I had found on old threads questions about using eggshell powder but as calcium carbonate it will not readily dissolve to supplement calcium, i have also seen other threads that have people doing vinegar dosing to promote bacteria growth, my question is if you could dissolve the eggshell powder( boiled, baked, ground) into the vinegar and then use that to help add calcium to a tank while feeding the bacteria bed? or does the chemistry of the vinegar and the calcium change to much when the carbon leaves the shells in the form of CO2?
Eggshell, vinagar dosing??
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Ron Reefman
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Creative idea. As one who uses Dowflake, Mag Flake, swimming pool soda ash and bulk Epsom salt, I find your questions I find your questions very interesting. But I'm terrible at chemistry. Hopefully somebody (maybe Randy) can help.
Reefs and Geeks
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I used to do something similar, but instead of eggshells I used powdered calcium carbonate food grade from amazon. Same idea, I was dosing vinegar already, but dissolving calcium carbonate into the vinegar added calcium and alkalinity to the tank. The effect was fairly small though as you're limited to how much you can add based off of your vinegar dose. The reason I did it was to raise the pH of the vinegar so there wasn't such drastic pH drops when I carbon dosed. It worked for that purpose, and to some degree helped with alkalinity and calcium but was not able to keep up with my tank even though it was fairly modest at the time. I still feel it was useful though as a way to manage pH spikes.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I don’t think it is likely worth the trouble, But it is an ok thing to do if you know you want to organic carbon dose.
I did a similar thing by saturating calcium hydroxide in vinegar.
I did a similar thing by saturating calcium hydroxide in vinegar.
Ron Reefman
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No problem.
Dowflake and Mag Flake are snow/ice melt products and fairly easy to find up north. I'm in SW Florida and we don't get much snow down here! ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious I used to have a friend from Ohio buy it and bring it down in January when he raced his sports car at Sebring. But then I found out that people use these on clay tennis courts to keep down the dust. I found a place called '10S Supply' (get it 10S = tennis) in Pompano Beach, FL. They sell it and they are also online.
I get soda ash from a local swimming pool supply store.
I get Epsom Salt from San Francisco Salt Company (they are online).
If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Wait a few years. lol
Rybren
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