Re: [APD] Re: Invertebrates and carbonates

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Calcium carbonate is an excellent buffer.  well abouve pH
8+, it precipitates and below that it dissolves.

You will be aiming for a range well below that. Calkclium
carbonate doesn't dissolve nearly as quickly as baking
soda, which is almost instantaneous. So the water may cloud
for a few hours when you add it. But the couding clears.

Baking soda will raise the KH. Calcium carbonate will raise
the KH and GH. Here's a good place to see some of the info:

http://users.frii.com/gbooth/AquaticConcepts/

on that home page select "Tech Brief: Water Chemistry " and
read about how much to use for what pH effect on KH and GH.

Have fun,
Scott H.


--- SunflwrgrlS at aol_com wrote:
> Thank you for the replies!
> 
> My water is well water and is very soft.  I need to
> buffer but was hoping to do both buffer and add calcium
> carbonate for the FW shrimp I have (I saw a Ramshorn
> snail in the tank with a whitish translucent shell so I
> worry there is not enough calcium in the tank for the
> shrimp). 
> 
> I hadn't realized I could get powered calcium carbonate
> from beer distributers -- thank you!  
> 
> Since I'm confusing apples and oranges -- which is a
> common thing with me -- will the calcium carbonate also
> buffer or do I also need to add a separate buffer?
> 
> I've thought about dolomite -- and I don't need a whole
> 50 lb bag which is the only thing available at Lowe's. 
> In terms of vitamins at the grocery store, I couldn't
> find any without tons of additives.... 
> 
> I will check on the beer distributers as I've already
> ordered champagne yeast from one company.
> 
> Again -- will the calcium carbonate buffer or do I also
> need some other substance?
> 
> Thanks again for the help!  
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants


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