"George Pontis" wrote in message
t...
In article , says...
Are you adding any chemicals to lower pH? What is the phospate reading
on
your tap water?

Cheryl
No, actually using non-phosphate alkaline buffer to keep at 7.0; water
tends
to be acidic at about 6.4-6.5 . Forgot to mention that earlier, was
actually
coming back to add that info. The phosphate reading out of tap is
0.5ppm.
TIA

There are many non-phosphate chemicals to raise pH, such as baking soda.
But I
have not seen a pH 7.0 buffer for an aquarium that is _not_ phosphate
based. I
suggest that you test some of your buffered fill water with the phosphate
test kit
to rule that out.

Hmmm perhaps a clarification..I'm not using a commercial "pH 7.0" buffer;
the buffer in question is seachem alkaline buffer; it states it will
preferentially buffer at 7.8. This is greater than my needs. You can either
add the quantity directed (1 tsp/10 gallons) to get there, or add directed
dosage and then counteract with acid buffer at directed dosage to get your
desired ph. I've found that a dosage smaller than recommended also allows
you to "customize" your pH w/o putting acid back into the system. The
reason for me to use this is my tap water has basically zero buffering; it
reads kH 1 and my pH was a roller coaster. Hence, the benefit to me is not
directly the pH but rather the ability to maintain it at a level which
allows some diversity with what I do with the tank, fish and plant-wise.
I've found that a stable but buffered 7-7.2 serves better than an unstable
but "natural" 6.4-6.6 (has/will crash to abut 6.0 once the buffer is
consumed).

However, I did consider the point of is the buffer REALLY phosphate-"free"?
Tap water reads 0.5ppm; I used 2 gallons and added 1/4 tsp buffer (roughly
the same ratio as what I'm really using going into the tank) and got results
of 1.0 ppm phosphate. I guess I don't know what tolerance is allowed for
something to claim to be "non-phosphate", but it seems the buffer DOES add
phosphate, which if it accumulated, weekly water changes could lead to my
current situation of phosphate of 10+ ppm.

So, you may have found my culprit. I'll change buffers to baking soda (any
'additives' to avoid??) and see what effect this has on this tank.I'll also
see if I can find some phosphate-adsorbing media to try and lower the
existing phosphate along with aggressive water changes. Anything else I can
do to increase existing uptake by plants of the phosphate currently in the
water? TIA

lila pilamaya