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buffering ph by adding minerals
i know you can add various things to your water to buffer the ph
towards a certain value, that value being different depending exactly which mineral(s) you add, but does anyone know what will buffer to a ph of 7? Sodium bicarb buffers to around 8 i think coral to around 8.2 ish limestone...not sure I did try evian! its got 360ppm bicarbonates (kh) and is ph 7.2, so you can add as much as you need to achieve any kh you want, but its effects seem to be temporary, and i think i need to add a solid so that it can slowly dissolve.....but what to add? chris |
|| i know you can add various things to your water to buffer the ph
|| towards a certain value, that value being different depending exactly || which mineral(s) you add, but does anyone know what will buffer to a || ph of 7? || Sodium bicarb buffers to around 8 i think || coral to around 8.2 ish || limestone...not sure These numbers are relative to the water you start with.... if you're starting with 7.0 water, adding baking soda can acheive 8.0, so if you want 7, and a kH of 3 or so, maybe adding CO2 which will bring back your pH to 7.2 or so... I've used baking soda and CO2 to maintain a 7.0 tank for almost 2 years... always stable I've heard crushed coral, limestone, and marble chips are all good to use.. || I did try evian! its got 360ppm bicarbonates (kh) and is ph 7.2, so || you can add as much as you need to achieve any kh you want, but its || effects seem to be temporary, and i think i need to add a solid so || that it can slowly dissolve.....but what to add? || || chris What is your water to start with?? -- | RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!! | ========================== | 2003 TRX450ES | 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale) | '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted.... | ========================== | ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø | ((((º`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ((((º ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ((((º | for any questions you may have.... | www.gmail.com |
"chris nuttall" wrote in message om... i know you can add various things to your water to buffer the ph towards a certain value, that value being different depending exactly which mineral(s) you add, but does anyone know what will buffer to a ph of 7? Sodium bicarb buffers to around 8 i think coral to around 8.2 ish limestone...not sure I did try evian! its got 360ppm bicarbonates (kh) and is ph 7.2, so you can add as much as you need to achieve any kh you want, but its effects seem to be temporary, and i think i need to add a solid so that it can slowly dissolve.....but what to add? chris I think Red pretty much covered all the bases. I had a PH crash a while ago and tried a few products. I tried the lawn lime (not slaked) first and it was OK, but it was messy. I also tested some limestone screenings (meant for under patio stones), which worked better (faster) then the lawn lime, but had to be thoroughly washed, as it contained a lot of contaminants. Finally, ended up using the crushed coral in my filter, as it was cleaner and fast acting. My KH is around 150 and PH stays around 7.5 using the coral. My test samples of lawn lime and limestone screenings were somewhere around 7.8 after a week. |
my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees
my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach) i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am worried that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want to kill any fish by experimenting. chris |
|| my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees
|| my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps || dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach) || i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering || capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am || worried that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want || to kill any fish by experimenting. || || chris 1. Most fish will adjust to whatever water you have... that being said... let's move on.. 2. pH doesn't harm fish unless it changes quickly or dramatically... pH swings as they are called, is more dangerous than just keeping a different pH than a fish starts out in... 3. Unless you're actively breeding, a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 isn't bad for alot of fish...I've kept guppies in both extremes, you get females with a lower pH and males with a higher pH... 4 for a planted tank, your pH and kH give you a CO2 level of 33ppm which seems erroneous... are you injecting CO2 at all? If you have a 7.0 tank, and 11kH I'd be happy with it... I'd just settle on a weekly routine of doing a water change and adding a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (*baking soda*) to it as a buffer... that will raise your pH to 7.4, but it ultimately won't drop as fast as before... giving you a certain time frame to work with.... Peat can lower your pH, and soften it I believe.. then adding the baking soda as the buffer can acheive your desired affect, it is a bit of trouble though... -- | RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!! | ========================== | 2003 TRX450ES | 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale) | '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted.... | ========================== | ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø | ((((º`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ((((º ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ((((º | for any questions you may have.... | www.gmail.com |
"chris nuttall" wrote in message om... my tap water is ph 7 with a kh of 11 degrees my tank water is also ph 7 with a maximum kh of 8 or 9 (it keeps dropping see my other post called ph kh snails and clown loach) i get falling kh and ultimately ph, so i want to add buffering capacity to the water to maintain ph 7.0 if possible, but i am worried that coral will buffer it up to 8 ish.....i just dont want to kill any fish by experimenting. chris Chris, You should be OK with coral. Add a small amount, say a cup per 10 gallons and test daily. If your KH is not satisfactory after a week (too low), add more coral. My tap water is very similar to yours, but my PH WAS falling below 6, even with weekly water changes. I had 'old tank syndrome' sneak up on me. I added about four cups of coral to my 55 gallon and my KH has stayed around 150 and my PH is between 7 and 7.5. It's never been anywhere near 8, but I do weekly water changes as I said. |
"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
... snip 3. Unless you're actively breeding, a pH between 6.5 and 7.5 isn't bad for alot of fish...I've kept guppies in both extremes, you get females with a lower pH and males with a higher pH... I'd heard about Krib fry being influenced by pH, but not Guppies, however I have Guppies in one of my tanks (8.4pH), and I noticed today that it's currently an all-male population. I can't vouch for more males than females being born (though it seems that way), but the females *have* been much more short lived than the males. I think 8.4pH is outside their limits. Perhaps I'll switch to other fry-generators like Mollys, Swordtails or even Platys as they all seemed more tolerant of the high pH. -- www.NetMax.tk snip -- | RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!! | ========================== | 2003 TRX450ES | 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale) | '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted.... | ========================== | ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø | ((((º`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ((((º ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ((((º | for any questions you may have.... | www.gmail.com |
what is 'old tank syndrome'?
chris |
about the co2 level; i do not inject co2, there is an air pump running
(which should have the opposite effect i think). The ph and kh only start at those values, they soon fall to much lower levels. for 2 years there was no problem, its only recently started happening (co-incidentally at the same time i started getting a lot of snails, i wonder if they could be robbing the water of bicarbonates?) i have tried bicardonate of soda, the ph and kh still fall, they just start from a higher value, i tried evian too, with the same result. i think i should get some coral, then as it dissolves there will be more 'in reserve' chris |
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