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Re: [APD] sodium bicarbonate



1 Teaspoon per 10 gal is about right, but measure the KH, 
pH, and ammonia after adding the first tsp. to see what
change you get. Then adjust the next dose accordingly. I
would premix the soda in water and then slowly add to the
aquarium, maybe when adding water during a water change,
but that's not critical.

The effect of soda on KH is essentially independent of CO2.
Soda will act to raise the pH. CO2 acts to lower pH. (Which
is the reason you can calculate CO2 levels if you know pH
and KH.)

Because carbonates raise the pH, the relatively amounts of
ammonium and ammonia will change; the higher the pH the
higher the ammonia relative to ammonium. If you have
measurable amounts of ammonia, proceed cautiously to ensure
that you don't suddenly "spike" the ammonia by raising the
pH. A TAG's (The Aquatic Gardener -- The Journal ofthe
Aquatic Gardeners Assn.) included some material from Roger
Miller on the relationship between pH and relavtive amounts
of ammonuim/ammonia. Roger's Post is also in the APD
archives but without the pretty chart put together by the
TAG Layout Artist, Chryl Rogers). With lots of healthy
plants, ammonia probably won't be an issue but it's worth
the care to proceed caustiously. A spike can stress the
fish and sometimes cause green water or other algae bloom.

George and Karla Booth's excellent web site is contains an
great primer on KH, GH, pH:

http://users.frii.com/gbooth/AquaticConcepts/

select "Tech Brief: Water Chemistry"

Enjoy the site,
Scott H.



--- R S Ahl <rsahl at dimensional_com> wrote:
> I have 25g non-CO2 set-up.
> 
> pH 7?
> GH 5?
> KH 0
> 
> If I add 2 tsp. sodium bicarbonate, to increase KH by 4?.
> 
> Dose this solution only work on CO2 systems?
> Will this cause problems in some unforeseen way?
> 
> Steve
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants


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