Carbon Dioxide precipitating my Calc solution

[redfishbluefish]

So I went to top off my calc container today and as I begin to dump in fresh solution, I see a milky white precipitate getting kicked up. My holding containers for alk and calc are one gallon cereal containers with wide mouth openings. Here's a picture of the stuff after I dumped it into a clear mug:







The solutions I've made up in sealed plastic jugs are still nice and clear. I've been topping off this container for about a year and a half to two years and really never took note of what was going on inside the container. I'm figuring carbon dioxide from the air was playing with the calcium chloride to form calcium carbonate.


CaCl2 + CO2 + H20 -------> CaCO3 + 2 HCl


With this container open to the atmosphere, I guess I'll just have to clean it out every so often. I'll now keep a better eye on when this starts to show up.


Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, that process won't happen because if it produced HCl, the pH would be low enough to redissolve the calcium carbonate.

I'm not sure why it got cloudy, unless it accidently got some alk or magnesium sulfate solution into it.