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Re:High KH lowers pH?



>Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 23:22:00 -0500
>From: Paul Krombholz <krombhol at teclink_net>
>Subject: Re:High KH lowers pH?


>Unless you have critters in your tank that really enjoy highly 
>alkaline conditions, don't think of testing it.  How are you getting 
>water that tests higher than 8.4?  Is that the pH of your tap water?

Apparently this is common in koi ponds. The koi don't mind the PH of 8.4. I
guess people super dose baking soda so that they get a high KH, high buffer,
and stable (8.4) PH. I guess this would also be ok for cichlids. The typical
pond plants are Hyacinth, water lettuce, and Anacharis. Some others are
things like lilys and cattails which I assume get their carbon from the air.
This stemmed from a message from someone who said that their PH was 9.5 and
someone responded to use acid to bring the PH down and then add baking soda
to stabilize the PH at 8.4. I had thought that adding baking soda would
buffer against the acid and keep the PH at 9.5. I got a message from the
second poster and she said that adding baking soda will reduce the PH to 8.4
if it is above 8.4 and raise the PH to 8.4 if it is under 8.4. Baking soda
is used because it's highly available and very cheap. 

Sam