kalk dosing question

[Diver4life]

every week the alkalinity in my tank drop from 9 dkh to 7. I raise it with reef buffer every week,but i read that you can make a kalk douser and use it to replace the evaporation water from the tank. heres my questions:
1. the pickling lime that you find in grocery stores are the same that the one that you make with the calcium hydroxide powder and water? or i have to add water to the pickling lime?
2.Im losing about 1 gal.every 2 days from evaporation, how can i know how many drops per minutes i should set the kalk douser?
Sorry for my English guys...

 

[sjm817]

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

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

 

[Diver4life]

thanks for the links buddy, hope those links help. i will read it now.

 

[sjm817]

They will give you a very good start. Post back after you read them with questions if you still have them.

 

[Diver4life]

ok i will, thanks for your help buddy.

 

[Diver4life]

sjm817 whats your preference to make the lime water? pickling lime or
calcium hydroxide powder? how much for each part, i mean amount of water and amount of product to produce the lime water. Sorry buddy i read the article, but theres some things that i didnt understand,like quicklime is the same pickling lime? and amount of water to mix with the product to make the correct dose of limewater. hope you understand what im trying to said,some times is hard for me to express myself in English. thanks anyway for your help.

 

[sjm817]

Pickling lime is calcium hydroxide, so if the quality is good, there should be very little difference. You can mix up to 2 teaspoons/gallon. This gives you full saturation. You just mix it in, cover it, let it settle and use it. Do not remix. Maybe start with 1 tsp/G and see how it goes. You need to test your ca/alk/ph when doing this to see if you are using the right amount.

To deliver it, I like a good auto topoff system that replaces evaporated water to the limewater slowly through out the day. Some stuff settles to the bottom. Have it so the pump does not pull up that stuff.

 

[Diver4life]

I appreciate your help,thanks buddy.

 

[Sk8r]

quicklime is burnt lime: it is calcium oxide: do NOT use it. It would probably nuke your tank.

pickling lime is calcium HYDRoxide. This is the one you use in a kalk reactor or kalk drip. Mrs Wages is the common brand.

 

[sjm817]

According to RHF, Quicklime if fine to use.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

What Is Lime?

According to the National Lime Association, “lime” is defined as either quicklime or hydrated lime. These materials are made by heating calcium carbonate until the carbon dioxide is driven off, forming quicklime (calcium oxide):

1. CaCO3 à CaO + CO2

Water can then be added to form hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide; referred to subsequently in this article as just lime):

2. CaO + H2O à Ca(OH)2


Both lime and quicklime are suitable for making limewater (kalkwasser) and otherwise supplementing calcium and alkalinity in reef aquaria. There are some important differences between the use of lime and quicklime that will be discussed in subsequent sections. These differences relate to the fact that quicklime is slightly more potent and gets hot when water is added to it (equation 2).

 

[Diver4life]

thanks both of you guys for all the information.

 

[baldomero]

primo que lo que hay mi pana?

 

[Diver4life]

hey primo todo bien ya mismo vienes

 

[Diver4life]

primo trata de conseguirme pickling lime en los supermercados de alla, si puedes , aqui no los he visto.

 

[baldomero]

adonde se consigue

 

[Diver4life]

en grocery store o supermercados.