View Single Post
  #167  
Old 11/27/2005, 12:05 PM
Anthony Calfo Anthony Calfo is offline
Parapterois heterura
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,141
Hmmm... do y'all recall what happens if you let kalkwasser sit exposed to air? That chalky sheen on the surface: insoluble calcium carbonate that precips out and is useless and harmless.

Another famously oversimplified analogy by me Really... this is best taken up with a chemist.

But still you can get my point, yes?

By aertating the effluent of a single stage Ca reactor heavily (or having a wickedly turbulent sump) you will indeed off-gas CO2 faster (good) and form more insoluble calcium carbonate (not good... or at least not ideal).

It may well be a moot point either way (small matter). But as a point of improving technique, I strongly recommend folks use a second stage media chamber on Ca reactors to temper the acidity rather than aerate or expose the effluent to heavy aeration/turbulence.

Its a bit of a balancing act here. You really want the effluent to be diluted (ameliorated... not aerated) into the bulk of the sump/system ASAP. That will minimize wasteful preciptitation... and that can be done without aeration and minimal precipitation.

Has that explanation helped?
__________________
"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day... but if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime."