Re: Reconsider use of Baking soda?

[Wright Huntley <jwwiii at pacbell_net>]

Allen wrote:
> Hardly.  Carbonate=Carbon=basic building block for organic life forms.  (it
> also raises KH or Carbonate Hardness.)

Sorry Boat, must stick my nose in here.

As a chemist, I'm a decent electrical engineer, but have been living 
with the crappy nomenclature in the aquaria world too long. See Geo. 
Slusarczuk's various articles (APD archives, the Krib, etc.) on this 
subject. Forget the term "Carbonate Hardness." It just means alkalinity.

> 
>  It is only as temporary as your next water change.  Baking soda provides a
> buffer for the water and helps maintain a pH of about 8.0 to 8.2.  It is not
> a "pH up" type chemical like an alkalinity booster, it is a buffer.  

This is so mixed I don't quite know where to start. It *is* a "pH-up" 
booster and it is a (part of a) buffer. Its primary effect is to simply 
raise the alkalinity of pure water. Check the real definitions (not the 
warped translations of some early aquatic articles from the German).

It is temporary if it goes away when the water is heated to boiling. As 
part of the CaCO3/bicarbonate buffer system, it does exactly that, 
precipitating out CaO (or CaOH?) as boiler scale and releasing CO2 to 
the air. That's how they *defined* that abortion called "temporary 
hardness."

It is also temporary in that Vals and some other plants can directly 
extract their CO2 from it, and hence reduce it in the water column.

> Please
> guys do some homework that is all it takes.

BTDTBTWW! :-)

> 
> Boat
> (now wondering why he ever entered this conversation)

Me too. What am I doing here without even my rubber book (CRC Handbook) 
to cover my nakedness? ;-)

> 
> ps- things like peat and driftwood an such do suck dissolved solids out of
> the water, so Baking soda will have to be amended every now and then if
> there is a hardness sink such as these.

Those are primarily cation exchangers, AFAIK, so should have no effect 
whatsoever on the bicarbonate concentration (alkalinity). Their released 
tannins (tannic acid?) may, of course, somewhat neutralize the buffering 
effect of sodium bicarbonate. [That's per the definition of alkalinity, 
isn't it?]

> 
> Allen "Boat" Boatman
> Lutz, FL
> TBAS, SKS, AKA 08298, SAA 96, CRLCA, NANFA
> 
> Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative
> on the same night.

Now *that* sounds like really good advice!

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley -- 209 521-0557 -- 731 Loletta Ave, Modesto CA 95351

"The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others."
                                 -- Thos. Jefferson --

That's what Independence Day is all about, isn't it? <www.self-gov.org>


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