calcium carbonate

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Rebel01
Amoeba
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Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Gilbertown, Al

calcium carbonate

Post by Rebel01 »

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?
AuroraDrvr
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Re: calcium carbonate

Post by AuroraDrvr »

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?
I've cleaned up garden lime and am currently using the dolomite pellets as a refugium base in our 240.

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).
Rebel01
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Location: Gilbertown, Al

Re: calcium carbonate

Post by Rebel01 »

By cleaning up do u mean cleaning all the dust and trash?
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Amphiprion
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Re: calcium carbonate

Post by Amphiprion »

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?
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.
Andrew

25g planted nature aquarium
AuroraDrvr
Copepod
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Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: Daphne, AL

Re: calcium carbonate

Post by AuroraDrvr »

Amphiprion wrote:
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?
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.
An even better point.

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.
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