
don't have one! Would a DP bottle work? I might have one of
those laying around, rinsed, sitting on a shelve!

Kevin - I agree with Jon. In a system of that size, I think adding 1/2 gallon of kalkwasser would not be a problem. Especially if you added it to highly turbulent area.

I used a the milk jug method on my 55 gallon aquarium for several years. But, it does get tiresome filling a milk jug every night.
You will need to poke two holes in the jug - one near the bottom for the solution to escape and one near the top for air to enter. You can control the drip rate by the size of the air hole. This allows for a slightly larger hole that is less likely to clog from the solution.