calcium carbonate
Moderator: snoopdog
calcium carbonate
2 questions. Can I use agricultural lime to add calcium to my tank? Also I work in a papermill. Lime is a by product that they give away. Has anyone ever tried to use papermill lime?
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- Copepod
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:26 pm
- Location: Daphne, AL
Re: calcium carbonate
I've cleaned up garden lime and am currently using the dolomite pellets as a refugium base in our 240.Rebel01 wrote:2 questions. Can I use agricultural lime to add calcium to my tank? Also I work in a papermill. Lime is a by product that they give away. Has anyone ever tried to use papermill lime?
That said, the pure lime is way too dirty. There's a ton of gunk in it. If you want a cheap alternative to Kalkwasser, go to the pickling department at Wal-Mart and grab yourself some bags of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime. I think it's $2 for a sizeable bag (compared to Kalkwasser).
Re: calcium carbonate
By cleaning up do u mean cleaning all the dust and trash?
- Amphiprion
- Astrea snail
- Posts: 1472
- Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:41 pm
- Location: Mobile, AL
Re: calcium carbonate
In short, no. While impurities are definitely a concern, using calcium carbonate at all is a waste of time and money. The solubility of CaCO3 in seawater (with proper parameters) is near-zero. Only some biofilm dissolution would allow any to be freed--and that wouldn't occur at a pace quick enough to keep up with even small demands. Even if you dissolved some in RO water, the gains would be minimal and you'd have to use a lot of it (gallons) to have any sort of effect.Rebel01 wrote:2 questions. Can I use agricultural lime to add calcium to my tank? Also I work in a papermill. Lime is a by product that they give away. Has anyone ever tried to use papermill lime?
Andrew
25g planted nature aquarium
25g planted nature aquarium
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- Copepod
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:26 pm
- Location: Daphne, AL
Re: calcium carbonate
An even better point.Amphiprion wrote:In short, no. While impurities are definitely a concern, using calcium carbonate at all is a waste of time and money. The solubility of CaCO3 in seawater (with proper parameters) is near-zero. Only some biofilm dissolution would allow any to be freed--and that wouldn't occur at a pace quick enough to keep up with even small demands. Even if you dissolved some in RO water, the gains would be minimal and you'd have to use a lot of it (gallons) to have any sort of effect.Rebel01 wrote:2 questions. Can I use agricultural lime to add calcium to my tank? Also I work in a papermill. Lime is a by product that they give away. Has anyone ever tried to use papermill lime?
FWIW - Pickling Lime is calcium hydroxide, same stuff as Kalkwasser. I wouldn't be surprised if the companies just order Pickling Lime from the suppliers and repackaged it and sell it for 5x more.