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Profile hardens water
I got ahold of a bag of Profile (Soil Conditioner) at Wal Mart and did
run a quick test. After rinsing several times, mixed a handful with
about twice the volume of distilled water and let it settle for 24 hs in
a glass jar. As a control, did the same with silica sand and Flourite.
Then measured pH, kH and gH (Tetra kit). Results:
pH kH gH
sand < 6.0* < 0.5 < 0.5
Flourite 6.5 < 0.5 < 0.5
Profile > 7.6* 4.5 8.0
* these are actually off-scale readings, the test kit won't go beyond
that. The acidic pH from the sand sample is, I think, due to dissolved
CO2 from air.
The conclusion is that Profile leaches a lot of hard stuff into the
water. Thus it is unsuitable for soft water tanks. Does anyone have
problems with Profile hardening water ?
Btw, the Profile I got does not match the physical description of neither
Profile nor Turface in Jamie Johnson's article. It has 3-4 mm particles
with a beige, uniform color. I guess there is a lot of variation in
their batches. Maybe not important for use in flower beds or turf, but
can wreak havoc in the aquarium.
- Ivo Busko
Baltimore, MD