Limewater (kalwasser) Saturation help!

atomic081

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Hello everyone, Thanks ahead of time for the help.

Im going to start dosing Kalkwasser (Ms Wages Pickling lime) instead if dosing 2part. Im having trouble understanding the saturation level on my kalkwasser setup.

My system is right at 1050 gallons
Based on my Trident, the system uses .03 Alk a day
Im going to use a 55g drum with a return pump that pumps into pvc that creates a swirl effect in the 55g drum to keep it mixed at all times.
Im going to then use my dosing system to add Kalwasser as needed.

Im all about automation and I would love to only refill the 55g drum once every few month.

I keep seeing that much more than 2 tsp per gallon of pickling lime will saturate the water. Is it possible to add 4, 8, or even 10 tsp of Lime per gallon so that I dont need to add as many gallons per day, thus making my 55g drum of water last much longer?
 
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atomic081

atomic081

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So after more digging into this im finding that adding much more than 2 tsp per gal, the water will not take anymore and what is not saturated just falls to the bottom?


So if thats the case. Could I add 10 tsp of Lime per gallon (hypatheically) and put the kalkwasser setup on a float valve from my RO to refill. Then I only dose water off the top (to make sure any excess lime doesnt get into the doser) and just make sure i keep it over saturated. If that makes any sense?
 

Flippers4pups

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So after more digging into this im finding that adding much more than 2 tsp per gal, the water will not take anymore and what is not saturated just falls to the bottom?


So if thats the case. Could I add 10 tsp of Lime per gallon (hypatheically) and put the kalkwasser setup on a float valve from my RO to refill. Then I only dose water off the top (to make sure any excess lime doesnt get into the doser) and just make sure i keep it over saturated. If that makes any sense?

No. Adding more to water will only precipitate out to the bottom of the container.

Here's a good read on Kalkwasser. It also covers a recipe to boost it's effectiveness.


You would have to fill your container with RO/DI and then add the calcium hydroxide (vinegar if you choose to use that) all at first. From there you could do the math on topping off the container and adding more calcium hydroxide depending on how much water you add.

Top off container needs a tight lid to keep C02 from reducing it's effectiveness.
 

RobB'z Reef

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You have a 1,000 gallon aquarium?

You might want to spend some quality time here...

 

Flippers4pups

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If it were me with a very large tank, I'd go calcium reactor for sure, instead of Kalkwasser.
 
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atomic081

atomic081

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You have a 1,000 gallon aquarium?

You might want to spend some quality time here...


Yup I've read all of it many times. Just not implemented it in this way
If it were me with a very large tank, I'd go calcium reactor for sure, instead of Kalkwasser.

I have a calcium reactor but I need something to help with alk and ph


Over stirring/mixing the kalkwasser is bad unless you have added enough carbon via vinegar.
Cheers! Mark

I didn't know that, thanks. I heard people only running the mixer 4x a day for 10min. Would that be enough?
 

dragon99

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You can absolutely dump 10lbs (or whatever you want) into the reservoir at once. Basically the same operation as a Kalk reactor. Mixing constantly would be a bad idea though. I'd just mix when adding new RO water then let it settle before dosing.
 

Flippers4pups

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Are you running a degassing chamber on your calcium reactor?
 
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atomic081

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You can absolutely dump 10lbs (or whatever you want) into the reservoir at once. Basically the same operation as a Kalk reactor. Mixing constantly would be a bad idea though. I'd just mix when adding new RO water then let it settle before dosing.


Thats what I was thinking after reading up on it. I'm glad I asked though cause I didn't know about consistently mixing.
 

Dan_P

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Thats what I was thinking after reading up on it. I'm glad I asked though cause I didn't know about consistently mixing.
Your idea of a stirred excess of kalkwasser with automatic water addition can work.

When you mix or stir a suspension of kalkwasser, CO2 In the air is more quickly dissolved in the basic solution and generating CaCO3 precipitate. This happens without stirring but at a much slower rate.

if you had an airtight lid available, then you would have the capability of stirring excess kalkwasser with automatic addition of fresh water. You would need to come up with some sort of indicator to tell you when the excess kalkwasser was used up. You would also want to keep an eye on the submersible pump used for mixing. It could get coated with precipitate.
 
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atomic081

atomic081

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Your idea of a stirred excess of kalkwasser with automatic water addition can work.

When you mix or stir a suspension of kalkwasser, CO2 In the air is more quickly dissolved in the basic solution and generating CaCO3 precipitate. This happens without stirring but at a much slower rate.

if you had an airtight lid available, then you would have the capability of stirring excess kalkwasser with automatic addition of fresh water. You would need to come up with some sort of indicator to tell you when the excess kalkwasser was used up. You would also want to keep an eye on the submersible pump used for mixing. It could get coated with precipitate.



This was my thought exactly. I do have a airtight lid (I cut a 1 inch hole to allow cords, but i will plug this up.

My plan is to setup the doser to add the kalwasser water from the top of the barrel 8x a day. Immediately after the doser stops, Im going to have the mixer kick on for a few min to stir up the water and shut off. This should give it it aprox 3 hours to settle before i dose again. The RO top off will allow me to just add more Lime on a monthly basis as needed and at this point Im going to take out the pump and give it a good spray down with fresh RO water.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I think so. Do you agree with my setup or is there a better way that I could do this?

Thanks Randy!

Do not keep it stirring unless you totally seal it from air. It is not useful and drives in CO2, degrading it.

I dosed limewater from a 130 gallon reservoir made from three 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together. I would mix the limewater for about 10 minutes until I measured it was saturated or whatever concentration I wanted (by conductivity; saturation is about 10.3 mS/cm), then shut off the stirring and use it over a month or two.

Limewater unstirred in a trash can retains potency for a month or more just with a closed trash can lid. Stirring speeds the degradation.
 
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atomic081

atomic081

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Do not keep it stirring unless you totally seal it from air. It is not useful and drives in CO2, degrading it.

I dosed limewater from a 130 gallon reservoir made from three 44 gallon Brute cans plumbed together. I would mix the limewater for about 10 minutes until I measured it was saturated or whatever concentration I wanted (by conductivity; saturation is about 10.3 mS/cm), then shut off the stirring and use it over a month or two.

Limewater unstirred in a trash can retains potency for a month or more just with a closed trash can lid. Stirring speeds the degradation.


Great, Thank you for the update!
 

szarko

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i hope i can ask here. Randy, i have 100 galon system witk kalkwasser reactor (about 1,5 galon of RO/DI goes in reactor). how much of kalkpowder should i put in reactor? for how long stirrer should be working? is it couple of times per 30 min per day or? and last one, how often should i put new kalk powder in reacotr? thank you. kind regards
 

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