Vinegar in Kalk mix...

Vinegar (acetic acid) neutralizes your kalk mix a bit, giving you a lower pH. At lower pH, bicarbonate does not convert as readily into carbonate. This is good, since the calcium in your water binds to free carbonate and precipitates out as white solid. The solid form is useless to you.

However, the benefits of avoiding this solid form in your dripper are limited. No matter how much calcium you dissolve in your dripper, the same pH effects will apply in your tank. This means that when your drips hits the tank water, they can still form precipitate if your kalk mix is too concentrated or if your tank water is too hard, or if your pH is much higher than it should be.

So the addition of acetic acid provides a marginal improvement over straight limewater since it lets you get more calcium out of your kalkwasser than you normally would. The benefit you gain is simply more calcium added to your tank per gram of kalk added to your doser, and has less to do with the total amount of calcium you are giving your tank.

A less economical solution that would accomplish the same effect would simply be to get a larger resevoir and drip faster, but this might outpace your evaporation rate.

[Birdlady]

Thanks VancouverReef! Welcome! You have so eloquently stated my issue. I was dripping more Kalk than I was getting evap. Plus, my pH would not stay as high as I wanted. I needed a smidge more concentration in my mix, and since my pH was on the low side, no ill effects of precipitation.

I experimented the last 2 days with 10 ml of vinegar in 1000 ml of Kalk....and bang! pH is staying steady at 8.22 which is what I was shooting for . I have not tested the CA yet. will do that tomorrow.

Thanks again for putting it into terms I can understand

[reiple]

Thanks for the correction mmkay!

Sorry BL....I should have said lowered the pH! My mistake.....

Acid lowers the pH level while alkaline raises it. Good you were able to get your pH up. Mine is still @8.2.

[JohnO]

Also

" Vinegar - extending Kalkwasser use

It is possible to add small amounts of vinegar to the Kalkwasser solution to extend its capabilities. The vinegar works in two ways:

Provides a carbon source to bacteria in the tank which will produce carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is important for the conversion of the hydroxide to carbonate/bicarbonate.
Lowers the pH of the solution so that slightly more calcium hydroxide can be dissolved. "

from here

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...alkwasser.html

[Birdlady]

Thanks for that link John! It was very informative! Kewl! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]