Re-Using Kalk

[Lars]

I dose kalk regularly as top off. I let it sit for a day so that I can add only the clear water. After the clear water is gone I then refill my container with more RO water (no additional kalk) and let it st and use this to top off. I do this a couple of times and then dump the dregs. Is there any harm or benifit in doing this? I figured I could benifit from re-using some of the kalk the sits at the bottom of the original mixture.

 

[Len]

You can do this, but of course, it'll reduce potency over time. Just make sure to let it sit as you don't want to reuse the precipitated elements.

 

[Lars]

Thanks Len. I understand that it will reduce the potency but wanted to get what I could out of it. What are the precipitated elements? I was under the impression that Kalk was 'pure' :?

 

[kgross]

Kalk is self purifying in that many bad elements will not say de solved at the high pH so they precipitate out of the water. So just make sure that any solids that are left in the bottom of your kalk vessel are not put into the tank.

Other than that what you are doing is fine and works great, works the same as a kalk reactor.

Kim

 

[Anonymous]

The gunk at the bottom is mostly consists of three types:
1, undissolved kalk, if you did not use sufficient RO/DI to dissolve the material.
2, calcium carbonate, created when kalk is exposed to CO2 in the air. The resulting carbonate is pretty much indissolvable and useless for reef purpose. This is why you should keep a close lid on the container to keep the CO2 away.
3, impurities that is part of the kalk manufacture process, unless you buy the reagent grade used in lab, which can be very pure and complete waste of your money. For food grade kalk used in canning, there are a few percentage of impurities. As Kim said, not much to worry about.