One common trick reefers will use to save money is to buy pickling lime rather than aqurium marketed kalkawasser. As explained in prior posts Kalk is a solution of Calcium Hydroxide and water. It has a pH of 12 and must be dripped slowly. Kalk is used to maintain calcium and alkalinity levels. The name brand kalk made by Kent Marine is quite expensive and if you buy at the LFS (local fish store) you can pay over $30 for less than 1 lbs. Pickling Lime on the other hand is about $2-3 a pound and it is the same chemical as the name brand product.
Mrs. Wages is the pickling lime of choice. It is pure and safe for your reef. The only downside is it hard to find. I have looked everywhere and have not been able to find it. You can order it online, but I try to avoid that because of shipping costs. Finally on one of my voyages up north I figured out where to get it: Walmart. There are other places to buy it but this is the only one where I have found that it is constantly carried. Now for some pictures:
When I went there were two types of containers, both hold one pound and are exactly the same products.
Container 1
Container 2
I bought 6lbs, which should last me for a while. The reason I bought so much is because Walmart is not in my area, and I don't know when I will be able to get some more. Here is how much I picked up.
It will be interesting to see how long they last. One more use for kalk is to kill aptasia, which I will talk about in another coming post.
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