Increasing Kalk Potency

[jduong916]

I clean out my kalkwasser vat every couple of months and I do this by filling the drum up and adding a gallon of muriatic acid. I notice the kalkwasser residue just dissolves in this solution. It got me thinking that if you add acid to RO/DI water you would be able to increase the potency of the kalkwasser solution. I'm not too hip on the chemistry, but does the drop in ph from the acid addition nullify the alk and calicum gained from dissolving more kalk in the solution?

 

[KStatefan]

Yes. Randy talks about it in this article

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Adding a mineral acid depletes the alkalinity in the kalk. Vinegar can be used, but it has limitations related to O2 consumption and nutrient lowering.

 

[jduong916]

Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks.