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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #551



> Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 15:56:23 -0700
> From: Dave Gomberg <gomberg at wcf_com>
> 
> At 03:48 PM 9/18/00 -0400, George Booth discussing KH  wrote:
> >  If carbonates are the main form of alkalinity, this will produce useful 
> > results. If
> >other forms of alkalinity are also present (such as phosphates), the results
> >will be garbage.
> 
> George, try to follow me on this and tell me if I am way off base.   If 
> there is 100ppm HCO3- and its relatives, how could .1-1ppm of HPO4 and its 
> relatives screw up the measurement MUCH?????  

Well, that *was* kind of hard to follow but I think I can answer it. IMHO, a 
small amount of phosphate won't screw up the measurement MUCH, especially given 
the accuracy of test kits most people use and the presumed casualness some 
people use when testing. They might never know the difference. 

Try to follow *me* now. If someone is using a commercial phosphate-based pH 
adjusting compound and they are using enough to actually adjust the pH, wouldn't 
you think THAT amount might screw up the measurement MORE THAN A LITTLE?     

> Where am I missing it?????

As my original subject header stated (which you cleverly changed to "Aquatic 
Plants Digest V4 #551" to mislead the reader :-), this was a Minor Technical 
Correction not an Earth Shattering Revelation. 

For us anal-rententive types who like make measurements, having a little 
phosphate in the buffer soup fits the following saying:

"A spoonful of wine in a barrel of sewage is sewage; a spoonful of sewage in a 
barrel of wine is sewage." 

Hate dem phosphates!

Now if you keep baiting me like this, we aren't going to get along very well in 
Chattanooga at the AGA Conference and I will have to vote you off the island. 
You better be careful when you bait me because I am a Master Ba... err, 
nevermind. 

:-)


George Booth in Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
  http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts