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Re: re: Alkalinity-CO2-Test Kits

Paul Sears said:

>      The plants should be able to use some of this stuff, but why one
> would want vanadium, strontium or titanium added to a freshwater
> aquarium is beyond me.  I use RO water, because my well water is very
> hard, but I just add about 20% of the well water to the RO water.
> If you want to avoid using tap water at all, but want _some_ hardness,
> I would suggest adding a _measured_ amount of powdered CaCO3, which
> will dissolve slowly.  CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 -> Ca++  +  2HCO3-
> This will give you a known amount of hardness, carbonate hardness, and
> alkalinity, which should provide an interesting check on your test kits.


The bottle of Electro-Right states "Deionized water is too pure for
freshwater tropical fish" and "these "hydrominerals" are necessary for
proper gill function, regulation of blood pH, oxygen uptake, and other
metabolic processes".

We are totally in the dark about what is "necessary" for fish health as
far as "hydrominerals" are concerned. We just know that our water
stinks, literally, sulphur gas and who knows what else turns everything
brown. We used to be on a surface well then they drilled a new
deep well and have been having all kinds of problems. So we are 
reluctant to use any of it. Would the CaCO3 be all that we would need
to add back into the DI water?


BTW we ordered the following mix as "the dry ingredients for aquarium
plant fertilizer, as described in the Aquatic Plants Digest by Kevin
Conlin and Paul Sears". After receiving it and reading the ingredients
we were a little concerned that the copper was much higher than your
original recipe. It was suggested to us that because the Iron is lower
in this mix than your original recipe that we should double the dose
using this mix. Would this be a safe level of copper etc.?

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

Magnesium (Mg) Total........................................5.43%
     5.43% Water Soluble Magnesium
     2.0% Chelated Magnesium
Boron (B)...................................................0.5%
Cobalt (Co).................................................0.05%
     0.05% Chelated Cobalt
Copper (Cu).................................................1.5%
     1.5% Chelated Copper
Iron (Fe)...................................................4.0%
     4.0% Chelated Iron
Manganese (Mn)..............................................4.0%
Molybdenum (Mo).............................................0.1%
Zinc (Zn)...................................................1.5%
     1.5% Chelated Zinc
Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Manganese and Zinc are totally chelated by EDTA
Chelate (Disodium Ethylenediamine Tetra Acetate Chelate)
Boron is derived from Sodium Borate
Magnesium is derived from Magnesium Sulfate
Magenesium chelate is derived from EDTA Chelate (Disodium
Ethylenediamine Tetra Acetate Chelate)
Molybdenum is derived from Sodium Molybdate

Daniel and Rebecca Marsh
In currently rainy Gold Bar, Washington where the tap water content
changes almost as fast as the weather.