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buffering water and "cedar"
RDotta7777 at aol_com wrote:
>Subject: buffering soft water for CO2 system
>When I hook up my CO2 system (using a pH meter to trigger the CO2 injection),
>the water after a water change has a pH of approx 6.2. I then allow the CO2
>to bubble in (at a slow rate). In about 15 minutes my 125 gallon tank has a
>new pH of 6.1 and the system shuts off. The pH never comes back up to re-
>trigger the CO2. I have to add Sodium Bicarbonate to re-adjust the pH to
kick
>the CO2 back on. I have to do this every day. Is there something I am
>missing or is this just the way one has to add buffering into the system in
>soft water?
You need a good hardness test kit. The cheap Tetra dual kit for KH and GH
is a good one. Test the hardness of your water. If you keep it about 4 for
GH and KH (as reckoned by the Tetra Test Kit...and don't start worrying
about ppms and degrees of this and that) then you will have it about right.
I use sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate to adjust hardness.
Olga
in Vancouver
Dave wrote:
>Subject: Re: Cedar
>
>As a professional botanist I always get a chuckle out of threads of this
>sort. Worldwide there are at least 50 distinct species of several
>distinct genera that are called 'cedar'. This highlights perfectly the
>problem of using common names. All can say is, if you want to add 'cedar'
>to your tank, YMMV.
Yay Dave! The very last thing I want to say about "cedar" is that everyone
should have learned from this thread that "cedar" as a name means very
little. Find out what the scientific name of the wood in question is and
then ask on this list if it can be used in an aquarium. Someone is bound to
know IF they have the "real" name. And if you are stumped at finding the
real name try a university in your area. Probably they will have a
department with someone in it who can tell you. THEN you can ask about it
on this digest. :)
Dave, what does YMMV stand for??
Olga
in Vancouver