FAQ: What exactly is calcium polygluconate?

A: In chemical terms, it is a complex of ionic calcium and polygluconate. The end result for the hobbyist is that you get a more stable, more concentrated form of calcium than can be found in kalkwasser solutions (175 times greater than KW). It provides a uniary source of calcium and carbon which has no impact on pH and is more bio-available and readily absorbed by calcerous animals. For those who are even more curious, read on ... Polygluconate is a long chain polymer of gluconic acid (the polymerization occurs under high heat during product production). This creates essentially a long carbon backbone with numerous hydroxyl groups that can participate in complex formation with ionic calcium. In a complex the lone pair electrons on the hydroxyl oxygens are shared between the oxygen and calcium, essentially bonding the two together. When two hydroxyls participate this neutralizes the +2 charge on the calcium, creating an overall charge neutral species. In a chelate there are many more bonds from the same molecule to the calcium such that the calcium is surrounded (like a claw, "chelate" is greek for "claw" btw) and is held much more strongly owing to the multiple interactions. Because cellular tissue is essentially "greasy" it does not like to allow charged species to pass through it passively (e.g. oil and water don't mix). Thus the requirement that special enzymatic mechanisms be present to transport the required cations across the cellular membrane. By masking the charge on the calcium, the calcium polygluconate species is able to passively enter cells through osmosis. The cells and hence the organism as a whole doesn't have to "work" as hard to get the calcium it needs. The resulting benefit to all of this is that because the calcium complex can be more easily used one can either get enhanced growth at the normal calcium level of 400-420, or one can maintain calcium at 370-380 and not encounter any declines in growth (while still seeing growth, just not as rapid as at the higher levels). This is because the level of calcium complex that is present at the prescribed dosing is essentially equivalent to a much larger level of ionic calcium in terms of how much can be used within a given time frame.