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Re: Lowering pH when adding.....
I always get nervous when someone posts a question about how they can
maintain a pH of 7.00........ invariably someone suggests messing with
strong acids or the person is already using exotic phosphate based
buffers...... yech!, seems like an accident waiting to happen.
As plant-people, the only thing that we should be needing to bring down the
pH of our water (if in fact it needs to be brought down at all) is CO2, be
in from a DIY yeast culture or a compressed gas cylinder.
For those who have been AGA members, you might be familiar with some
research conducted by Diana Walstad a number of years ago and published in
TAG and recently recapped in her book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. She
set out to find out how "softwater" plants and "hardwater" plants did under
various pH levels. In ALL cases with the plants that she used in her
experiments, the plants grew more under alkaline conditions, regardless of
the the type of water they were found in naturally. (see Ecology of the
Planted Aquarium, page 117).
If it 'ain't broke, why fix it?
James Purchase
Toronto