Tip for newer limewater users.

[Samper]

I had mentioned to Rocky the other day that my ph had been a little low for the past few days and I couldn't figure out why. It was still in the acceptable range and had little swing but was still slightly low for my tastes. I drip 2 litres of limewater every night and monitor my pinpoint monitor very closely.
Anyway...I mix up my limewater in a 5 gallon bucket by dumping in quite a bit of wages and adding Ro water. Not very scientific I know......
I fill up my 2 litre every night and when the bucket gets low I add more water stirring it up and continue this procedure for 2 weeks or so. It's now obvious to me that I use up the wages faster than 2 weeks. I've been under the assumption that as long as there was still white sediment in the bottom of my bucket that I was alright. This isn't the case, there will always be sediment in the bottom even after the powder is used up. I changed out the bucket yesterday and added fresh wages and RO water. What do ya know last night the Ph came right up to where I like it for early morning about 8.15. This
afternoon it's now at 8.41 which is much better than the 7.9 I had been holding at for the past few days. If I didn't have my pinpoint I wouldn't have any idea this was taking place. Yeah I could tediously measure the powder per gallon rule out as needed but I'm pretty busy to do that every other day.
I'm not trying to tell someone to be lazy but only that this way works also.
Hope this helps some of you who are new to dripping limewater. ;)

[Ninong]

I wouldn't and don't do it the way you are doing it for two reasons, the first of which you seem to have discovered for yourself and that is that much of the sediment in the bottom of the bucket is harmful precipitates that contain impurities. The second reason, which you have discovered, too, but you just don't realize it is that limewater looses its efficiency over time due to absorption of carbon dioxide from the air. In fact, you could make it virtually useless within a few hours by leaving a powerhead running in the container with the lid off.

This has been discussed on Reefland more than once already in the past few months. Maybe you weren't part of those threads? Always stir your limewater for just as long as required to get it to mix thoroughly. Using Mrs. Wages pickling lime, I find that it will mix thoroughly in about 10 to 15 seconds. Never allow any of the sediment from the bottom of the container to get into your aquarium and empty your limewater container every couple of weeks or so to get rid of the sediment.

I always use my limewater within 48 hours. I realize some people mix it up in batches that will last a week but that's about the limit and that would require that you keep the lid on the container. An even better way to prevent carbon dioxide absorption would be to use a container with a floating lid. These are available online from places like U.S. Plastic. I haven't bothered with one of those because I don't mix mine up in large batches. The container that I use holds just a little over four gallons.

People who mix up limewater in larger containers so that it will last them two or three weeks probably have never tested the pH of their limewater after the first couple of weeks because if they did, they would probably be surprised. The pH of saturated limewater is supposed to be 12.4.

[Samper]

I realize that I need to keep it covered and not use any of the fall out but didn't realize that a week was about the limit. I seem to recall someone telling me that I might be ok for a couple of weeks max by keeping it covered which I have been doing. I can use about 17 litres of the 5 gallons which for me is 8 days worth of limewater. Do you think if I measure the exact amount of wages for the 5 gallons that I can get by with 8 days?

[Poseidon]

Hey Ninong, what IS that precipitate anyway? Why is it harmful? And if you use a Kalk reactor how does the reactor keep that precipitate out of the tank? I only ask cause I don't understand, by looking at the pictures on myreef it seems his Nielson reactor just stirs the kalk in then pushes the mix into the tank by way of a dosing pump? Is he pushing the powder in suspension too, or is there some sort of timer that allows the mix to settle before it is pumped in? Also I thought I read or heard that adding raw kalk mix directly to the skimmer input is good for precipitating PO4 out of the water...

[Ninong]

Hey Ninong, what IS that precipitate anyway?

The sediment in the bottom of the bucket is many things. It can be undissolved calcium hydroxide if you used more than two teaspoons of dry mix per gallon of freshwater and it will gradually build up a growing amount of precipitated junk that includes impurities and even metals. If you want the technical breakdown, read one of Randy's articles:

• (1) The Self Purification of Limewater: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

• (2) The Degradation of Limewater in Air: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-0...ture/index.htm Samper needs to read this one, too.

• (3) What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

Why is it harmful?

See (1) and (3) above.

And if you use a Kalk reactor how does the reactor keep that precipitate out of the tank?

The precipitate settles to the bottom of the reactor chamber. The clear liquid at the top is what is drawn off. You need to set your stirrer to come on at the appropriate times. Even if it comes on at the wrong time, you would be dripping just a very small amount before it settled back down again. Incidentally, these things can wipe out your tank if you have a mechanical malfunction of almost any sort. I can name three or four people who lost their tanks because their kalkwasser reactors overdosed. Two people who come to mind right away both had 400+ gallon tanks. In the case of one individual, who is a moderator on Reefland, his skimmer malfunctioned and started dumping water. This caused his water level to drop, which caused his Kalkwasser reactor to overdose because all of his topoff water was running through his Kalkwasser reactor. This happened to him in the middle of the night. He lost 95% of his animals and had to restart his tank.

Other disasters involving Kalkwasser reactors involved malfunctioning float valves.

I only ask cause I don't understand, by looking at the pictures on myreef it seems his Nielson reactor just stirs the kalk in then pushes the mix into the tank by way of a dosing pump? Is he pushing the powder in suspension too, or is there some sort of timer that allows the mix to settle before it is pumped in?

I don't have one but I assume that it would be better to have the dosing function turned off somehow for a couple of hours after the mixing takes place. However, if the dosing rate is only a couple of drops per second, you're probably going to be OK.

Also I thought I read or heard that adding raw kalk mix directly to the skimmer input is good for precipitating PO4 out of the water...

I've never heard that you should ever add pure calcium hydroxide mix anywhere in your tank! I do drip my limewater in my sump directly in front of the pump intake for the skimmer because that's the most efficient place for precipitating phosphate. Some people will dump a pint or so of limewater all at once and they might as well dump it near the pump intake for the skimmer. I guess. Supposedly it's safe to dump it all at once as long as the amount is relatively small compared to the size of your tank. Under no conditions can you safely add all of your evaporation replacement limewater all at once unless you have virtually no evaporation at all. For example, my tank has about 100 gallons of saltwater in it. I could dump a liter of limewater all at once if I wanted to but I don't want to. So there. I prefer to drip the 1-1/2 to 2 gallons each night.