Dosing with Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime

I use it quite a bit.

Here is what I do.

I use an empty milk jug, put in a few table spoons & fill half way with cold RO water. The cold RO helps it disolve faster. Then I slowly pour it into my sump/over flow. Pour it where the current is the fastest.

This has a ph of around 12 so you dont want to add too much at 1 time. It is a good idea to check your ph & calc before & after (I usually wait about 20 minutes). When you get it down on how much to add on a daily/ bi daily basis you wont have to test as much.

 

What size tank do you have xroads, and how often do you dose? That might help the OP out a little more

 

Posted By lordofthereef on 05/06/2009 09:01 AM
What size tank do you have xroads, and how often do you dose? That might help the OP out a little more
I have 2 250's with 100 gallon sumps.
The procedure is the same no matter if you have 1000 gallons or 10 gallons.  You need to know what you are trying to accomplish.
If you are dosing to keep your calcium up, you find out how much your tank uses on a weekly basis, & how much kalk it takes to raise it to that point.
You dont have to use it all at once either,  you can mix up a half gallon jug & pour in a cup or two a day.

 

I like to drip the pickling lime or kalkwasser into the system over a period of time. I use a 3g bucket and just drip that out over the hold day. Here is a DIY link http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/nftt/index.php

 

Or get a large plastice container some air line and a air check valve drill two holes in the lid of the container and put two pices of the air line in the holes one about a foot long and one as long as you need it to be to reach your sump from where you set the jar. Then conect the long one to the check valve the valve is so you can regulate how fast the lime water drips in.To get it started just open the check valve and blow in the other pice of air line tell it starts. Always do this at night so you dont drive your ph up to high.heres a pic of mine.
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/BUY_BAFF/DSCF0005a.jpg
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/BUY_BAFF/DSCF0006-1.jpg

 

What are the benefits of this over CaCl? (speaking specifically for Ca+ dosing)

 

Posted By lordofthereef on 05/06/2009 12:56 PM
What are the benefits of this over CaCl? (speaking specifically for Ca+ dosing)
Cost,  You can get Mrs Wages on sale sometimes for $1.

 

I use it in my top-off water along with vinegar.

 

It's the cheapest method of dosing Calcium and Alkalinity and it's balanced. ( so no need to worry about adding too much alk vs. ca... etc.) Some drawbacks are that you have to continuously dose or your levels will drop. It doesn't work well for increasing your Ca and Alk, it really just maintains it. Over dosing can be dangerous because you can spike your PH if you dose too much too fast. I always have to dose a lot of Magnesium when using it... perhaps because I dose too much, I'm not positive.

People with low PH will dose it along with their calcium reactors just for the reason that it helps buffer the PH and keep it high. Its got plenty of pros and cons, but the pros outweigh the cons considerably.

 

What stores carry Mrs Wages? What aisle? Thanks

 

I put It in my caulk stirrer, and run my auto top off thought it. My auto top off is set up on a timer to only top off at night, ( about the time the ph starts to drop). That way my ph will stay more stable. I monitor it continuously and will dose by hand if it starts to drop off to much over time.

I get mine from walmart by the canning goods. Best time to get it is out of season, I picked up 8 1lb containers for .25 each this fall in the clearance aisle .

 

sometimes it is seasonal. I've seen it in both wal-mart and hy-vee. I can't tell you what aisle though, I always struggle finding it. Somewhere with the baking goods and the canning stuff. It comes in a white plastic canister with a green lid.

 

I am thinking of trying this for calcium. Aside from calcium and pH of course, what other elements should I be testeing for when adding this? Also, what happens to the hydroxide ions in this situation? I assume in low doses it doesn;t hurt tnything (seeing as how plenty of people do dose), but I am just curious, mostly on how long it "hangs around" the tank?

 

Be careful adding to much at a time as it will spike your pH. Adding 1/2 gallon at a time to small system like Justin's would spike the pH very high. Sorry Craig I just wouldn't advise that much for his system. Most use Kalk (Mrs. Pickling lime) as topoff, like me i use it for 100% of my topoff which is about 5 gallons a day but I have 400+ gallons. But it's added slowly to the sump automatically every two hours.
Bela, the main thing it does is keep alkalinity up and keep Ca in balance with the Alk. Here are two articles that will explain it in great detail including the chemistry involved. Randy Holmes Farley is the godfather of chemistry in our Reef Tanks. His articles should be our bible IMO.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2.../index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

 

Posted By jtesdall on 05/07/2009 11:12 AM
Be careful adding to much at a time as it will spike your pH. Adding 1/2 gallon at a time to small system like Justin's would spike the pH very high. Sorry Craig I just wouldn't advise that much for his system. Most use Kalk (Mrs. Pickling lime) as topoff, like me i use it for 100% of my topoff which is about 5 gallons a day but I have 400+ gallons. But it's added slowly to the sump automatically every two hours.
Bela, the main thing it does is keep alkalinity up and keep Ca in balance with the Alk. Here are two articles that will explain it in great detail including the chemistry involved. Randy Holmes Farley is the godfather of chemistry in our Reef Tanks. His articles should be our bible IMO.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2.../index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm
Oops,
Sorry you are right, I didnt mean to imply adding a whole half gallon at once to his system.  Nice thing is you can make up that much at once & then use it over a couple days, or weeks time is what I meant to get at.

 

Craig, you have a controller now. Why isn't this automated mister!?

 

Man I am so computer illiterite it isnt even funny!

My controller is basically just a timer for my lights & heater & tells me what my PH is.

One of these days I will modernize & use my controller to its potential.

Right now I am still just trying to get everything together still.

 

Great links Joel, thanks a bunch. Time for me to read