Re: Oak Leaves ?

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/29/1999 5:55:31 PM Mountain Daylight Time, 
afaust@ghcp.com writes:

> hm, I see your point. I was just going by the recommendation from the shop
>  guy, who (I think) is pretty trustworthy and knowledgeable.

You'd be surprised.  Most of what they "know" is what they read in the trade 
literature that comes with the product.

> I'm pretty sure
>  the buffers in DB and NR are phosphorus-based, but I haven't bothered to do
>  further research.

And phosphorus leads to algae, and higher conductivity.

> The fact is, my understanding of peat is not that much
>  deeper than that of any other chemicals. However I can intuitively
>  understand the benefits of staying 'natural' with water treatment.

Yep.

>   Maybe someone on the list knows the composition of these additives,
>  and some pros and cons of using them? (manufactured by Seachem) (the 'N.'
>  stands for Neutral, I was abbrev'ing fr spd of tping.)

I know enough about them to know they are phosphate-based.  I know that using 
them will raise conductivity, which in turn seems to turn off the parenting 
instinct in a lot of SA cichlids, including dwarves.  Think about what you 
know about them.  One is designed to keep pH at 7.0, regardless, and the 
other is designed to keep it at what I don't remember, but it seems to me 
that D. buffer is tageted at 5.5.  So you have these two warring ion sets 
going at it in your tank, hokding it at 6.0 if you mixed it right, and 
pushing Total Dissolved Solids and conductivity up.
A better solution is regular tank maintenance with replacement water that is 
peat-treated to the right pH to start with.  Peat has the added advantage of 
absorbing and binding ions from the water, thus lowering conductivity.
>   If this is getting too non-germaine, off-list email reply is fine.
>  (after 5:30pm Pacific, use andrewfaust@alum.mit.edu)

Non-germaine?  Not at all.  Water parameters is one of the key issues in 
success with dwarf cichlids.

Bob Dixon


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