A few questions about dosing kalk, please?

[juststartingout]

I have been mixing a gallon jug @night with R/O water and about 2 teaspoons of Mrs.Wages pickling lime. I have set up a bucket (5 Gal) with a mixing pump and a mini-jet pump with a gate valve jgf, to controll the drip rate. I thought I read somewhere that the air reacts with this mixture. If so, what kind of effect does this have? I am maybe planning on just using this @ night through a timer. Maybe mixing a fresh batch before I call it a night. I am looking for some insight, as I am new to dripping kalk, (and most other things):D

[spectre9]

Look for Nielson reactor plans and you will find some technical discussion of design considerations for kalk dosing.

The key: mix the kalk, but do not expose it to air. This doesn't mean no air can contact it, but rather that the kalk should be kept in a sealed container, even when 'mixing'.

I make my kalk by measuring 9.5g of pickling lime into a 5gal bucket of RO/DI water. After 24 hours and a couple of shakes I siphon it out into a sealed 5gal jug with spout. "Decanting"

The kalk is removed as needed and mixed with RO/DI that drips into my tank when I add top-off (not automated).

Early in the hobby I added too much kalk. Unless you have a ph meter and keep track of your KH, be wary of adding much kalk. You can easily distort tank chemistry.

-- Patrick

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not much of a fan of Nilsen reactors, unless you are space limited. I dose limewater from a 44 gallon trash can using a Reef Filler pump in my basement and a float switch in my sump. But there are lots of other ways as well.

In most cases, the concerns about reaction with air are overblown, although one should not continuously stir or aerate limewater. I address such concerns in this article:

The Degradation of Limewater (Kalkwasser) in Air
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.htm

[juststartingout]

Thanks for your time and insight!! Happy New Year!!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome and Happy New Year to you too! :)