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RE: Aluminum
Hi,
Colin you are correct. Al is one of the most abundant elements in the
earth's crust. You are also correct that the Al species is the important
aspect as to whether Al is toxic or not. In turn, the speciation of Al is
pH dependent. In soils, Al is toxic to plants at a pH of approximately 5.5
or less, and at higher pH is not toxic. I am assuming it would be the same
for aquatic plants. Of course, some plants are more sensitive than others.
Since aquarium water isn't usually maintained at such a low pH, I would
guess that aluminum toxicity is not a concern.
Brian Waters
-----Original Message-----
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 09:08:22 +0100
From: "Colin Gorton" <colingorton at wanadoo_es>
Subject: Re: Aluminium
It appears that almost all soils contain large quantities of Al, I may
be wrong, but that's the way I see it from the soil studies that I've
seen. I think the important thing is to look at how available that Al
is, if it's in the form of oxide, then I'd guess that it's pretty well
inert. Any chemist out there can back me up/refute what I say. This is,
as I say, only from what I've seen. This seems to go along with what
Jamie said.
C:-)lin