New RANDY's 2 part
- Thread starter paradoxycal
- Start date
I 've dosed limewater two ways.
A five gallon buckett with a reasonably snug lid(salt buckett)is used.Drill a hole about1.5inches from the bottom which will snuggly fit a 2 inch long piece of righid airline tube. Spread a bead of"Plumbers Goop" around the outside of the buckett where the rigid tube meets the buckett. Attach flexible airline tube to the rigid tube. Place a plastic airline valve on the end of the tube to regulate the drip.Place the buckett above the waterline of the sump and keep the drip tube out of the water.
Add your lime and then fill with the daily amount of top off your system needs. Stir it up,wait a few hours and drip it(preferably at night). A generally safe rate is a maximum of 1 gallon per hour of fully saturated (2tsps per gal) limewater.
I used this technique for over a year. Now I do the mixing once a week in a brute garbage can and dose at night with a dosing pump.
I also use a calcium reactor 24/7 and the tww balance each other off nicely.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm
This article and the two others on limewater by Randy are very helpful.
A five gallon buckett with a reasonably snug lid(salt buckett)is used.Drill a hole about1.5inches from the bottom which will snuggly fit a 2 inch long piece of righid airline tube. Spread a bead of"Plumbers Goop" around the outside of the buckett where the rigid tube meets the buckett. Attach flexible airline tube to the rigid tube. Place a plastic airline valve on the end of the tube to regulate the drip.Place the buckett above the waterline of the sump and keep the drip tube out of the water.
Add your lime and then fill with the daily amount of top off your system needs. Stir it up,wait a few hours and drip it(preferably at night). A generally safe rate is a maximum of 1 gallon per hour of fully saturated (2tsps per gal) limewater.
I used this technique for over a year. Now I do the mixing once a week in a brute garbage can and dose at night with a dosing pump.
I also use a calcium reactor 24/7 and the tww balance each other off nicely.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm
This article and the two others on limewater by Randy are very helpful.
hypernesia
New member
So if I make up kalk in a 33 gallon trash can and use a 3gpd reef filler that I set to my evap rate I shouldn't need any floats is that correct? Based on 1.5 gpd evap on my tank the trash can should last 21 days. How much kalk should I put in the trash can on initial setup? How long should it be mixed and how long should I wait to start using it. Thanks for your help
I don't use any floats because I trust the liter meter and I only have 30g still resevoir for a 500g system. A redundant shut off system of some kind(a solenoid which would shut down the pump if a certain sump level were exceeded) would be a good safety fixture with a large resevoir,in my opinion. My friend has used a reef filler diaphram pump for about ten years without any issues at all.
Randy Homes Farley wrote an article on limewater degradation in air. The limewater interacts to some degree with the air and picks up CO2 forming unusable calcium carbonate which forms a film on the top of the water and some settles to the bottom. If I remeber correctly his tests showed that the dragradation in strength of fully saturated limewater was minimal and insignificant without restirring over the course of a week to ten days as long as there was extra undissoved lime in the bottom of the resevoir, 21 days might be a problem without restirring,although, the film on top may give you more time since it is thought to seal off the air.
I calculate out two tsps per gallon and the add an extr 20%to insure there is extra to cover degradation. The slurry that forms on the bottom of the resevoir consists of precipitated impurities and excess undisolved lime.When you use more than 2 tsps per gallon the excess will not dissove and falls to the bottom to be used later.
When restirred it will dissove but the crystalized impurities will not.
Good Luck
Randy Homes Farley wrote an article on limewater degradation in air. The limewater interacts to some degree with the air and picks up CO2 forming unusable calcium carbonate which forms a film on the top of the water and some settles to the bottom. If I remeber correctly his tests showed that the dragradation in strength of fully saturated limewater was minimal and insignificant without restirring over the course of a week to ten days as long as there was extra undissoved lime in the bottom of the resevoir, 21 days might be a problem without restirring,although, the film on top may give you more time since it is thought to seal off the air.
I calculate out two tsps per gallon and the add an extr 20%to insure there is extra to cover degradation. The slurry that forms on the bottom of the resevoir consists of precipitated impurities and excess undisolved lime.When you use more than 2 tsps per gallon the excess will not dissove and falls to the bottom to be used later.
When restirred it will dissove but the crystalized impurities will not.
Good Luck
hypernesia
New member
Thanks for the help. Currently reading Randy's articles!!
I do not know, but it is a double edged sword. If it is a Dow product, it likely is OK aside from the excessive bromide. If it is not, the we do not know anything about whether it is pure enough or not, regardless of bromide levels.
We already posted that the specific problems it might cause are not known.
ezcompany
Premium Member
Randy, I've been using this to supplement my calcium as i heard it is a substitute for dowflake.
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/H...us-45-lbs/D/30100/P/1:100:1000:100030/I/14428
Have you heard of any impurities for this product?
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/H...us-45-lbs/D/30100/P/1:100:1000:100030/I/14428
Have you heard of any impurities for this product?
Here's an old thread on it. It may be repackaged Dow material and/or another supplier. In either case I cannot say it is OK (or not).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1040275
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1040275
Havent been following this thread so this has probably been covered but I came up with a solution to the calcium chloride problem a while ago that suited me, but it might not suit anyone else.
Would need one of the experts to comment on whether its a good idea or not but...
I had loads of analytic grade kalk having bought a load of it, but when I got fed up with kalk with my paltry evaporation here in the freezing UK, i turned it into nice pure calcium chloride with hydrochloric acid.
To get the hydrochloric acid nice and clean, I did something called sub boiling distillation. Sounds complicated but it wasent.
I got muratic acid from the hardware store, which was 33% hydrochloric acid.
Then I got 2 pyrex bowls about 12 inches in diameter from the food store and a smaller one that fit inside the pair of large ones.
Then this bit is hard to describe: I placed one bowl on the table open end up (as you would if you were about to pour water into it). Placed a glass inside this and the small bowl on that, and poured some acid into this small bowl. Then the other large bowl went on top, upside down. This made a sort of chamber out of the two larger bowls, with the smaller bowl inside sitting up on a glass.
Then I used a 500w garden spotlight (halogen 5 pounds from the hardware place) shining through the top bowl onto the bowl with acid in it. Left it outside for a while then because it starts to smell of acid. The lamp was only a couple of inches away from the base of the top bowl to maximise the heat getting to the acid bowl.
What happens is that the lamp heats the bowl of acid, and the acid evaporates, then it meets the colder outside bowl surface, condenses and trickles into the bottom bowl. This is very pure, at least as far as most of the things we want to keep out of our tanks to the best of my understanding. Metals etc are brought to the ppt range.
To make it more effective I blackened the outside surface of the smaller bowl with a candle flame, and also made a seal out of aquarium silicone stuck to one of the bowls (bit of a trick to that but ill expand if anyone does want to try it).
Then of course just add the pure acid to limewater, pure kalk powder, calcium media etc whatever your pure form of calcium is. Calcium carbonate plus hydrochloric acid makes calcium chloride plus water plus CO2.
Obviously you have to make sure you fully neutralise the acid during the addition otherwise you may add some acid to the tank which is bad. Of course just use excess kalk powder / calcium media to ensure this.
Probably of no use to anyone but I thought I'd mention it just in case.
Would need one of the experts to comment on whether its a good idea or not but...
I had loads of analytic grade kalk having bought a load of it, but when I got fed up with kalk with my paltry evaporation here in the freezing UK, i turned it into nice pure calcium chloride with hydrochloric acid.
To get the hydrochloric acid nice and clean, I did something called sub boiling distillation. Sounds complicated but it wasent.
I got muratic acid from the hardware store, which was 33% hydrochloric acid.
Then I got 2 pyrex bowls about 12 inches in diameter from the food store and a smaller one that fit inside the pair of large ones.
Then this bit is hard to describe: I placed one bowl on the table open end up (as you would if you were about to pour water into it). Placed a glass inside this and the small bowl on that, and poured some acid into this small bowl. Then the other large bowl went on top, upside down. This made a sort of chamber out of the two larger bowls, with the smaller bowl inside sitting up on a glass.
Then I used a 500w garden spotlight (halogen 5 pounds from the hardware place) shining through the top bowl onto the bowl with acid in it. Left it outside for a while then because it starts to smell of acid. The lamp was only a couple of inches away from the base of the top bowl to maximise the heat getting to the acid bowl.
What happens is that the lamp heats the bowl of acid, and the acid evaporates, then it meets the colder outside bowl surface, condenses and trickles into the bottom bowl. This is very pure, at least as far as most of the things we want to keep out of our tanks to the best of my understanding. Metals etc are brought to the ppt range.
To make it more effective I blackened the outside surface of the smaller bowl with a candle flame, and also made a seal out of aquarium silicone stuck to one of the bowls (bit of a trick to that but ill expand if anyone does want to try it).
Then of course just add the pure acid to limewater, pure kalk powder, calcium media etc whatever your pure form of calcium is. Calcium carbonate plus hydrochloric acid makes calcium chloride plus water plus CO2.
Obviously you have to make sure you fully neutralise the acid during the addition otherwise you may add some acid to the tank which is bad. Of course just use excess kalk powder / calcium media to ensure this.
Probably of no use to anyone but I thought I'd mention it just in case.
Last edited:
Wow, that's a lot of work, but an interesting science experiment.
FWIW, I expect that almost everyone would prefer to buy calcium chloride than to try to make it themselves, but it certainly can be done.
FWIW, I expect that almost everyone would prefer to buy calcium chloride than to try to make it themselves, but it certainly can be done.
I found this business report about Calcium Chloride producers. It's from 2000 but I'd guess that many of them are still producing it.
http://www.the-innovation-group.com/ChemProfiles/Calcium Chloride.htm
http://www.the-innovation-group.com/ChemProfiles/Calcium Chloride.htm
:thumbsup:
Nice list of place to look for other products.
Nice list of place to look for other products.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11669365#post11669365 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Wow, that's a lot of work, but an interesting science experiment.
FWIW, I expect that almost everyone would prefer to buy calcium chloride than to try to make it themselves, but it certainly can be done.
Yes as you say lot of work... here in the uk we're starved of chemicals though, getting an assay is a nightmare so this might have its uses to make small quantities of additives if youre that way inclined as I unfortunately am...
BTW Randy I believe youre one of the experts on this board arent you? I have read a lot of your articles and gained a lot from them so thanks. Dident even fully understand alk till those articles...
Care to comment on the electrochemistry in a (slightly insane possibily) post I made under another thread? Would appreciate a chemists critque.
I replied to the other thread.
Similar threads
