Ok....so I did what I should have done in the first place; I ordered the sulphur from Premium Aquatics and should have it by Tuesday. They always said patience is key to this hobby and it is obviously applicable to every facet. I called all the hydroponic sites and none of them could guarantee that I would receive the larger pellets instead of the tiny split pea sized ones.
On a side note, I found an old article from 2005 (
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=167454) and it went into the chemical reaction taking place and specific amounts of chemicals. They talked about the amount of calcium released into the tank in comparison to how much is normally dosed into a reef tank. Just thought it was interesting.
2. CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTATION
Randy takes a crack at how much calcium might be produced in the below
To estimate the magnitude of the effect, we start with a liberal estimate of how much
nitrate might be removed. Say 10 ppm of nitrate per week.
10 ppm nitrate = 0.16 mmole/L of nitrate
Since 4 moles of H+ are produced for every 6 moles of nitrate consumed, this will produce
0.107 mmoles/L of H+ per week
How much calcium this could produce?
Assume that it takes one proton to dissolve one calcium carbonate:
CaCO3 + H+ ---> Ca++ + HCO3-
Clearly, this is a substantial overestimate because much of the acid will be used up driving the pH down to the point where CaCO3 can even begin to dissolve. Consequently, we have an upside limit of
0.107 mmoles of Ca++ per week
since calcium weighs 40 mg/mmol, that's
4.3 ppm Ca++ per week.
For comparison, an aquarist adding 2% of the tank volume in saturated limewater daily is adding on the order of 16 ppm of calcium per day. Consequently, this method may not be especially useful for maintaining calcium and alkalinity levels. On the other hand, the acid produced will have a long term lowering effect on the alkalinity, so if you use it, watch the alkalinity.
