Message: 9
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:41:24 +1000
From: "Michi Henning" <michi at zeroc_com>
Subject: Re: [APD] Re: Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 14, Issue 2
To: "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>, "aquatic plants digest"
<aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
"S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com> wrote:
I was thinking of the test kits you can by where you
titrate a solution, counting the drops, and watch for a
color change.
These are affected by a number of things and are based on a
pH reaction (I'm sure I'm saying this the wsrong way). But
time alone seems to goof them up. When they are brand new,
they are probably okay if there isn't much affecting your
pH beside CO2.
Ah, I've never used one of those CO2 tests. I just measure pH
(with a probe, so it's fairly accurate, maybe +-0.05 degrees, and I
measure KH, which I can also do quite accurately. (Doubling
the amount of water doubles the number of drops needed
for the reaction, so accuracy is about +-0.5 degrees.)
A KH/pH/CO2 chart then tells me the rest.
I keep the permanent CO2 indicator in the tank mainly to alert
me if something goes grossly wrong, such as way too
much or way too little CO2.
Cheers,