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CO2 Capacity



Paul Sears wrote:

	>Don't forget that the CO2 is free to come and go.  If the CO2
>system, atmosphere, fish, etc., do not change, the CO2 concentration will
>stay the same.  If you force a drop in pH after raising the KH, all you do
>is destroy some of the KH again.  The forced reduction in pH would
>require addition of another acid, which would react with the HCO3-
>and turn a lot of it to CO2, which would leave the solution.

Thanks Paul.  I tested this proposition by keeping all other conditions in
my tank the same (including the operation of the CO2 reactor) and raising
the KH by 2 degrees.  As predicted, the pH went up and the CO2 levels
remained the same--all per the CO2/dKH/pH chart.  One can't increase the
CO2 concentration (from a given CO2 source) by tinkering with pH/KH. 
So---I'm building a new CO2 reactor per Karen Randall's note in the Krib
with the addition of bio-balls in the reaction chamber.  I'll report on the
results.