04-07-2005, 08:41 AM
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In article , says...
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
Lila, you have an authoritative response on adjusting pH and KH from the master of
planted aquaria, Tom Barr, and there's nothing more I could add in the way of
advice. In terms of the chemistry, if your buffer was in any way based on
phosphates you would have been off the scale, not just 1.0 ppm. If your
measurement was without error you would have determined that the buffer added 0.5
ppm phosphate. That's reasonable for a chemical additive of this grade. I don't
see how it could accumulate and lead to the 10 ppm reading, so the culprit remains
to be determined.
George
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