Re: Cacatuoides EGGS!!! Yiippee,, I'm a eg

[henshawm@ruf.rice.edu (Mike Henshaw)]

>Sodium bicarbonate does not increase the "total hardness," which is a goofy
>term for the total amount of Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba ions in solution. It does
>increase the "carbonate hardness," or alkalinity, and does increase the
>buffering capacity of the water, but this buffering is not permanent. The
>bicarbonate can be converted to CO2 by acids such as the peat acids.

I thought that the total hardness was the combination of the carbonate
hardness and permanant hardness.  I believe that increasing your carbonate
hardness will increase your total hardness by definition.  It is my
understanding though that carbonate hardness can be reduced by boiling or
other procedures to break down the carbonates.

Mike
- ------------------------------------
Dept. of Ecology & Evol. Biology, MS-170
Rice University
135 Anderson Biology Lab
6100 Main
Houston, TX. 77005-1892

Ph: (713)527-4919
fax: (713)285-5232
e-mail: henshawm@ruf.rice.edu