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Controller/Doser/Evaporate
D. Grim posted
<<I can control the
pH in my tanks to within .4 (.2 above or below the controller set point). I
don't like the idea of injecting gas into the tank when it is not necessary,
and the solenoid/controller does this well. I also like being able to see
what the pH of the tank is at a glance. Probe calibration is necessary, and
equipment can fail, but I enjoy fiddlin' with the stuff. Obviously non
solenoid/controller methods work well for people.>>
As many folks, we leave our commercial CO2 on 24 hr -- the pH swing is
about 0.4-0.5 just as it was when we had our solenoid on with the lights.
See also George Booth's CO2 post in the last issure of The Aquatic Gardener.
My money is going instead to a dosing pump: I've had great results recently
upping the water-column fertilization (several fold) and dividing the
amount up into 3-4 doses during the day. I'm hoping that 24-hr
fertilization will be better. I don't really know when the plants feed --
day or night? I'll test 0.2 ppm iron in the morning (Hatch kit) and then it
drops to 0.1 several hours later -- won't a steadier concentration be
better? Ditto for potassium. I have quite a few things that I add, so I've
decided to mix up a week's supply with distilled water to 3.5 liters and
dose 0.5 liters per day, thereby also replacing some evaporate. (Greg Morin
at SeaChem said that they advise refrigerating Flourish because mold can
grow once it's open, but keeping a few days' supply out shouldn't be a
problem.)
Jared
___________________________________________________________
Jared Weinberger jweinberger at knology_net
______ http://www.knology.net/~jweinberger/ ________