Calcium and sodium barcarbonate in ATO

Will these two molecules in my ATO cooperate for dosing or will they precipitate out.

I am looking at adding 1 tsp of calcium and 3 tsp of sodium bicarbonate to my 5 gallon ATO bucket to keep up with my demand. I have been adding sodium bicarbonate for a couple weeks, but now my calcium demand is elevating to about 2.5 ppm per day.

If not, will (pickling) lime work (aka kalkwasser)? If so, how on earth do I begin to calculate demand for that? I can figure out demand for the two individually, but not together.

 

start with mixing kalk about 1/2 spoon per gallon of top off water. Test cal and alk after a day or two and adjust the amount. I believe that the most that kalk will dissolve into is 2 spoons a gallon. Any more and it will just precipitate out. Another thing to keep in mind is to not mix it too vigorously. Supposedly the more you mix it after it turns cloudy in the water, the less potent it is. Bulkreefsupply has a good video on kalk.

 

My concern is overdoing it and slowly creeping the numbers up. With the two separating, I can calculate exactly how much I need to dose daily.

 

I don't think it will work. I'm pretty sure they will precip out...I may be wrong though.

 

That was my thought and fear. I guess I can either manually dose or switch to Kalk, which seems much, much less precise.

 

Mix em together and see what happens lol.

 

from my experience with my 55. it takes a lot to make those numbers creep up and overdose kalk unless your top off pump malfunctions and doesn't shut off. Then you will have a PH spike. I keep my mix at 1 spoon per gallon and I actually have to supplement alk a tiny bit in between water changes.

 

It won't work; sorry. You'll have a slurry.

Kalk in an ATO is popular for a reason.

 

it would work great on apstatia lol

 

Well that's good, still has me nervous though.

Yeah, I figured. Not sure how to dose it accurately though. I can calculate calc and alk demands.