Kalkwasser, Vinegar, CO2, Autotopoff

[qfour20]

Hello, one and all. I have been QA'ing an air powered auto topoff (thread here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=22859).

I am now wondering if topping off with Kalk would be a better idea. I think that it would be, as it will help keep alkalinity and Ph in check, as well as raise ca++ concentration. Then I read recently a post on reefs.org mentioned on the boards here: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18...der=asc&start=0

In this article, it suggests intial dissolution of Kalk mix (i'm using pickling lime... cheap!) in acetic acid (distilled vinegar. also cheap!) to ionically balance the kalk. It is described as the equivalent of thoroughly aerating the kalk mixture with CO2 (at least, that's what I got out of it. Please correct me if I'm wrong). What I would take this to mean is that the Kalk mix (besides the benefits in tank of ionic balance, etc.) should NOT be susceptible to precipitating out all of the ca++ ions if exposed to air (CO2).

So, my real question here is: would the vinegar mixed Kalk work with an air powered top-off without the ca++ coming out of solution? Please let me know what you think, as this will probabbly be my approach.

 

-q

[reefermadness]

You still want an airtight container ideally. The air dispensed method will work, but will cut down the effectiveness of the Kalk and cause more precipitation of the carbonate material (sand, sort of). Just get a medical dosing pump. They are cheap (if 50 is cheap) and easy to find. You can then use a tupperware container or cambro to store the solution (with a small hole in it for the tubing that you can grommet). I saw higher concentrations of Ca maintained when I began to use sealed containers.

 

The vinegar has the ancillary benefit of feeding bacteria through the carbon compounds it contains. Nitrates will tend to drop....Mine stay at less than 1ppm with a heavy overstock of fish (36" in a 90 gallon w/ a 29 gallon sump/refugium including a 6" Naso Tang and several palm-sized tangs). Though my macro algae in the refuge grows rapidly, I attribute some of the nitrate reduction to the use of vinegar.

 

I am considering building a CO2 pressurized auto top-off system that would keep the kalk at maxiumum efficiency with a float switch, solenoid regulator, and a five gallon stainless steel soda keg (borrowed from McDonald's). The float switch would control the gas valve and top off with fully saturated kalk solution. My main concern here is the accuracy of the float switch(es) and prevention of large dumps of kalk. It would be nice to make up several kegs of kalk once a month and switch them out once a week with quick-disconnect valves. There is no doubt the CO2 pressure would keep them potent.

 

Anyone know of a highly accurate and reliable float switch for my glass sump? sorry to hijack...I hope this helps.

 

Do a search on Kalkwasser and vinegar, here and on Google. You will find a boatload of info. I've posted several times on this topic in the post couple days.