Anthropic, most low grade Ag Limes only have about 100 pounds of total Calcium Carbonate and High grade Ag lime may have as much as 600 pounds. Unless the Ag Lime can pass 100% though a 50-80 mesh screen, it is not 100% available (a 100 mesh is more realistic for 100% available). To grind Limestone that fine would more than quadruple the price of "typical" Ag Lime. So, cheap Ag Lime that is only 40% effective may have as little 40 pounds of usable, available Calcium Carbonate in a full 2000 pounds of rock. Of that 40 pounds of available Calcium, only 5-10 pounds may actually have any neutralizing ability and you can double those available amounts in a ton for a "good" grade of Ag Lime, or 10-20 pounds of effective nuetralizing material per ton of Ag Lime.

As stated on the Label, Calcis passes 100% through a 200 mesh screen (200 holes per square inch). There is 58 pounds of readily available Calcitic Lime with 23.2 pounds per 5 gallons Calcium available, the neutralizing material.

Calcis also has a tremendously larger amount of surface area compared to Ag Lime, that is open to releasing anions to take the H out acids....Calcium itself does not neutralize, it's the metal oxide or carbonate that dissolves into water to produce an anion that attaches to a H+, Hydrogen ion to reduce acidity.


How Lime Works

So what is lime and how does it work? Liming materials are typically oxides (O2-), hydroxides (OH-), carbonates (CO32-) or silicates (SiO44−) of calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg). Some examples (with their chemical formulae) are calcitic lime (CaCO3), dolomitic lime (CaMg(CO3)2, quick lime (CaO), and hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2).

Many people mistakenly believe it is the calcium or magnesium that works to �lime� a soil (i.e. neutralize acidity), but this is not true. It�s the oxide, hydroxide, carbonate or silicate that removes the H+ ions from solutions and raises the soil pH. The lime reaction is a two-step process, where first the lime dissolves in solution (Eq. 1) producing an anion.

In the second step, the anion reduces the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in solution forming a water molecule.

Last edited by Rainman; 05/06/17 11:50 PM.