Calcium reactor CO2 alternative?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Would citric acid add a whole lot less organic carbon than acetic acid(because I think that you would need to add a lot less, because it is a lot more acidic)? Would citric acid be a much better choice than acetic acid?

Somewhat less organic carbon. This process makes no sense, though, IMO.

if you want to use calcium acetate or calcium citrate for some reason, buy it or make It in fresh water and dose it. The extra acid to acidify tank water will just complicate the whole process and potentially add too much organic.

Calcium formate is what Tropic Marin uses in All for Reef.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I may be wrong by saying that citric acid is a lot more acidic than acetic acid. I may have been looking at incomplete information, or I may have misunderstood what it was saying.

The pKa of the organic acid is unimportant. It still takes one unit of acid to dissolve one calcium carbonate (forming bicarbonate).

 

[Jon_W79]

Somewhat less organic carbon. This process makes no sense, though, IMO.

if you want to use calcium acetate or calcium citrate for some reason, buy it or make It in fresh water and dose it. The extra acid to acidify tank water will just complicate the whole process and potentially add too much organic.

Calcium formate is what Tropic Marin uses in All for Reef.

Ok. Thank you. I think that you're right that this process doesn't make sense. Even though I was trying to reinvent the wheel, if the process did make sense and it didn't have any significant drawbacks compared to CO2, I think that a lot of people would be interested in it because I think a lot of people would think it looks a lot better than a CO2 tank(if someone could make money off this, it would make marketing sense if this was true), and they may like the way it works.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Ok. Thank you. I think that you're right that this process doesn't make sense. Even though I was trying to reinvent the wheel, if the process did make sense and it didn't have any significant drawbacks compared to CO2, I think that a lot of people would be interested in it because I think a lot of people would think it looks a lot better than a CO2 tank(if someone could make money off this, it would make marketing sense if this was true), and they may like the way it works.

In a round about way, people were trying to tell you that your idea has been considered many times over in the past, and if there was a better alternative to Co2, there'd be threads debating which is better? Acid or Co2?

I wouldn't go as far as to say that you're late to the party, it's that outside the box thinking that keeps us drudging forward.

 

[Jon_W79]

In a round about way, people were trying to tell you that your idea has been considered many times over in the past, and if there was a better alternative to Co2, there'd be threads debating which is better? Acid or Co2?

I wouldn't go as far as to say that you're late to the party, it's that outside the box thinking that keeps us drudging forward.

"In a round about way, people were trying to tell you that your idea has been considered many times over in the past," I think that statement is kind of an exaggeration.