Based on this poll, there seems to be a lot of misconception (it's difficult) and misinformation (it'll nuke your tank and seize your pumps) out there about kalkwasser (lime water). No, it's not some magical powder (so don't go sniffing it!) and it won't be the be-all-end-all of calcium/alkalinity supplementation, but in my opinion, it has many clear advantages over DIY two part/B-Ionic/other commercial products. I think everyone can benefit from kalk one way or another so go arm yourself with knowledge and read up:
What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
Degradation of Lime
Metals in Limewater (precipitation)
Good Kalkwasser Discussion
Feel free to ask here if you have further questions/concerns from reading those papers. Hope this helps, cheers!
Update, here's a pros and cons list as someone asked this recently:
Just to expand on what Ed said. Here are the pros and cons of using kalkwasser:
Pros:
- Maintain balanced alkalinity and calcium levels with one single solution.
- Maintain or raise pH, desirable in some if not most systems. Particularly those using calcium reactors.
- Can be used in conjuction with a top off system thus supplementation and top off can be handled in one fell-swoop.
- Can precipitate (lower) levels of some toxic metals and one particularly important element, phosphate.
- Kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide/picking lime) powder is very inexpensive and simple to prepare when compared to other supplementation methods, even two-part schemes.
Cons:
- Will raise pH in a system with chronically high pH levels. As a result, if careful planning is not done before using a kalkwasser regime, elevated pH levels may have detrimental effect.
- While kalkwasser powder (pickling lime/calcium hydroxide) itself is inexpensive, the method in which one delivers it could be expensive. Because the dissolved kalkwasser solution is saturated calcium, it could quickly seize a conventional powerhead. One must use a peristaltic pump where no moving parts touch the kalkwasser solution and these pumps can be expensive. Another option is to use a calcium dispenser like the Tunze unit or a DIY unit (Ed can chime in on how it is done).
- The biggest drawback is the possibility of an overdose if one were to use kalkwasser in conjuction with an auto top off system carelessly. If careful planning is not done with the top off system, a failed auto top off system can dump too much kalkwasser in a system and spike the pH level and potentially crash it.
Note: Kalkwasser is used safely by many, many systems worldwide without a problem (many years without a problem myself) but it must be done carefully.
One more note: The use of Nilsen or Kalkwasser Reactors where kalkwasser is either continuously or periodically used is not necessary and not recommended as these have a high probability of failing. The conventional method recommended by Randy Holmes-Farley is a much better alternative.
Reply With Quote