buffering soft water, what to use?

[Wolf3101]

The crushed coral will continue to work even with normal water changes while the baking soda will have to be added and monitored each time.

 

[bigspizz]

The crushed coral will continue to work even with normal water changes while the baking soda will have to be added and monitored each time.

So, wouldn't that make baking soda more "controllable"?

 

[Wolf3101]

Depends on your point of view...when I can add a certian precentage of crushed coral to my tank ONCE and then maintain the PH level I want with nothing more than normal water changes that I'm doing anyway then I fail to see the necessity for an additional step in the process.

 

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

So what is your recommendation?

It depends on what the tank is being set up as.

for instance, with me, the water out the tap has a pH of about 7, and almost no hardness. the report from the water board stated 4ppm Kh (1/4Kh) and 9ppm Gh (1/2Gh),

yet i keep Malawi's. Admittedly i do have Aragonite/other calciferous material in the, however the buffering is provided by bicarbonate.

if i put it this way, with coral and similar material they provide you with a safty net, HOWEVER they do no start to dissolve and release the Kh until the waters pH has already dropped. if i remember correctly Aragonite
dissolves at a pH of 7.4, wheras coral requires a pH of 6.8 (this is from memory, the figure might not be exact)
so therefore use of calciferous material will slowly affect the water, however given that a responsible fish keeper will be changing water regularly, relying on such materials to keep the pH stable will not work.

I do 50% wc on all my tanks, if i were to rely on my decor/substrate to buffer the water both the pH and osmotic pressure would vary greatly. therefore using bicarbonate (with the same amount used each time (so if your buffering to 6kh you add the same amount(in proportion) to the water your changing, so the levels do not change)

so to conclude,

if the tank were for a planted set up with CO2 being added, i would use bicarbonate (and regular testing) to raise the Kh to correct levels to avoid the risk of any crashes.

if the tank were for a hard water sp, i would use calciferous material in the tank, but buffer the water before adding it anyway to ensure that the Kh, Gh and pH levels did not fluctuate.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[bigspizz]

It depends on what the tank is being set up as.

for instance, with me, the water out the tap has a pH of about 7, and almost no hardness. the report from the water board stated 4ppm Kh (1/4Kh) and 9ppm Gh (1/2Gh),

yet i keep Malawi's. Admittedly i do have Aragonite/other calciferous material in the, however the buffering is provided by bicarbonate.

if i put it this way, with coral and similar material they provide you with a safty net, HOWEVER they do no start to dissolve and release the Kh until the waters pH has already dropped. if i remember correctly Aragonite
dissolves at a pH of 7.4, wheras coral requires a pH of 6.8 (this is from memory, the figure might not be exact)
so therefore use of calciferous material will slowly affect the water, however given that a responsible fish keeper will be changing water regularly, relying on such materials to keep the pH stable will not work.

I do 50% wc on all my tanks, if i were to rely on my decor/substrate to buffer the water both the pH and osmotic pressure would vary greatly. therefore using bicarbonate (with the same amount used each time (so if your buffering to 6kh you add the same amount(in proportion) to the water your changing, so the levels do not change)

so to conclude,

if the tank were for a planted set up with CO2 being added, i would use bicarbonate (and regular testing) to raise the Kh to correct levels to avoid the risk of any crashes.

if the tank were for a hard water sp, i would use calciferous material in the tank, but buffer the water before adding it anyway to ensure that the Kh, Gh and pH levels did not fluctuate.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

Thanks that is some great info!

 

[bigspizz]

Depends on your point of view...when I can add a certian precentage of crushed coral to my tank ONCE and then maintain the PH level I want with nothing more than normal water changes that I'm doing anyway then I fail to see the necessity for an additional step in the process.

I age in a barrel so the baking soda allows me to produce the same water over and over. I might try some other stuff so I can do like you said and loose a step.