Water Changes and Nitrates

Can DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound) be measured in a tank?

Brian

"Frank" wrote:

DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound)

Yes it can but it is often easiest to do rather simple tests
Like check the colour against tap water
or even watch the ph drop
sure they aint scientific or accurate
But you probably do it without realising anyway
DOC are often 'mixtures' somakes it tricky to know what to measure
and once you have some results that doesn't help
as other chems are not in 'related' amounts
yea I butchered explaining that
but it ain't so much like the relationship between Kh and Gh and Co2 and
stuff
It's more just the fish soup
and everyones is different
water clarity is a biggie
but even so tis no sure fire
easier to just water change
or call your local water supply guy and get him to explain how he measures
it
will be a fascinating call I imagine
LOL
HTH's
:-)


"Brian" wrote in message
...
Can DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound) be measured in a tank?

Brian

"Frank" wrote:

DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound)

Brian wrote:
Can DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound) be measured in a tank?

You need a chemical hardness test kit and a conductivity meter. DOCs
are not detected by a hardness test, but they will measure on a
conductivity meter. A conductivity meter measures TDS (Total Dissolved
solids) - both hardness and DOCs. The difference between the two test
determine DOC. If you put off water changes (long enough), two things
can happen when you do get around to the water change.
#1 - Old Tank Syndrome - water change leaves the fish showing
immediate distress, gasping, lose balance, lay on side and die. The
cause - aged water slowly consumed carbonate buffer (low kH), and the
pH slowly drops. Toxic ammonia becomes non-toxic (ammonium) and builds
up. Then, with a water change, the buffer is suddenly restored.
Non-toxic ammonium reconverts back to it's toxic form ammonia, and the
fish die of ammonia poisoning...
#2 - Most likely to happen is Osmotic Pressure Shock. Without weekly
water changes, just topping the tank off, TDS levels get high. A water
changes lowers TDS too quickly and the fish suffer from osmotic
pressure shock. Osmotic shock interrupts healthy gill funtion by
reducing the intake of oxygen and releace of carbon dioxide and ammonia
from the fish. This can harm or even destroy the fishs
gills............... Frank (FB)

"Frank" wrote in message
ups.com...

Brian wrote:
Can DOC (Dissolved Organic Compound) be measured in a tank?

You need a chemical hardness test kit and a conductivity meter. DOCs
are not detected by a hardness test, but they will measure on a
conductivity meter. A conductivity meter measures TDS (Total Dissolved
solids) - both hardness and DOCs. The difference between the two test
determine DOC. If you put off water changes (long enough), two things
can happen when you do get around to the water change.
#1 - Old Tank Syndrome - water change leaves the fish showing
immediate distress, gasping, lose balance, lay on side and die. The
cause - aged water slowly consumed carbonate buffer (low kH), and the
pH slowly drops. Toxic ammonia becomes non-toxic (ammonium) and builds
up. Then, with a water change, the buffer is suddenly restored.
Non-toxic ammonium reconverts back to it's toxic form ammonia, and the
fish die of ammonia poisoning...
#2 - Most likely to happen is Osmotic Pressure Shock. Without weekly
water changes, just topping the tank off, TDS levels get high. A water
changes lowers TDS too quickly and the fish suffer from osmotic
pressure shock. Osmotic shock interrupts healthy gill funtion by
reducing the intake of oxygen and releace of carbon dioxide and ammonia
from the fish. This can harm or even destroy the fishs
gills............... Frank (FB)


yea, what he said!
:-)
As a side note 'osmotic shock' is how you 'wake up' things like brineshrimp
and triop eggs.
A good osmotic shock will give a higher hatch rate. Well thats the theory
anyway.... no real link to back that one up....