How to get rid of Calcium in my tank?

[kaz]

Subject says it all any one please. it is just ruining my tank with white junk.

 

[SparKy697]

Our water company adds phosphate to the water as a coating agent. When it dries it looks like white scale on whatever it lands on.

Are you certain that it's calcium?

 

[kaz]

no but what they have told me here in the past, that it was calcium, my reading on phosphate is 1.0

 

[SparKy697]

I would have to say that it is not phosphate then. They feed at a much higher rate than that.

So just kicking out thoughts here. What is making the calcium accumulate? Do you have a lot of evaporation? Is it appearing above or below the water line?

I belive that a sudden drop in pH will cause the calcium to precipitate out of solution but that would be such a drastic swing that you would have bigger problems.

 

[kaz]

I would have to say that it is not phosphate then. They feed at a much higher rate than that.

So just kicking out thoughts here. What is making the calcium accumulate? Do you have a lot of evaporation? Is it appearing above or below the water line?

I belive that a sudden drop in pH will cause the calcium to precipitate out of solution but that would be such a drastic swing that you would have bigger problems.

What makes them is the bubbles that pop snap etc on the surface near the edge, from air wond, powerhead etc.
The bubbles hit the side inside trim, the trims top and where the glass rest and i also get some on the glass itself.
Evaporation rate is about 1 inch tops of water per week.
It is appearing above the line of water.
PH always seems fine and consistant

 

[SparKy697]

I believe that the splashing of water itself is not the problem but where the water evaporates is where the buildup is occurring. Cutting down on the air flow so that you have fewer/smaller bubbles may help. Moving the stone away from the side a bit might also do the trick. Unless you can remove the minerals from the water completely (which creates other problems), I think you will always have a buildup when evaporation happens.

As I understand hardness, it is the presence or absence of certain minerals in the water. Perhaps doing a hardness test will shed a little light on this problem as well.

 

[kaz]

KH 8
GH 19
PH 7.4
CO2 3
FE 0.1
PO4 1.0

 

[SparKy697]

None of that seems to be out of range does it? Might it just be as simple as too many bubbles and too much splashing?

 

[kaz]

I have no idea I'm a noob to all this

 

[docrak]

I have no idea I'm a noob to all this

Why is this a problem aqain? I'm not sure I understand if is a asthenics issue or that's increasing your maintnace time in that you have to clean these calcium stains.

 

[kaz]

just looks, is there any kind of cleaning tool or solution to clean this up every week.

 

[JDogg]

just looks, is there any kind of cleaning tool or solution to clean this up every week.

you could fill your tank with snails, they will remove the cascium to build there shells.

you could start using RO/DI water

i just use a razoe blade, held at an angle to scrap off the hard water deposit, if you have never done this before try it out on a part of the tank you do not see, incase you scratch the glass...

 

[kaz]

I have no idea what ro/di is can you explain how to and what snails ? this is more on the over the surface of water than under

 

[SparKy697]

ro = Reverse osmosis: Basically passing the water through a membrane that is so fine that only water molecules can get through. The minerals in the water as well as pollutants are left behind.

di = Deionization basically refers to the same process I believe.

Ro system is a hundred dollars and up. Razor blades are 100 for $5.00.