Yeah, I still got it.

[Anonymous]

Hey Galleon, I thought of another question I might ask you.

Why Sodium Carbonate and Calcium Chloride to replace evaporation instead of Kalk?

I hate dripping and reactors. That's about it.

 

[Anonymous]

Is CaCl worse/better than Calcium hydroxide?

Thanks for asking, Dan, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Anonymous]

I was wondering that also; the 2 part approach still has to be dosed etc, similarly to kalk.

 

[Mihai]

The 2 part you can just "drop" in, the kalk you need to drip (hence the potential for disaster if you don't)...

M.

 

[Anonymous]

I was wondering that also; the 2 part approach still has to be dosed etc, similarly to kalk.

Nope, toss either the calcium chloride or the sodium carbonate in a bucket of RO/DI, mix to dissolve, and top off.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, so you aren't using a dosing pump or something for top off? (he says, belaboring the point)

 

[Tackett]

The biggest problem I had with the NaHCO3 CaCl2 combo was the nasty chalky film deposit that would not come off even after I took the tank down and scrubbed the thing with everything short of HCL acid. Never did figure out why it happened.

 

[Anonymous]

The biggest problem I had with the NaHCO3 CaCl2 combo was the nasty chalky film deposit that would not come off even after I took the tank down and scrubbed the thing with everything short of HCL acid. Never did figure out why it happened.

Inorganic calcium carbonate deposits. You added too much and it precipitated out. You have to be conservative, it takes a lot less than you'd think. You have to take the time to see how much your tank uses.

 

[Tackett]

ahhhh...come to think of it, I was abit generous with that stuff.

 

[Tackett]

btw galleon...

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, so you aren't using a dosing pump or something for top off? (he says, belaboring the point)

Nope. Just a bucket full of RO/DI slowly poured into the sump by hand (yeah, I put a small sump on the tank for convenience).

 

[Anonymous]

Galleon,

i recall an article by Randy Holmes-Farley that warned against a chloride buildup if using Calcium Chloride for regular replacement.
i have been reluctant to use the stuff.

would you consider this an issue?

sorry, i suck at chemistry and non of his explanations tend to sink in with me.

 

[Anonymous]

Galleon,

i recall an article by Randy Holmes-Farley that warned against a chloride buildup if using Calcium Chloride for regular replacement.
i have been reluctant to use the stuff.

would you consider this an issue?

sorry, i suck at chemistry and non of his explanations tend to sink in with me.

Actually yes, it's one of the reasons I do large (nearly 100%) water changes. Good point, Thanks bringing that up. Not just chloride, but sodium as well from the sodium carbonate use.

Do you have a link to that article?

 

[Anonymous]

Very cool setup. However, most of us are reef keepers with fish and mixed corals. So, it isn't really practical for us.

 

[Mihai]

Galleon,

i recall an article by Randy Holmes-Farley that warned against a chloride buildup if using Calcium Chloride for regular replacement.
i have been reluctant to use the stuff.

would you consider this an issue?

sorry, i suck at chemistry and non of his explanations tend to sink in with me.

Actually yes, it's one of the reasons I do large (nearly 100%) water changes. Good point, Thanks bringing that up. Not just chloride, but sodium as well from the sodium carbonate use.

Do you have a link to that article?

Actually I missed this fine point! Where did he say that?!

I think that he refers to this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... 4/chem.htm

What he said is:

A "third" part of this additive system represents the Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate heptahydrate) dissolved in water, and is only required once in a while (perhaps added once every 1-2 months). It serves to prevent sodium and chloride from rising significantly relative to the other major ions, most notably magnesium and sulfate.

So as long as you add the third part too you should be OK.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

galleon,

i am not remembering the specific place i read this or even that it was Randy that explained it.
i looked around a bit at the articles of his that i remember reading and all i find is links to some articles that are now dead links.

they are attached and referenced in some of Randy's articles in Advanced Aquarist and also in his RDO forum.

here is one such place..

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... g+chloride

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. Valid concerns.

As you guys may or may not know, the law of constant composition of seawater dictates that while salinity can change, the ratio of conservative ions (sodium, chloride, sulfate, etc.) does not change. By having a buildup of chloride and sodium cations, you're changing these ratios, even if you maintain your salinity by freshwater additions.

The problem I see with using any supplement other than ACS primary reagent grade material (the purest you can purchase) is that contamination (impurities in the reagents) changes these ion ratios (especially those of trace elements, Strontium, Barium, etc.) over time anyway, even with the addition of magnesium sulfate (which would cause a buildup of sulfate, still changing the ratios).

Large water changes or chemically pure reagents are the only way to prevent this that I see. I try to use both. I see no depletion of magnesium relative to overall salinity when I test for it, so I don't see a problem with my methods.

 

[Anonymous]

Pod,

I think this might be what you were remembering:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... 4/chem.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Yay! Thanks guys, and thanks also for the homemade additive links! Beautiful!



*prance*

 

[Anonymous]

Here's an update pic from today. You can see that the eggcrate is leaching P pretty aggressively, as it's nice and green where the Astreas can't reach (That rock isn't live rock, by the way, it's just holding down the eggcrate).