Liquid calcium Reactor

[Bryan]

Randy:

Kent Marine is marketing a product in a bottle they call Liquid calcium Reactor. Basically it's supposed to replace a calcium reactor. The bottle states it's a one part balanced calcium/carbonate solution.

Each ml contains 31 ppm calcium and 52 ppm carbonates. The list of ingredients contains chloride free calcium.

Any idea what this product contains as a calcium additive and could it be to good to be true.

-=Bryan=-

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bryan:

That's an excellent question. Here's the web site for the product for those who want to read about it.

http://www.kentmarine.com/lr.html

To be honest, I find the description both interesting and annoying. The active ingredients seem to be listed, but obviously are not very clear. Not clear enough to understand the product.

I can't say for sure what it is, but if I were to guess, I'd say it is pulverised limestone dissolved and suspended in water, with perhaps some CO2 added to boost dissolution. The limestone would be either aragonite or calcite, or a mixture.

It claims to contain:

126,000 ppm of calcium and 193,000 ppm carbonates

That adds up to 319 g/L of calcium and carbonate, and are in about the right ratios for limestone. So it would be a mixture of something like 32% limestone in water (possibly +CO2).

Personally, I would not want to add it to my tank without a better description of what it was. The fact the it "clouds" the water when added worries me. I would not want to add undissolved CaCO3 to my tank. I don't uderstand how it would dissolve in most tanks (but would be happy if someone gave me such an explanation). If I am somehow not understanding the product and it were described more fully to me, I might then be comfortable recommending it.