adjusting pH of aquarium water

[Paul Wright]

Hello all,

I was wondering...why is sulfuric acid often used to lower the pH of
aquarium water? I thought that it would be more toxic than using something
like hydrochloric acid. Do the SO4 ions serve a purpose in the tank? Please
let me know. Also, does anyone know the concentration of sulfuric acid in
commercial home aquarium pH adjustor kits? There's a warning, alerting me to
the precense of sulfuric acid and warning me of it's corrosive properties,
but no mention as to how concentrated it is.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Paul

[Robert Flory]

"Paul Wright" > wrote in message
hlink.net...
> Hello all,
>
> I was wondering...why is sulfuric acid often used to lower the pH of
> aquarium water? I thought that it would be more toxic than using something
> like hydrochloric acid. Do the SO4 ions serve a purpose in the tank?
Please
> let me know. Also, does anyone know the concentration of sulfuric acid in
> commercial home aquarium pH adjustor kits? There's a warning, alerting me
to
> the precense of sulfuric acid and warning me of it's corrosive properties,
> but no mention as to how concentrated it is.
>
> Many thanks in advance for your help!
>
> Paul
>
Most fish are more sensitive to chlorine than to SO4.

Bob

[David Lloyd]

"Robert Flory" > wrote in message >...
> "Paul Wright" > wrote in message
> hlink.net...
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I was wondering...why is sulfuric acid often used to lower the pH of
> > aquarium water? I thought that it would be more toxic than using something
> > like hydrochloric acid. Do the SO4 ions serve a purpose in the tank?
> Please
> > let me know. Also, does anyone know the concentration of sulfuric acid in
> > commercial home aquarium pH adjustor kits? There's a warning, alerting me
> to
> > the precense of sulfuric acid and warning me of it's corrosive properties,
> > but no mention as to how concentrated it is.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance for your help!
> >
> > Paul
> >
> Most fish are more sensitive to chlorine than to SO4.

Using HCl would introduce chloride ions, not dissolved chlorine gas.

[Robert Flory]

let me restate...most fresh freshwater fish seem to be more sensitive to
chlorine compounds that sulfate compounds.

Bob
"David Lloyd" > wrote in message
om...
> "Robert Flory" > wrote in message
>...
> > "Paul Wright" > wrote in message
> > hlink.net...
> > > Hello all,
> > >
> > > I was wondering...why is sulfuric acid often used to lower the pH of
> > > aquarium water? I thought that it would be more toxic than using
something
> > > like hydrochloric acid. Do the SO4 ions serve a purpose in the tank?
> > Please
> > > let me know. Also, does anyone know the concentration of sulfuric acid
in
> > > commercial home aquarium pH adjustor kits? There's a warning, alerting
me
> > to
> > > the precense of sulfuric acid and warning me of it's corrosive
properties,
> > > but no mention as to how concentrated it is.
> > >
> > > Many thanks in advance for your help!
> > >
> > > Paul
> > >
> > Most fish are more sensitive to chlorine than to SO4.
>
> Using HCl would introduce chloride ions, not dissolved chlorine gas.

[Dan Drake]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 05:10:25 UTC, "Robert Flory" >
wrote:

> let me restate...most fresh freshwater fish seem to be more sensitive to
> chlorine compounds that sulfate compounds.
>
Are they, enough so that it would make a difference in choosing acids?
Many treatments for sick fish involve adding sodium chloride to the water,
and I've never yet seen a toxicity warning attached to this advice. I
can't imagine adding so much HCl that it would raise the chloride level
above therapeutic levels.

I'd really like to know what the answer is here, having heard lots of
warnings about too much chloride as well as too much sodium.


--

http://www.dandrake.com/

In the days after September 11, Yahoo searches for Nostradamus
outnumbered those for Osama bin Laden and Sex, combined.

[El Caballo Grande]

Dan Drake wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 05:10:25 UTC, "Robert Flory" >
> wrote:
>
>
>>let me restate...most fresh freshwater fish seem to be more sensitive to
>>chlorine compounds that sulfate compounds.
>>
>
> Are they, enough so that it would make a difference in choosing acids?
> Many treatments for sick fish involve adding sodium chloride to the water,
> and I've never yet seen a toxicity warning attached to this advice. I
> can't imagine adding so much HCl that it would raise the chloride level
> above therapeutic levels.
>
> I'd really like to know what the answer is here, having heard lots of
> warnings about too much chloride as well as too much sodium.

The Chloride of salts (such as sodium chloride) in very small amounts is
not going to have a significant effect.
Releasing hydrochloric acid is almost identical to releasing chlorine
gas. There is a very big difference in activity levels of something
described with a suffix of -ide versus -ic.
There are some sharp chemists in these seminars who caught me forgetting
that principal a couple of years ago.

Small amounts of salt introduced into a fresh water setup primarily
effects the osmotic pressure of the cells--less work is expended pumping
excess water out of the fresh water fish's cells to keep them from
bursting when there is a trace of salt in the external water.
Identical amounts of compounds with the suffix -ide or -ine will kill
the creatures outright.




>
>

[Dan Drake]

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 04:15:57 UTC, El Caballo Grande
> wrote:

>
>
> Dan Drake wrote:
> >...
> > Many treatments for sick fish involve adding sodium chloride to the water,
> > and I've never yet seen a toxicity warning attached to this advice. I
> > can't imagine adding so much HCl that it would raise the chloride level
> > above therapeutic levels.
> >
> > I'd really like to know what the answer is here, having heard lots of
> > warnings about too much chloride as well as too much sodium.
>
> The Chloride of salts (such as sodium chloride) in very small amounts is
> not going to have a significant effect.
> Releasing hydrochloric acid is almost identical to releasing chlorine
> gas.

Not identical or all that simlar: chlorine gas is a powerful oxidizing
agent that would burn fish's gills as it burns people's lungs;
hydrochloric acid is just an acid. HCl is a strong acid, with which you
could make a tank so acidic that it would kill the fish, and I don't
recommend its use; but it's just an acid. And the ion it puts in the
water (apart from the acidity) is chloride.

> There is a very big difference in activity levels of something
> described with a suffix of -ide versus -ic.

A big difference because one suffix denotes an acid and the other denotes
a salt made by neutralizing that acid (in some cases the solution of the
salt is acidic because of hydrolysis, but a lot less acidic than the plain
acid); the negative ion in each is the same. HydroThingic Acid (HThing)
dissociates into hydrogen ion (H+) and Thingide ions (Thing-) .

> There are some sharp chemists in these seminars who caught me forgetting
> that principal a couple of years ago.
>
> Small amounts of salt introduced into a fresh water setup primarily
> effects the osmotic pressure of the cells--less work is expended pumping
> excess water out of the fresh water fish's cells to keep them from
> bursting when there is a trace of salt in the external water.
> Identical amounts of compounds with the suffix -ide or -ine will kill
> the creatures outright.

Dunno what you mean by that. Rather, so far as -ide is concerned, this
just isn't so. Salt is soduim chlorIDE. Naturally, chlorINE is entirely
different in its effects.


--
Dan Drake

http://www.dandrake.com

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