Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

davej

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Apr 4, 2006
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Tom I was wondering if you thought one was better that the other.
My water here is extremely soft, both GH & KH are around 1-2 out of the tap.
Is it better to use Calcium Carbonate ( take a few hours to clear cloudiness) to raise both at the same time, or is it better to use Calcium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate seperatley?
 

Laith

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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

I prefer seperately, mainly because I always found that CaCO3 takes forever to dissolve and have an impact and I also prefer to be able to modify KH and GH individually.

Neither method you mention adds Mg, the other major component of GH so you need to add that too (usually in the form of Magnesium Sulphate, MgSO4).

For raising GH you can also use Greg's GH booster or Seachem's Equilibrium.
 

davej

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Apr 4, 2006
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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

Thanks ,
Yes I also add Magnesium Sulphate, I was just wondering if one was better than the other for calcium, as I have had issues in the past.
 

Cris

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May 23, 2006
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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

Or what about Calcium Sulfate?
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

CaSO4 works well.

I'm going to be talking extensively about Cl- coming up here in a salt article(NaCl).

CaCl2 is easy to use, many have used KCl for K+ for many years also without issue.

It was always hard for the folks with issue to be sure it was ever Cl.
Chlorine "hysteria" is real in the hobby.

Some think Chlorine is the same as chloride.
Why does a chlorine atom react and kill everything while a Chloride does not?
I'll go into "why" in a few days.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Jimbo205

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Jul 27, 2006
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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

If I ever needed to purchase these chemicals or dry supplements at my local Home Depot or some other local store, what are the common names that I could find these under? I know I have read a post that these are readily available before in stores, I just do not have experience with this.

I have had experience with what staff people in stores reactions are when I try to explain what I am trying to do and why.

Thank you for your patience with my questions.

I look forward to my first Barr Report. I have been able to look at some in the past and hope to learn more in this hobby and get some concrete answers to my questions.

Thanks again.
 

dkfennell

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May 14, 2005
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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

Rock salt (for sidewalks in winter) is usually calcium chloride (check bag). Garden stores sell "Garden Lime" (such as by Espoma), which is calcium carbonate. Calcium sulphate is gypsum: I've always wanted to try blackboard chalk to see if it works, but have never had the energy to powderize it.

Cheers,

Darrell
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Calcium carbonate Vs. Calcium Chloride

Pool supply places will sell Calicum hardness increaser, it's CaCl2, a high grade at that.

The GH booster Greg sells is CaSO4, MgSO4, K2SO4 and some Fe/Mn as well.
Cheaper than Seachem Eq.

Chlorine hysteria aside, using that will prevent folks from making that assumption and has little effect.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Allwissend

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Hello, after the many updates since the article was posted some links were broken. You can find the articles in Articles > Old Newsletters.
It's likely that the Na Cl article was referenced https://barrreport.com/articles/sod...ic-macrophytes-volume-2-issue-7-july-2006.19/
And that the Calcium article was referenced https://barrreport.com/articles/cal...crophytes-volume-1-issue-11-november-2005.26/

If you have a specific aspect you would like to discuss feel free to ask or just let me know via DM
 
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