Uncontrollable High pH

LOL, did I say that? I gotta get a real job. ;-)

In my experience, when the total alkalinity (TA), carbonate hardness (KH) aka "the water buffer" , was too high you could drop the pH by adding acid or dilute the total sample with distilled water, but the pH would be resistant to really change and remain changed, until the TA got below 60-80ppm. Since I always have had some seriously hard water out of my tap, it takes quite a bit of tap to make that kind of water change without a "pH crash', shocking and possibly injuring the fish.

I guess the point I was trying to get across, you need the buffer knocked down, get you pH adjusted then reset buffer levels (100ppm)

Whew

--
James
"NetMax" wrote in message ...

I think what you meant to say was that 'pH is hard to control if the
buffer level is too *low*'. A high buffer makes your pH very stable
(hard to change but very stable ;~).

if I understood correctly..
--
www.NetMax.tk

"James" wrote in message
...
pH is hard to control if the buffer level is too high (KH), so deal
with
that 1st. Read these pages and maybe this will get you pointed in the
right
direction.

A word of caution, make any water changes SLOWLY. The slower the more
stability you will have in the total water chemistry


http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/rain.html


--
James

"Deepseafisher" -DONTEMAIL wrote in
message
...
| Boy, I'd love to buy an RO unit, but the price is no-where near my
range.
I haven't tried rainwater yet, next time it rains, I'll certainly give
it a
shot. I bought one more pharmaceutical from the LFS guy, who said that
he
almost sells more of it than he does fish. It was Proper pH 7.0 by
Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals. It took about a triple dose to do it, but it lowered
the
pH and kept it at 7. A knew problem has arisen though. It removed all
of
the hardness from my water. Will it be possible to regain hardness
without
increasing pH? I bought a really nice test kit, and my pH in untreated
water runs 9.8.. The kH runs 35 degrees. Well, I appreciate the
help.
|
| --Jeff
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