Kalk Mix Slugde

[jbpig]

After ya'll mix your kalk mix and let it sit a day there is always some undisolved stuff. I was wondering if anyone uses a cofee filter to filter out the sludge so you have a pure-er kalk mix.....I plan on trying this next time i mix, Anyone ever done this and had success?

TIA
Joe

 

[jdeets]

When I used kalk, I'd just mix it in a pitcher and let it settle over several hours. I used an airline tubing as a siphon and an airline ball valve to control the drip rate. The siphon tube was put in such that it would siphon about an inch above the bottom--keeping the sludge out.

It sounds like to me that trying to actually pour kalk mix through a filter would be a big pain, not to mention the fact that you risk spillage or getting it on yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you Matt! You are always so helpful. I appreciate it.

I guess it's time for me to set up an experimental tank using kalk sludge as sand...

 

[liquid]

I believe it to be a blend of both CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2 as whenever someone mixes up a batch of kalkwasser they always add a little excess Ca(OH)2 to the container to make sure that it's a saturated solution. Some of the calcium in solution will react w/ CO2 and precipitate out as CaCO3 but not all of the powder on the bottom will do this. I believe it to be a combination.

liquid

 

[Bob Gardner]

I mix my Kalk in a Kalk dispenser that has a motor driven stirrer in it.It has gravity fed RO water thro an airline from a reservour above my reef tank. Each time that I notice that the pH is dropping I add some more Hydroxide to it. I get a build up of sludge at the bottom of the cannister. I recently tried an experiment by putting a hand held rod down it and stirring up all of the sludge and then waited for it to settle again. When I turned it back on the pH started climbing again,so there was a lot of life still in that sludge. It just wanted releasing.
Bob

 

[Bigflatus]

I was just wondering about this myself. If you take the top 1/2 out of the bucket can you add more water, and stir it up again. Then have more solution to add w/o adding more kalkwasser to the mix??

 

[jdeets]

Yes, Ez, you can add more water and dissolve more of the Ca(OH)2 in the new batch. That will work because a lot of the sludge is Ca(OH)2, because with a saturated solution you're always going to have undissolved powder at the bottom.

P.S. Don't use it as sand unless you want a pH in the experimental tank of 11.0!

[ July 19, 2001: Message edited by: jdeets ]

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone know the chemical makup of the kalk sludge? I get rid of a lot of it every week, is there any use for it? If it's just precipitated CACO3 then it seems it would make an excellent sand. I'm just ignorant of its true composition....

 

[MattM]

I beleive it is CaCO3. The kalkwasser reacts with CO2 in the air, forms CaCO3 and then it sinks to the bottom.