Re: Apistogramma borelli

[Dave Gomberg <gomberg@wcf.com>]

At 07:39 PM 5/19/1998 EDT, you wrote:
> My water has a very high buffering capacity, which I think is from
>dissolved carbonate.  

I am taking this to mean that your water is a lot like pure water with a
bunch of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) added.   If that is what you mean,
just add a little of a strong acid (dilute muriatic acid down 100 to 1,
then use a little) and that will cause:

   NaHCO3+HCl->NaCl+H2CO3->NaCl+H2O+CO2

so that you end up with the effect of a little table salt (NaCl) and CO2
which bubbles off (stir vigorously).   Now if you use this treated water in
your tank (after testing that the pH is 6.5 or so) your basic water problem
should disappear.  If you are going to treat with peat, only use the dilute
HCl down to 7.0 and then use the peat to lower the pH further.  HTH.   Dave

- --
Dave Gomberg	mailto:gomberg@wcf.com
FormMaestro  <http://www.wcf.com>