kalk water mix

[seamonkey2]

OK, here is a question;
I am gravity feeding, my ca reactors from the over flow boxes in the tank, is working great, I am not even using the pumps
I know that most people use RODI water for the top off mixed with the kalk, , but it occured to me, why not use the same concept for the kalk reactor?, I can hook the incoming tube and use the pressure for the out going feeding tube, and when is time to replenish the kalk media, I'll clamp the line and refill the reactor

I already have an auto. top off hooked to the RODI system, for both tanks

so what do you guys think??

thanks

Jose

[eleyan]

I had the same Idea some time back, but people were saying that Kalk needs to be mixed with fresh water not saltwater. I guess mixing it with salt water might mess with your PH. Not sure.

[falcondob]

I would guess that the tank water is too high in CO2. That would cause excessive calcium carbonate precipitation. Did I get that one right GaryP?

[NaCl_H2O]

Kalkwasser is "Calcium Hydroxide", if you try to mix with saltwater (300-500ppm Ca) you won't get the Kalk suspension target or PH level you are after for dripping Kalk. Not sure, but it might just result in a Ca precipitation mess!

You have to mix Kalk with RO water.

Gary can provide the necessary equations :D

[GaryP]

OK, here goes.

1. At the high pH of saltwater, the calcium will precipitate out. Not only won't you get any Calcium, you will also reduce your alkalinity and end up with a scale problem as well.

2. Kalk only has about a 3% solubility in freshwater (RO). Even if you didn't have a precipitation problem, your solubility in a higher TDS water like seawater would be very low.

Nice idea, but there are some small problems with the chemistry there. Just so you see what I mean, try taking a small container of tank water and dropping a little Kalk into it. You'll see what the problem is right away. My guess is that your Kalk reactor would be scaled up solid within a day.

[seamonkey2]

thanks Gary, back to RO water

Jose