New article posted: "What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime"

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My next article:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime

has posted at

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm


Here's the table of contents:

What Is Lime?
Where To Get Lime
Purity Of Commercial Lime
What Is Limewater?
How To Dose Limewater
Vinegar And Limewater To Reduce pH
Vinegar And Limewater To Boost Limewater Potency
What Else Is In Limewater Besides Calcium And Alkalinity? Metallic Impurities
What Else Is In Limewater Besides Calcium And Hydroxide? Mg++ and Sr++
What Gets Left Behind On The Bottom Of The Limewater Container?
Does Limewater Degrade Over Time? The Degradation Reaction
What Else Does Limewater Do In An Aquarium? Raise pH Whether You Want It To Or Not
What Else Does Limewater Do In An Aquarium? Raise pH When You Need It
What Else Does Limewater Do In An Aquarium? Reduce Magnesium
What Else Does Limewater Do In An Aquarium? Reduce Phosphate
Limitations To Limewater: Limits To The Addition Of Calcium And Alkalinity
Dosing Other Additives in Limewater
Lime Safety
Summary

[Boomer]

That is a really nice and very interesting article Randy

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Boomer.

[Markk96]

Randy just read the article. I agree very nice.

Thanks for writing it.
Mark

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks very much, Mark!

[jfinch]

Nice job! Very good incorporation of all your other works on lime with the nice addition of the chemical grading. You shouldn't ever have to answer another question about kalkwasser

BTW, the links to Mrs. Wages's faq section don't work. They're linked as:
http://www.mrswages.com/21
when they should be
http://www.mrswages.com/faq.asp#21

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, both for the comments ont he article, and the link.

[hsvtoolfool]

Randy, even more thanks for the article! I especially appreciate
that your conductivity tests debunk the need for a sealed/stirred
Nilsen reactor. Reactor manufacturers may not appreciate such
info, but cheap hobbyists like me certainly do! You've removed
yet another piece of expensive equipment from my system.
I now plan to dose lime water from a covered reservoir rather
than buy a costly reactor. Yeah!

I have a few questions regarding your limewater reservoir...

Question #1: What conductivity meter did you use to test your
limewater? Would this gadget be handy/affordable for hobbyists?

Question #2: Do you deliberately maintain undissolved solid lime
on the bottom of your 44-gallon limewater reservoir? If so, does
this lime eventually dissolve and maintain the potency as C02
causes calcium carbonate precipitation? And about how much solid
lime is in your reservoir? A dusting? Or a thick 1-inch layer?

Question #3: Do you add limewater to your reservoir as it is
consumed? Or do you allow each batch to be totally consumed
and then make a new batch with fresh lime?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Question #1: What conductivity meter did you use to test your
limewater? Would this gadget be handy/affordable for hobbyists?


The one that I use is a few hundred dollars, but there are some that are more suitable.

The pinpoint,for excample, is less expensive:

http://www.americanmarineusa.com/conductivityfacts.html

Question #2: Do you deliberately maintain undissolved solid lime
on the bottom of your 44-gallon limewater reservoir? If so, does
this lime eventually dissolve and maintain the potency as C02
causes calcium carbonate precipitation? And about how much solid
lime is in your reservoir? A dusting? Or a thick 1-inch layer?

There is lots of solid material on the bottom of my reservoir. Some is lime, and some is certainly other stuff that won't dissolve (magneisum hydroxide, calcium carbonate, etc). After I first clean it out, there is none. Then over months it ges thicker and thicker. Maybe 1/2- 1" (when it is puffed up and wet) by the time it next needs to be cleaned out.

Question #3: Do you add limewater to your reservoir as it is
consumed? Or do you allow each batch to be totally consumed
and then make a new batch with fresh lime?

It gets all used up before refilling, unless for some reason I want the reservoir full at a particular time (like just before a vacation where I'll be away for a while).

Randy, even more thanks for the article! I especially appreciate
that your conductivity tests debunk the need for a sealed/stirred
Nilsen reactor.

Thanks.

[tatuvaaj]

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
My next article:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime

Excellent article, thank you very much ! An instant classic

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Tatu!

[Bojan]

That is a really very interesting article Randy and the most complete article about limewater.

I found very usefull information in section "
Does Limewater Degrade Over Time? The Degradation Reaction"

One week ago I started to dose limewater again. Last 6 months i used only Ca reactor on C02, but I didnt find solution for low Ph during the night, morning. Now I have both Ca reactor and automated limewater dosing during the night and Ph is now in acceptable range 8,10(morning) to 8,25 (evening).

I have old Nilsen reactor, but I found out that simple container with limewater and dosing pump is better solution. I have 25 liter container, so I will have to prepare limewater once per week. In my Nilsen reactor I had to add lime every weeek also.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Bojan. I'm glad the limewater has brought the pH into a good range.

[McBeck]

THANK YOU for this article!! I was getting ready to post a request for "The Idiot's Guide to Kalk" when I found your article. This has given me the confidence nudge I needed to starting dosing kalk. I even had an unopened jar of Mrs. Wages waiting for that moment of inspiration. Thank you thank you thank you!!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome. I'm glad it is what you were looking for!