Re: conductivity= water quality explained

[David Sanchez <barbax2@yahoo.com>]

Actually Brian the pH buffer system uses only carbonic
acid and Calcuim Carbonate to pull Carbon from. Though
there are many forms of Carbon in the water, hey
everything alive is carbon based, the actual pH
equation pulls Carbon from Carbonic Acid and calcuim
Carbonate only. If you recall your Basic Biology 101
there is see saw effect between Carbonic acid and
calcuim carbonate. They trade C back and forth. I am
sure many forms of Carbon are present and contribute
to the creation of the forementioned coumpounds but
the actual C is taken from these two. The pH buffer
system is a complicated subject however for the sake
of our audience we should focus on the meat of it as
it relates to fish breeding. For me this is a reading
of 0 KH is essential to successfully spawning certain
Apisto species.



--- Brian Ahmer <ahmer.1@osu.edu> wrote:
> 
> hey nice post on conductivity.  I just have one
> question, I think you 
> made a boo-boo in one sentence.  Correct me if I'm
> wrong...
> 
> 
> >  KH is a measure of
> >carbonate hardness. It relates to the ability of
> the
> >system to maintain equilibrium of Carbon. A low KH
> >means lots of Carbonic acid in the system and thus
> a
> >tendency to have a low pH and the opposite is true
> of
> >a high KH.
> >
> 
> 
> I interpret your sentence "A low KH means lots of
> carbonic acid..." 
> to mean that KH is measuring where the carbonates
> are in the 
> equilibrium (for instance at the acidic pH they'll
> all be carbonic 
> acid, so low KH).   Instead, I think KH measures
> total carbonates 
> contributing to the equilibrium.  Doesn't matter
> whether they're all 
> in the carbonic acid form or the basic form.  The
> total amount tells 
> you how much buffering capacity you have.
> -- 
> 
> Brian Ahmer
> ahmer.1@osu.edu
> http://www.angelfire.com/or/biggestbri
> 
> 
>
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