NetMax
16-06-2004, 04:13 PM
"Iain Miller" > wrote in message
news:eEMzc.219$yi3.96@newsfe4-gui...
>
> "Bob" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "xtr396472" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > I have started to use Flourish Excel to feed my plants instead of
DIY
> > yeast
> > > CO2
> > > The only problem is my tap water KH is 3 and pH at least 7.6
> > > What is more important to maintain the pH or the KH. I would like
to get
> > the
> > > pH down to around 7 with out using CO2 just for breeding purposes.
> > > Any thought apprec.
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > >
> >
> > pre-filtering thru peat will work for sure.
> > It is far easier and cheaper then co2, the only downside, is it is a
> little
> > messier.
>
> Indeed it will (I do it).
>
> Its important for the OP to understand what goes on there though....it
> lowers the Ph because it eats up the Kh. There's an added twist to it
in
> that when you prefilter through peat you also get a LOT of CO2 in the
water
> initially. This "out-gasses" in a few hours but the key to doing this
and
> knowing where you are is therefore not to measure Ph but to track Kh as
you
> are filtering the water. This is because the Ph will be artificially
low on
> account of the excess CO2 that gets into the water during the filtering
> process. I've meaured it (by measuring Ph and Kh & reading off the
relevant
> tables) at over 120ppm straight out the peat filter.
>
> I.
A little OT, but I read an article that implied that peat had some
buffering qualities. In the case where the tap water was kH-poor (ie: 2
dkH, low gH, but high pH), using peat to lower the pH worked better than
other methods (CO2 injection, RO, DI, acids etc). The author didn't
expand further, so I'm uncertain if there is any validity to this, and if
there are particular circumstances where it's applicable.
It would be nice to have something which would gently drop *and*
stabilize the pH in the high 6s or low 7s.
--
www.NetMax.tk
news:eEMzc.219$yi3.96@newsfe4-gui...
>
> "Bob" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "xtr396472" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > I have started to use Flourish Excel to feed my plants instead of
DIY
> > yeast
> > > CO2
> > > The only problem is my tap water KH is 3 and pH at least 7.6
> > > What is more important to maintain the pH or the KH. I would like
to get
> > the
> > > pH down to around 7 with out using CO2 just for breeding purposes.
> > > Any thought apprec.
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > >
> >
> > pre-filtering thru peat will work for sure.
> > It is far easier and cheaper then co2, the only downside, is it is a
> little
> > messier.
>
> Indeed it will (I do it).
>
> Its important for the OP to understand what goes on there though....it
> lowers the Ph because it eats up the Kh. There's an added twist to it
in
> that when you prefilter through peat you also get a LOT of CO2 in the
water
> initially. This "out-gasses" in a few hours but the key to doing this
and
> knowing where you are is therefore not to measure Ph but to track Kh as
you
> are filtering the water. This is because the Ph will be artificially
low on
> account of the excess CO2 that gets into the water during the filtering
> process. I've meaured it (by measuring Ph and Kh & reading off the
relevant
> tables) at over 120ppm straight out the peat filter.
>
> I.
A little OT, but I read an article that implied that peat had some
buffering qualities. In the case where the tap water was kH-poor (ie: 2
dkH, low gH, but high pH), using peat to lower the pH worked better than
other methods (CO2 injection, RO, DI, acids etc). The author didn't
expand further, so I'm uncertain if there is any validity to this, and if
there are particular circumstances where it's applicable.
It would be nice to have something which would gently drop *and*
stabilize the pH in the high 6s or low 7s.
--
www.NetMax.tk