Does Kalk go bad?

[SaltCreep]

Does Kalk go bad after a while?

I have an old jar (6 years ) that I stored in a container with assorted chemicals and the outside of the plastic jar turned yellow from exposure to whatever it was with.

I am probably going to go ahead and try it unless someone says they killed their whole tank once by using tainted Kalk.

 

[S Hunter]

If it was in a closed container and is dry, you should be good to go...

 

[JayM]

The yellowing of the plastic container is probably degradation from exposure to light. If the kalk was dry, as Shawn said, it should be OK.

 

[SaltCreep]

so far so good.

nothing died!

 

[mloebl]

Thanks for posting this! I've picked up Kalk in the past, only 6mos later to look and see it had expired according to the stamp on it Glad to see if still dry should be good.

-Mike

 

[Greg Hiller]

Dry and sealed is the important part. Don't want a lot of carbon dioxide getting to it.

 

[SaltCreep]

What happens if CO2 gets to it?

The jar had a tight cap on it...but it was partially used and therefore not "sealed".

It was stored in an unplugged dorm sized fridge with cleaning chemicals and some paint.

The product was dry and pure white so I went ahead.....so far no problems.

 

[JCheung]

CO2 exposure to Calcium Hydroxide(Kalk) creates Calcium Carbonate and H2O if my chemistry is correct.

 

[Sean Irwin]

We have some in our lab that's from about 1986 and it still works really well.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I CO2 gets in will form calcium carbonate, as mentioned above. That's not a big deal except that the calcium carbonate is insoluble and therefore when you prep kalkwasser you may need to add a bit more chemical to the water. Since most people prepare saturated kalkwasser, dumping in a bit more powder is no big deal.