Re: long list of problems

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

Okay, I'll attempt to keep it simple.

In a message dated 3/1/99 6:52:30 PM Mountain Standard Time,
jakeowen@earthlink.net writes:

> Everything I have ever put in my tap water has died shortly afterwards.
>  Everything I have tested it for, it has plenty of, I really do not trust
>  it. It seems easier to reconstitute the RO than to try to clean my tap
>  water.
>  
>  This is where I get really confused;
>  
>  Here is what I have been adding back to the RO;
>  
>  "Mardel Aqualab 1 - buffer up" - containing sodium bicarbonate 
>  I have been using this to add carbonate hardness, but It also raises the
>  Ph.

Sodium bicarbonate is also known as baking soda, and much cheaper at Piggley-
Wiggley than the pet shop.  Most carbonates react with the free H+ ion in the
acid component of your water.  THey work to gether to convert the H+ and the
CO3-- into H20 and CO2, plus a salt of some sort, depending on what carbonate
and what acid you are dealing with.  So then your pH goes up.
  
>  to lower the Ph back down, I have been using;
>  
>  "Sea Chem Discus Buffer" - which I never realized It says right on the
>  label, "contains phosphate buffers and special conditioning agents"

Which also reacts with the carbonates.  Try something.  In a bowl, mix 2TSP of
water, 2 TSP of Discus buffer, and 2 TSP of buffer up.  Stand back and watch
what goes on as the two chemicals nuetralize each other.

>  So, I guess this has been contributing to my phoshate problem.

Yep.
  
>  I was also using RO right to get my general hardness, which, after the
>  last thread, I realize may be adding to the phosphate as well.

Maybe, but at least it won't set off the chain reaction the other two do.
  
>  I just bought;
>   "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Ph Down" -  to try to lower the Ph without
>  addding phosphate, but this lowers the carbonate hardness
>  and I also swithed from RO Right to "Mardel TankHard+" for general
>  hardness. This product also says it will not affect Ph, but it pushes it
>  up.

Yep.  Has to.  See above.  Same deal.
  
>  I am having a very hard time trying to find the right balance of
>  chemicals. I do not like using all of them, and I do not know the after
>  effects of when one chemical is changed into another. 

It is virtually impossible to tell what chemicals you are left with after all
that, but I'll bet your conductivity is WAY up there.

I'll just snip the rest of it and see if I can get you started on simplifying
it a bit.

Sodium bicarbonate will raise your pH stability but also your pH.  You could
also use  calcium carbonate in the form of dolomite, but it would not dissolve
very quickly.  One way to get your pH back down without driving out the
carbonate would be to use CO2 injection.  Dave Gomberg is something of an
expert on this.  If you ask, I'm sure he would help you here.

Another solution would be to let the alkalinity to do what it will and just
adjust the pH using the pHDown.  The fish won't mind this, but you have to
keep an eye on it, as the pH may "crash", which in my experience isn't nearly
as fatal as same make it to be, as long as you react to it calmly by dong
water changes.

A dose of RO Right is an acceptable approach, also.  Check your pH after
adding, and drive it back down with pHDown or muriatic acid if necessary.

Personally I like the second answer.  Just remember the K.I.S.S. rule.  And
whatever you do, test it in a bare tank first, to get a handle on what happens
after each chemical additive.

Bob Dixon


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