[ben]

what would happen if i added magnesium to my top up water,which goes through a kalk stirrer, and then enters the tank via an auto top up?

[Tony B]

ben, on Jun 2 2008, 06:10 PM, said:

what would happen if i added magnesium to my top up water,which goes through a kalk stirrer, and then enters the tank via an auto top up?

Precipitation.

[ben]

thanks tony, short and sweet,lol.

so to stretch it out a bit, the mag and kalk would become useless or...?

[Tony B]

Raw water, lets take RO/DI water has no components. Zero mag, ca, salt, minerals etc. Water can only hold so much, before it becomes saturated and can't absorb any more. Think of RO water like a dry sponge, now that dry sponge will soak up 'x' amount of liquid, and, once it reaches saturation it simply can't 'hold' any more liquid.

Now O2 is the 'sponge' in question here, as this is what is fed into your kalk reactor where it gets 'loaded' with and transports Ca & Alk into your reef. Your query regarding combining kalk and mag is quite simple to answer, in that the lime (Kalk) has almost saturated the O2 (hence we add kalkwasser slowly to salted water, or you risk precipitation and a huge PH spikes due to the alkalinity and already heavily loaded water - limewater being loaded with Alk & Ca).

You're best off adding mag to RO/DI water and dosing it seperate.

Regards,

Tony

[ben]

nice one . chemistry is always a struggle for me but that makes it very clear, thanks


cheers
ben

[chriss]

Of course, you could always have two top-up tanks

Chris

[ben]

if i had the room you do chriss, i would,lol