To much in kalkmixer equals bad pH

[Dk Coral]

Hi Randy and other

My RODI water runs through a bottle contaning some calcium powder, so i top off with kalkwasser ;)

Its all good and i run a Deltec Ca reactor also ;)

But a fellow reefer of mine said the other day that if i add to much powder to the bottle there would happend something to its pH value ???
I have enough powder inthere to go for a month, where as he says i should only have like 1 or 2 spoon fulls - else its all wasted(because of the pH value getting low over time or what ever he said) ???

Is there anything to it ?

To me it sounds crazy but then again chemistry and me is like oil and water :D

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the "calcium powder" that you are using is calcium hydroxide, then you can only dissolve a couple of level teaspoons in a gallon of fresh water. Adding more will just result in solids that settle out on the bottom.

If you dose too much clear limewater, or dose a lot of the solids, the pH can get too high in the aquarium.

This article has a lot more detail on the concerns with using limewater:

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

[Dk Coral]

Great article Randy i got so much wiser on the subject !

But there are one thing i dont quite get, you write the following in the article under "Limitations To Limewater: Limits To The Addition Of Calcium And Alkalinity" :

"One way to enlarge the limewater’s impact is to add fans to the aquarium to increase evaporation."

How is that - please explain ? And whould that help on my pH value that has been kinda low lately because of winter time here in Denmark which means closed windows and the tank being in a little room with 2 people.....

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

ow is that - please explain ?

Many people, myself included, dose limewater to replace all evaporated water. If you increase evaporation, you can dose more limewater.

Any limewater will help raise pH, and the more you use, the more the pH will rise.

[Dk Coral]

Are okay ;)

Thanks for taking the time to explain !

And here are some pictures of the DIY kalkmixer setup i use besides my deltec ca reactor.
Its just a bottle, connected to the RODI top off pump.... It works great :

http://www.saltvandsforum.dk/files/kalk_reaktor.jpg

http://www.saltvandsforum.dk/files/img_1093_466.jpg

http://www.saltvandsforum.dk/files/img_1092_103.jpg

Hole in the return pipe to prevent draw back of kalkwasser back into the RODI storage :

http://www.saltvandsforum.dk/files/img_1088_858.jpg

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is the limewater delivered always cloudy?

[Dk Coral]

No its kinda clear with a white touch to the color ;) I guessing that you where about to say something about it, if that was the kind of kalkwasser i where pumping into my sump ???

The picture is taken right after a fill up when there is water pumped into the bottle. This courses a big stir up !



BTW - How is it going with the stuff you where talking about for some time ago, which would make corals grow faster ? Still on the drawing board or ??

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

BTW - How is it going with the stuff you where talking about for some time ago, which would make corals grow faster ? Still on the drawing board or ??

Still not proven one way or the other. :)

[Dk Coral]

Keeping the cards close to the body.....

:D :D :D

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Keeping the cards close to the body.....

Yes. But to be fair, there was also a miscommunication between myself and someone going to run the tests, so we'll have to start over. :(