Cool, Cheap, Kalk-Paste Applicator

[Chuck Spyropulos]

I have been trying to rid my tank of GSP for a while now and stumbled across a cool, cheap, application method. I had been making the paste then rolling a small amount into a ball and placing it at the end of a Kent scraper. These scrapers have a foam rubber-like handle for better gripping. After a while, the foam rubber handle on my scraper wore away at the tip from many applications of kalk paste. Then the rubber broke away from the long plastic handle and I thought that I would have to find another way to apply kalk.

But instead I slid the Kent scraper's foam rubber handle up so that there was a void where I could "load" the kalk paste. I then shoved the kalk into the hollow rubber handle hanging off of the plastic handle. Then I used the thing as a "paste syringe" . I placed the tip of the rubber handle loaded inside with paste onto a GSP patch and slowly pushed down from above and the kalk paste flowed out nice and neat onto the patch. This works really well to apply the paste without getting it everywhere.

 

[Ray]

Do you have to suck it out after? I have some type of coral growing all over my rocks that I want to kalk to get rid of, looks like gsp but is brownish/pink, only good thing about it is that it will not grow over my other corals and just grows around them

 

[fanaglethebagle]

That sounds like encrusting gorgonian to me Ray, I never had any real issue with it seeing that it seems to lose battles with just about any coral. It is very sensitive to kalk.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Kalk

Do you have to suck it out after?

I shut off my circ pumps during the application and then turn them on an hour after I'm done. Sometimes you get a few pieces of kalk that break off and end up on a colony and it will burn it, but not a major problem.

 

[Ray]

That sounds like encrusting gorgonian to me Ray, I never had any real issue with it seeing that it seems to lose battles with just about any coral. It is very sensitive to kalk.

No its not that, I have that in my tank as well, this is not encrusting, it grows more like vines