Re: wonder water

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: wonder water
From: Robb Van Putte <robb at bio_tamu.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 09:08:07 -0600
References: <199606221939.PAA06121 at looney_actwin.com>

A few days ago Jim Kostich wrote:

"It just occurred to me that the "magic" ingredient to your "Wonder 
Water" might just be - carbon dioxide!  Some of the water sources in 
my area come out of the tap saturated (maybe even supersaturated) with 
CO2, with a low pH that rapidly rises upon standing."

This idea seems like a good one to me - and easily testable. Since CO2 
is not being supplied to the tank, one would just have to measure CO2 
levels in the tank immediately after a water change with this 'wonder 
water'. Monitor CO2 levels over the course of the rapid photosynthesis 
phase until photosynthesis stops. You could easily measure 
photosynthesis too. Simply count the number of O2 bubbles released 
from one of your plants over 1 minute (I know this is crude, but it 
will work in this case). Then graph both sets of data over the time 
period measured. If the rate of photosynthesis decreases as CO2 levels 
drop, then this may be your answer. It's worth a try, right?

Robb