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RE: of calcium and clams (was something about salts)


One problem with many brands of crushed coral is that they have silicates in
them.  Silicates promote brown alage of the uglyest kind. After useing coral
for a year in my Tang tank and just assuming that the brown algae was due to the
hard water, I got set up a tank for Central American cichlids.  These reqiure
water that is slightly harder then my tap water which is pre-softened by my
municipal water supply (90 ppm right from the tap).  I tried putting a layer
of crushed coral in my canister filter to make the water slightly harder and
more alkaline and POOF ... brown algae all over.  I had not yet made the
connection and checked for phosphates.  Phosphates were low.  Nitrates were
low.  I took the coral out of the filter, did a couple of water changes and the
brown algae went away.

john

On 15-Nov-01 Tyrone Genade wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> Since my name was dragged into this I though I would 
> comment as tired as I am (way past my bed time...).
> 
> Crushed coral is pretty much calcium carbonate and 
> magnesium carbonate (with very little phosphates). Shell 
> grit is the same but has more phosphate.
> 
> TO get the Ca and Mg to dissolve the carboante has to be 
> eaten away by acid (H+). YOu get an equillibrium 
> similiar to the below:
> 
> Ca/MgCO3 2H+ <=> Ca/Mg2+ + 2HCO3-
> As not all the Mg/CaCO3 dissolves you end up with a 
> pretty stable buffer system---which is GOOOOOD.
> 
> In bare tanks I will add a slat mix of CaCO3, MgSO4 and 
> NaHCO3 and bingo presto instant buffer solution.
> 
> TO get the Mg levels to that as Lk. Tang you will pretty 
> much have to saturate the tank with MgCl or sulphate. 
> The sulphate might be a better idea as the plants will 
> take it up over time (so will algae...). They will also 
> take up the phosphates from shell grit. The Pottasium 
> (K) can be got from KCl or from K2HPO4 or K3PO4 or a mix 
> there off. This is also a good buffer system but will 
> deterioate over time as the PO4 is taken up by plants 
> and ALGAE (Ahg!).
> 
> The comments about molar equivilants is very correct. 
> using mg/l is not a very good way to go about it.
> 
> At the end of the day all you really need is a high pH, 
> stable ph and hardness and good conductivity to make any 
> Tang. fish haapy. Oh yes, also lots of O2.
> 
> Don't worry to much about high Cl concentrations. You 
> need a very high [Cl] before it becomes dangerous.
> 
> If you can send me the data from Brichard's book I can 
> do the math for you. In fact I would appreciate it any 
> how.
> 
> Bye
> 
> Tyrone Genade
> tyronegenade at yahoo_com
> http://www.tyronegenade.0catch.com
> 
> *************************************************************
> P450 Lab, Biochemistry Department
> University of Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa
> Ph: +27-021-808-5876, fax: +27-021-808-5863
> **********************************************************
> 
> "No, the LORD has told us what is good. What He requires 
> of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love,
> and to live in humble fellowship with our GOD." 
>                                                 Micah 6:8
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------------------------------------
John N. Alegre                   o
Andante Systems               o
eCommerce Consulting       o
Custom Web Development <*{{{{}><
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E-Mail: listhub at andante_mn.org
Date: 16-Nov-01
Time: 09:47:57
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