Lime water and vinegar

[RyanM]

Thought id post my findings so far with my lime water and vinegar.

Im working with a base alk of 8.5 and a base calc of 400. PHis and always seems to be 8.4 during the day.

Since ive started adding vinegar to my lime water I have completly eliminated the additions of the 2 part solution. So far that is.

My bucket is 5gallons mixed with 2 tespoons of pickling lime per gallon. That is dripped over a period of about 3 days.

Week 1, Added 5ml to my bucket. started of little slow but wanted to see if anyhting would happen. 5ml is a such a small amount to be added over 3 days so not much of a test. At the end of the 3 days I tested and added both parts of the 2 part to bring it up to 8.5 alk and 400 calc. was only a little low. Alk was 8 and calc had fallin to 380.

2nd bucket I added 25ml of vinegar. Dripped that over the next 3 days and tested. Alk was 8.5 calc was 390. Didnt add anything to bring the level of calc up.


3rd and 4th buckets, I added 30ml and again driped over the next three days. Nothing changed. Alk 8.5 calc 390


I am going to stay at only 30ml. In the 2 + weeks Ive been using it. I have only had to add any of the 2 part in the beginning but since then nothing. I will keep posting My results. So far I am happy with what Im seeing and nothing seems to ne effected at all.

PH is still 8.4


Also keep in mind that 30ml is WAY below what the author of the artical I read said he used. 228ml per 5 gallon is where he was at.

[fatrip]

very interesting. so do you put the lime in your auto topoff or do you have a separate bucket for that? also had you adgitated the bucket in that three days?

[RyanM]

The lime water bucket is my top off bucket and no I dont stir it at all. Except for the stiring I give it to mix it when I make it.

[Piazzon12]

No reason to agitate, from what I read, the precipitate is mostly from junk in the water that you dont want in the tank.

[drbronx]

Interesting stuff Ryan. Its been quite a while since i read up on this. Is the reason your adding vinegar to reduce the ph impact of raising Ph so that you can drip more kalk, or is the iidea to be able to make a more supersaturated kalk solution. In either case (I forget the chemistry of this) I believe there is the risk of increasing a bacterial bloom as a result of a build up of acetate. There can be positive benefits of that as well from what i recall. Any good threads on this. Probably Randy Holmes farley has written on this.

[drbronx]

Found one. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.php

[nwrogers]

Also check this out...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...hf/index.php#6

[RyanM]

The main reason I started was to increase the potency of the lime water. The lowering of ph is a secondary issue but one I dont mind either. My tank runs at 8.4 so a little less ph boost is a good thing. As far as the negatives, I havent seen any as of yet but I am not useing much vinegar at all. Im dripping 30ml over 3 days so the impact is minimal as far as bacteria blooms go.

I went away for a few days and had my wife watching my tank. I told her everything I thought she needed to know but I neglected to tell her to keep an eye on the level in the sump. I set up my top off with a full 5 gallons full of lime water and went away. Never telling her to look for the level she didnt look and I forgot to turn the valve on my top off before I left so it didnt drip anything for 48 hours. When I got back my alk was at just over 7.
Prior to that my alk was steady at 8.5 so I know I am doing good with my drip. If I see no bad side effects as far as algea or bacterial mats as some reported I will continue. I havent checked my calc level but it was always steady at 390 while useing my lime/vinegar mix so I think with a little tweeking it will be fine to replace most of the 2 part additions.

[drbronx]

With the addition of vinegar, by how much are you able to boost the concentration of kalk per gallon given that the standard dose for a saturated solution is two tsp per gallon?

[RyanM]

5% at my current 30ml per 5 gallon. You can get upto 36% boost but you need to add 228ml to 5 gallons of lime. Im not sure I ever want to go that far with it. 30ml in 5 gallns dripped over 3 days is hardly anything at all. Ill take the 5% boost and see how it goes and if i think i need a little more I can see my self going to 60ml or 10% but I think after that Id start paying very close attention. I feel there is minimal risk at my level or even at a 10% boost.

[RyanM]

Here is the link to the article i got my info from. Its a good read and very easy to follow.

http://web.archive.org/web/200304181...io/default.asp