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Re: Beating a dead horse

> From: Ryan Mills <millsman7 at yahoo_com>
> Subject: Beating A Dead Horse Tiny Leaf Issue 
> 
> Ok, here's an update in case anyone isn't sick of this
> topic already.  I have switched over to the Seachem
> Equilibrium, 

	Do you have any idea what this stuff is?

> 
> Right now, my ph is about 6.2, KH 3dh, GH 8dh.
> That would give me about 57ppm of co2, way more than
> enough.

	Only if the KH really is bicarbonate, but I doubt that,
in view of the comment above and the very high calculated CO2.

> If I can get my ph up to 6.4, my co2 level will be
> near ideal.

	This misunderstanding keeps coming up.  You _cannot_ set
the CO2 concentration by setting the KH and then fiddling with the
pH with various acids or buffer combinations.  All you do is destroy
the KH (bicarbonate) again, and make it impossible to measure if you
use a buffer system other than CO2/bicarbonate.

	The CO2 concentration is not _affected_ by the pH or KH.  CO2
is free to come and go, and sets up its own equilibrium beween the water
and the CO2 system, plants, atmosphere and fish.  The CO2 concentration
and the KH then set the pH.  That is how buffering works - the two parts
of the system (CO2/HCO3-) set the pH.

>  Does anyone have experience with the
> Seachem alkaline buffer?  Does it interfere with KH
> testing?

	It would wreck it.  The reading would always be high.

	  Suppose I ditched or added small amounts of
> co2, added the Excel, and used the Seachem buffers to
> control ph?  

	You would then have no idea what the KH or CO2 concentration were.
Do you know what "Excel" is?
> 
> I've been adding kno3 every day now because my
> nitrates keep getting pulled down to zero, especially
> since I put some frogbit in there to shade my Java
> ferns.  I add enough to get the nitrates up to about
> 5ppm.  

	Sounds like a good idea.  Frogbit (in my experience) can consume
a lot of nitrogen, and soon shows ill effects if it doesn't get it.

> Could a lack of light balance be the culprit?

	You may be short of potassium.  I have to add K2SO4 as well
as KNO3 to most of my tanks.  They _all_ need the sulphate, only some
the nitrate.


-- 
Paul Sears        Ottawa, Canada