[Prev][Next][Index]

Calcium phosphate...

Something Dr. Dave mentioned lately has me thinking.  I've been adding
calcium carbonate to my water lately to assist my snails in reproduction to
help reduce a cyanobacteria problem (also adding ammonium sulphate).

One thing I've noticed is that the calcium carbonate seems to disappear
rather quickly.  Most of this is probably due to the snails, because they
seem to be eating it directly, but it also seems to dissolve rather
rapidly.

I haven't kept any hardness or pH readings lately, so I don't know what the
water looks like.  I should probably get those numbers before I write this,
but I don't have them so I'll just write it anyways.

Dr. Dave mentioned that Calcium reacts with Phosphates in the water and
settles out.  This works fine for me, and since I probably have slightly
acidic water due to an excess of sulphates and humic acids, the calcium
carbonate probably helps to titrate out some of the acids as well.

Anyways, I'm wondering how effectively the calcium in the water is reacting
with the phosphates as well as the leftover sulphates from my ammonium
sulphate and causing them to settle out in a roughly insoluble state.  

Any comments?

David W. Webb           Corporate Business Systems
Texas Instruments Inc.  Dallas, TX USA
(972) 575-3443 (voice)  MSGID:       DAWB
(972) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
(972) 581-2380 (pager)  Text Pager:  dwebb at ti_com Subj:PAGE