Garuf
Member
They steal all your gold and then lose it over a cliff in Italy?
Welcome to the Internet!SuperColey1 said:But then they 'educate' the others with poor information which means there are now 2 people to spread the 'understanding'Like looking at a Queen Wasp and few workers building a nest over your back door and saying I'll leave it.
2 months later it's Michael Caine time![]()
AC
George Farmer said:Welcome to the Internet!SuperColey1 said:But then they 'educate' the others with poor information which means there are now 2 people to spread the 'understanding'Like looking at a Queen Wasp and few workers building a nest over your back door and saying I'll leave it.
2 months later it's Michael Caine time![]()
AC
Pity you aren't allowed to link to other forums on TFF...
JamesC said:Temporary Hardness (KH):
To raise KH you need to add calcium or magnesium bicarbonate. Adding baking soda (NaHCO3) will not raise KH as it contains no calcium or magnesium, but will raise alkalinity as described above.
James
Because when we talk about water hardness it is always related to calcium and mangnesium ions. As carbonate hardness is a measurement of a part of water hardness it must relate only to Ca++ and Mg++. It is confusing and many people get it wrong, even Wikipedia's entry for carbonate hardness is incorrect. Doing a quick search on Google showed that most websites (mainly aquarium) have the definition wrong with just a handful having the correct definition. Aquarium KH test kits are really alkalinty test kits and this is the main reason for all the confusion IMHO.Dave Spencer said:How come only the ions of calcium and magnesium carbonate are used in measuring KH?
i have a full blown uKaps sig and so far have not been caught by the 'forum police'aaronnorth said:George Farmer said:Welcome to the Internet!SuperColey1 said:But then they 'educate' the others with poor information which means there are now 2 people to spread the 'understanding'Like looking at a Queen Wasp and few workers building a nest over your back door and saying I'll leave it.
2 months later it's Michael Caine time![]()
AC
Pity you aren't allowed to link to other forums on TFF...
lol, i always slip the occasional sneaky link to UKAPS![]()
Yes, using sodium or potassium bicarbonate increases alkalinity and not KH as sodium and potassium are not multivalent ions, ie they only have a single + rather than for example calcium that has ++john100 said:On a re-reading of your original article I see that what I'm really boosting with sodium or potassium bicarbonate is alkalinity and that strictly speaking I would have to use Magnesium or Calcium bicarbonate to boost KH proper.
None really for our purposes.john100 said:1. What is the practical difference between boosting alkalinity and boosting genuine KH? I assume both will help buffer pH
The amounts that I give will adjust the alkalinity the same. KH is defined in parts of CaCO3. Carbonates are different to bicarbonates and this is where people often go wrong doing the calculations. One carbonate will dissolve in water to give two bicarbonates so this has to be taken into account if sodium or potassium bicarbonate is used. Another way of looking at it is that each CO3-- can neutralise 2 hydrogen ions (acid) and HCO3- can neutralise only 1 hydrogen ion. The process of dissolving carbonate in water actual removes CO2 to form the bicarbonate. This results in a large rise in pH so if you do choose to use carbonates to adjust alkalinity then you have to take extra care and do it slowly. This is why using bicarbonates is safer.john100 said:2. I see that I can more easily obtain potassium carbonate than potassium bicarbonate. At appropriate doses as you set out, do both do the same job? I'm wondering if some of the carbonate will become bicarbonate in the aquarium by reacting with acid - sorry my chemistry is not up to knowing this!
Yes you could use calcium carbonate but it's pretty insoluble. KH is defined in parts CaCO3. Problem with using crushed coral, etc is that you don't know at what rate the CaCO3 is going to dissole. Some people do use it though but takes some trial and error to get right. Also raises GH.john100 said:3. If I could use potassium carbonate instead of potassium bicarbonate, could I use calcium carbonate rather than calcium bicarbonate? Aren't limestone and coral sand largely calcuim carbonate? Could this slowly boost KH?
No problems and thank you for your interest.john100 said:Any further comments will be gratefully received and I'm sorry to throw yet more questions at you. Your responses are excellent so you've only yourself to blame!
John
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