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Re: Profile



Wayne wrote:

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I take back what I said about Profile not changing the pH in my tank.
Everything was fine for about ten days with just a filter running.
Yesterday I finally got around to adding CO2 and planting the plants. At
first I thought I was getting too much CO2 but then the next day I
checked the pH and it had dropped from 7.4 to below 6.0 after the
addition of CO2 and plants. I took a sample of water and aereated it and
the pH would not come back up. So the pH drop is unrelated to carbonic
acid concentrations in the water. I wonder what sort of acid the Profile
could be producing? It is not the peat because the KH has dropped from
four to zero. It looks like a strong acid is at work here. I think
disturbing the Profile during planting released enough acid into the
water column to consume all the carbonate in the tank.

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Rather than do the many water changes that are probably necessary to fix
this problem, I put in a number of seashells. Does anyone know if
seashells contain magnesium as well as calcium. I am assuming yes as
limestone deposits also contain magnesium. Maybe animals like snails,
clams and oysters can select for certain minerals though.

Wayne