RE: conductivity question

["David A. Youngker" <nestor10@mindspring.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: the dude (coby)
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 3:56 PM

> My hardness is less the 20ppm but my conductivity is
> 570mincroseiems??

And you say it's 30 µS _before_ you place it in the tank? At what point are
you adding the Equilibrium? Does the mix give you 30 µS, or is your tap
giving you that reading?

The buffers used in Equilibrium are mostly potassium and sodium based - both
the chief electrons responsible for osmotic pressure and, in turn, higher
conductivity. Its hardness comes from things like calcium chloride, sulfate
and the like. Using such a mix allows for much easier solution than would
straight calcium carbonate, for example.

SeaChem does an excellent job in balancing the compound, but as with
everything else there may be some minor discrepancies when dealing with
extreme ranges of the scale. It was developed and fine-tuned through input
sources that include the members of the Aquatic Plants Digest, and handles
most "normal" ranges to give one of, if not the single-most, faithful
reproductions of a "standardized" mineral balance as possible.

But even at the very low end of the scale I can't see it throwing the
osmotic balances that far out of kilter.

> This is after I just took out all the water
> and plants as well as rinsing the sand to
> clean it (setting it up for a new fish)...

Does this mean you tested the water immediately upon filling the tank, or
was there standing time involved?

> ...however the hardness is still only 20ppm. So
> what is causing that conductivity?

We've been given a starting and ending figure, the presence of a couple of
fish (which isn't quite certain as you say you were prepping the tank for
new fish here but it contained 2 Dicrossus for an undisclosed time period in
the original message) and the presence of plants and pool sand (which
normally means silicate-based, non-dissolving sand or it wouldn't make much
of a filter media). I'm afraid that's not quite enough to be able to provide
the "definitive answer" you seek ;-) .

> Will kribensis, A. cacatuoides, and A.
> trifasciata spawn with water at ph 6.4
> 20ppm but 500microsiemens?...

The first two won't mind, but the trifasciata I have now aren't quite
breeding age yet so I couldn't comment on them. 500 µS is about my normal
range when I'm supplementing the plants for a show tank. (Tomoko's Borellii
certainly don't seem to mind that level either, as one or the other of the
breeding quad (3F/1M) always seems to be guarding.)

Dicrossus might have a few objections, though...


-Y-

David A. Youngker
nestor10@mindspring.com



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