Calcium Reactor feed with R.O. water?

[jumboshrimp18]

Question is, can you draw water from an R.O. reserve to feed a calcium reactor? Simple question really, can you use fresh water in the reactor instead of saltwater....
The reason that has been posted in the advanced forum is because so far I've asked quite a number of knowledgeable advanced aquarists and vendors and so far the general consensus is NO but nobody's really sure why...

 

[JetCat USA]

fresh water, especially RO/DI, lacks minerals (Mg being a major one) that allows the water to become super saturated with Ca and CO3 (without precipitation) and that limits it's buffering ability so you'd never get enough buffering to the tank without drastically changing the salinity.

 

[stugray]

I have always wondered about this too

"fresh water, especially RO/DI, lacks minerals "

Isnt this exactly what we are looking for in a calcium reactor? Something to transport "minerals" ( calcium & whatever else you put in the reactor ). If the feed water is is 'lacking' these minerals, then wouldnt using RO/DI actually pull MORE minerals from the reactor?

The only problem that I see is that topoff water and reactor water arent always running at the same rate. Your reactor water effluent rate is not the same as your topoff rate. This could make for tricky controls.


Stu

 

[JetCat USA]

without Mg in the water you can't super saturate it with Ca and CO3 it'll simply precipitate out making some really nice sand, and if you just want sand for your tank, CaribSea is allot cheaper and quicker........... a Ca/CO3 reactor isn't running at a low enough pH to dissolve the Mg contained in the reactors media and if you did you'd mud the media at that low a pH. so NO RO/DI water will pull far less Ca and CO3 buffers from the media.

 

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10859318#post10859318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
without Mg in the water you can't super saturate it with Ca and CO3 it'll simply precipitate out making some really nice sand, and if you just want sand for your tank, CaribSea is allot cheaper and quicker........... a Ca/CO3 reactor isn't running at a low enough pH to dissolve the Mg contained in the reactors media and if you did you'd mud the media at that low a pH. so NO RO/DI water will pull far less Ca and CO3 buffers from the media.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[MCsaxmaster]

Agreed, CaCO3 is far less soluble in freshwater as compared to sea water mostly because the other ions in sea water form ion pairs with calcium and carbonate, increasing solubility. You could use freshwater in a calcium reactor, but not much is going to dissolve as compared to using sea water, hence you'll get very diminished returns. It *could* be done and *could* work, but there's no way to get nearly as much CaCO3 to dissolve as with sea water.

cj