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DIY Remineralisation for RO or Rain Water


jayc

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On 5/8/2021 at 12:37 PM, jayc said:

 

 

No I mean like cold from the refrigerator cold. 5 DegC.

 

Hey @jayc after do i mix all of it in 5Degc or only the CaCO3. Or should i mix the CaCO3 in cold and let it become room temp and mix the rest in?

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34 minutes ago, Shrimpneewbie said:

mix the CaCO3 in cold and let it become room temp and mix the rest in?

This ^

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@jayc i managed to mix all of the ingredients together but its not full dissolved, where i drew the blue line is where all of the undissolved parts are, im using rain water with a ph of 6.5, im afraid when i mix it in the rain water the mix will not dissolve.remine.thumb.jpg.f4a06241fb0108a87cfc5a439b80f3ed.jpg

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11 hours ago, Shrimpneewbie said:

i managed to mix all of the ingredients together but its not full dissolved, where i drew the blue line is where all of the undissolved parts are, im using rain water with a ph of 6.5, im afraid when i mix it in the rain water the mix will not dissolve.

Don't worry. This is cloudy colour is normal and some undissolved calcium is to be expected.

Just give it the bottle a shake before use. And when you add the desired amount to your change water, you will notice the mix will dissolve / dissappear the rest of the way.

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5 hours ago, jayc said:

Don't worry. This is cloudy colour is normal and some undissolved calcium is to be expected.

Just give it the bottle a shake before use. And when you add the desired amount to your change water, you will notice the mix will dissolve / dissappear the rest of the way.

Okay I did that and after some times the water cleared up, could it be the remainder of it just sank to the bottom? Also the tds is 156 will it continue rising because the rest will dissolve with longer time maybe?

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20 minutes ago, Shrimpneewbie said:

Okay I did that and after some times the water cleared up, could it be the remainder of it just sank to the bottom? Also the tds is 156 will it continue rising because the rest will dissolve with longer time maybe?

Only a very small amount might sink to the bottom, but it should dissolve rather quickly in tank water. 

The TDS should not rise too much more than 156.

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On 5/25/2021 at 1:03 PM, jayc said:

Only a very small amount might sink to the bottom, but it should dissolve rather quickly in tank water. 

The TDS should not rise too much more than 156.

Okay thanks jay, all of them even the babies look to have settled in well. I will update the progress so everyone will have feedback on your diy. But so far it looks good, thank you once again jay.

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  • 1 year later...

Hey, @jayc!  I have some Qs. 🙂

Have you done any recipe refining since you last posted in this thread?

Have you ever played with dolomite (CaMgCO3) for neocardina recipes? Does it dissolve faster than calcium carbonate (CaCO3)?

Do you use CO2?

Got any liquid CaCO3 product suggestions for the USA?

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2 hours ago, DeepWaterCulture said:

Have you done any recipe refining since you last posted in this thread?

Hi @DeepWaterCulture, heck yeah. The last time I edited it was in April 9, 2021, but that doesn't tell the whole story. It was edited and refined many times prior to that date.

This recipe has been verified by many people as well. 

 

2 hours ago, DeepWaterCulture said:

Have you ever played with dolomite (CaMgCO3) for neocardina recipes? Does it dissolve faster than calcium carbonate (CaCO3)?

I don't use dolomite for the very reason that it doesn't dissolve very well. At least not to make consistent recipe. The other factor that makes it a bad source of minerals is that the ration of Ca to Mg to CO3 is not controllable. The key point of our DIY recipe is to get the ratio of Ca to Mg as close to 4:1 as possible. Inconsistent amounts of Ca and Mg will cause variations in pH, GH. With added carbonates in Dolomite, KH will also be added causing increase variation in pH.

 

2 hours ago, DeepWaterCulture said:

Do you use CO2?

No. Not in my shrimp tanks. I used to run CO2 in my planted Apisto tanks, but when it ran out, I found my plants did alright without CO2.

 

2 hours ago, DeepWaterCulture said:

Got any liquid CaCO3 product suggestions for the USA?

Liquid CaCO3 is difficult to find is it not? It doesn't dissolve well in water. 

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I'm so glad that you don't use CO2, @jayc Yaay!  I don't want to use CO2, and most of the recipes I encountered b4 yours were written by CO2 users.  Maybe it was a needless worry, but now I have peace of mind.

Thanks for your reply!  One more Q.  When looking at CaCO3 powder, is there language that describes the fineness of the grind?  I want the best dissolving caco3! 

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Hi @DeepWaterCulture, the solubility product of CaCO3 is very low at 3.3 * 10^-9 indicating that this compound is not soluble in water. Calcium carbonate molecules are more easily soluble in rainwater, but still no where near other forms of Calcium like Calcium Sulphate Dihyrate or Calcium Chloride for example. It is due to the presence of dissolved carbon dioxide in rainwater which causes the formation of carbonic acid that helps in dissolving CaCO3. Lower temps also help, so cold water helps dissolve CaCO3.

That is probably why a lot of other sources say to use CO2

Why don't you try looking for Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate (CaSO₄·2H₂O) instead?

Not all Calcium Sulfate is the same. There is Dihydrate (Ca2SO4 +2H2O) and Anhydrite (Ca2SO4) Calcium Sulfate. The addition of the 2 naturally occurring water molecules in Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate make this type of Calcium Sulfate more water soluble, and therefore, it will work that much faster when applied.

 

 

 

 

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@jayc I read a tutorial about dissolving CaCO3 in vinegar. Im not going to do that, but it was interesting to learn. That combined with an earlier convo in this thread, where a poster added an acid before the CaCO3, leads me to the conclusion that pH dissolves the CaCO3.  CO2 lowers pH, right? If correct, do you know the pH level that dissolves caco3?

I also read your comment about dissolution temp @ ~20c. I think I can achieve that easily. I'm not doing a tropical tank.

I ordered ingredients yesterday. 😁  CaSO4.2H2O MgSO4.7H2O, K2CO3, & CaCO3.

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9 hours ago, DeepWaterCulture said:

 CO2 lowers pH, right? If correct, do you know the pH level that dissolves caco3?

That's right. CO2 will dissolve CaCO3. Anything below 7.0pH will start to dissolve it. The lower the pH the more/faster it dissolves. 

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