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Re: Reconstituting RO water
Roger Miller wrote in the last APD a proposed recipe for homebrew RO
reconstitution. He suggested CaCO3 dietary supplement tablets for calcium
and epsom salts for Mg. That certainly worksm but then he caustions that the
recommended CaCO3 tablets he is refering to are dietary supplements, which
will also contain a certain amount of binder, filler, and color.
While one would hope that these other chemicals are non-toxic in the human
system (unlike flouride, which the ADA has convinced every toothpaste maker
in America to force down our throats) and therefore also safe for our fish,
perhaps we could find a better source. How about dolomite? It is available
crushed from gardening centers, and if we redirect a small amount of CO2 from
our aquaria to our mixing "vats" it should dissolve overnight. Would it not
contain the correct, or close enough to the correct, ratios of Ca, Mg, and
CO3? And would CO2 injection even be necessary to get it dissolved at a
reasonable rate if we are preparing our water far enough in advance? I a
Science Fair project with my daughter, we stuck dolomite into a box filter in
7 gal of water and raised GH from 80 ppm to 140 ppm in a couple of days.
That's 3 1/2 degrees in two days. And the dolomite was packed much closer
together than if you just dumped a bunch of it into the bottom of a barrel.
Just thinking. Any thoughts?
Bob Dixon