Effectiveness of limewater

[Fliger]

Hi Randy, thanks for the great article. In your summary I'm a bit confused, though. (it's not too difficult to confuse me). You wrote:

"Limewater can lose potency by reacting with carbon dioxide in the air, forming insoluble calcium carbonate. Since calcium carbonate is not an effective supplement of calcium and alkalinity in reef aquaria, the limewater can become less useful through this process."

I guess the "calcium carbonate is not an effective supplement of ca & alk" threw me. Do you mean you don't feel that limewater is NOT sufficient to supply my Ca? I'm only asking because I just set-up a kalk drip & am anxious to see the results. I used to use Tropic Marin Bio Calcium, but it's getting pricey & I'm tripling the size of my tank soon. I can't really afford a Ca reactor & was hoping I could drip to keep up my Ca.

Maybe I'm way off. Many thanks again for all your contributions over the years!

David

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry, I didn't mean to convey that impression at all. Calcium hydroxide dissolved in water (to make limewater or kalkwasser) is a great way to add calcium and alkalinity. It is all that I use for my tank.

If it is allowed to react with too much atmospheric carbon dioxide it will be convertted into calcium carbonate (limestone) that will precipitate from solution, and not be useful as a supplement.

So most folks know that they should not allow their limewater to mix too much with air. For example, never put an airstone in it.

The main point of the article, however, is that most folks worry about that too much.