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Re: [APD] Cation Exchange Capacity



Derek wrote:

Why do we care if the substrate has a high CEC or not?

I tend to not care, and I don't think with aquarium situations, it plays that big of a deal. CEC is probably most important for agricultural crops, with rainwater leaching expensive ferts aways. The home gardener can sling a little 10-10-10 on their azaleas every year and they'll grow just fine in clay or sand. As stated, there is not much leaching taking place in the aquarium. The binding sites aren't that important in capturing nutrients, especially if you have added plant spikes, etc. to the substrate. If they're in the substrate, they'll remain there. I've grown great aquatic plants in substrates with low and high CECs. I did some testing for Dave's Planted Aquarium Magazine a few years ago and I have the article on my website. I tested several brand name substrates for different parameters and it gave me a good idea what was out there.

http://home.earthlink.net/~kaydeejay/substrates.html

Jamie <'\\\><

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