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Re: carbonates and temporary hardness
>From: Christopher.Holloway at hr-m_b-m.defence.gov.au
>Date: 11 Feb 97 14:44:21 +0000
>Subject: carbonates and temporary hardness
>
>Quick question: at the moment I'm using bicarb soda to controll the KH
>value of my tank water. Is there a compound of potassium and carbonate
>that would perform the same function?
Well, how about potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3)? For reference, here's the
Fisher catalog entry:
http://www.fisher1.com/fb/itv?2..f97.2.fsc95_21.507.1x2x2c...
>I've looked in the Krib, and an article at
>
> http://www.cco.caltech.edu/_aquaria/Krib/Plants/CO2/rift.html#6
That should be
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Krib/Plants/CO2/rift.html#6
>refers to muriate of potash as KaHCO3 (sic). I know that muriate of
>potash is KCl, so this article's probably not right. But I am interested
>in the potassium / carbonate compound. Could someone expand on this:
>what it is, and where to get it?
Yes, that article is obviously wrong on several counts. Well, your choices
are either potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) or potassium carbonate (K2CO3).
The bicarbonate looks to be the cheaper of the two... I really have no
idea where you could get it locally. One thought, though. Since it is
used as an antacid you could try a friendly pharmacist, or whatever y'all
call them down there...
Bill