Firedawg56;n633813 said:
Kalk--Kalkwasser, Calcium hydroxide, Limewater, or Mrs Wages Pickling lime are all the same they are mixed in to RODI water (you cannot mix with saltwater) at a ratio of 0-2 teaspoons per gallon of water
1. Two teaspoons per gallon is the max saturation of Calcium hydroxide that you can mix into one gallon of RODI water
a. When mixing Kalk you need to avoid creating air bubbles when mixing it
i. Excess air bubbles will cause calcium to precipitate out of your mix
ii. This precipitation will show up as a white powder on the bottom of your mix container
iii. The more Precipitation you have the less effective your Kalk will be
iv. Kalk will lose its effectiveness if made ahead of time and therefore needs to be made fresh or in a reactor (I have actually seen several thread that will argue against this loss of effectiveness) grain of salt here
2. Kalk is used in place of top off water and therefore limits the amount of alkalinity and calcium you can replace back into your system
3. Kalk is very effective at replacing equal amounts of alkalinity and calcium but its effectiveness is directly related to the load of calcium based species you have in your system. If you were running a straight SPS system it is probably not what you are looking for. If you are running a mix of a few SPS, LPS, and Softies it might be just what you are looking for. Trial and testing is the only way to see if it will work for your system.
4. If you are already testing levels of alkalinity and calcium It is very inexpensive to try it and see if Kalk will work for you. Go to Walmart buy a $4 bag of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime and see if it maintains your levels of Alk and Calc
5. You need to establish good levels of alkalinity and Calcium in your system before you start using Kalk as it is rare that Kalk will increase these levels in your system
1 True, that is about the most you can "fully" saturate
a Its actually air contact, and more specific, CO2, which makes this partially true, but why would you have air bubbles, not a good method to stir with
i Does not make it participate "out". Will make it form a crust, and that actually will protect the solution.
ii Not true, what falls out of suspension is unsaturated powder, and that is what a reactor is specifically designed for, to keep it stirring until a fresh supply of water is present to saturate.
iii Again, the crust that forms at the top is a protective barrier against further oxidation.
iv Not true, unless your talking about extremely excessive quantities of storage.
2 This is partially true, but only to the point when an actual CA reactor is most efficient. This is subjective, but would require a very large uptake, with abnormally low evaporation.
3 Mostly true, as I described before.
4 Sure, Kalkwasser is generally equal in quality
5 True