Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!brazos.rice.edu!bbc From: bbc@nysa.rice.edu (Benjamin Chase) Newsgroups: alt.aquaria Subject: Re: raising pH in a marine tank.. Summary: Adding carbonates raises hardness in a marine tank? Naa. Keywords: marine carbonate bicarbonate pH hardness Message-ID: Date: 16 Jan 90 23:24:56 GMT References: <25AED539.16687@paris.ics.uci.edu> <1296@island.uu.net> <3933@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu> Sender: root@rice.edu Reply-To: Benjamin Chase Distribution: usa Organization: CRPC, Rice University Lines: 24 In-reply-to: BRIDGE@rcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu's message of 16 Jan 90 15:56:23 GMT BRIDGE@rcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (JOHN BRIDGE) writes: >Arm & Hammer is fine to use in aquarium. Yes, if it sodium bicarbonate. >It will raise the hardness a >bit but you use so little of it to raise pH that hardness increase >is not a problem unless you have extremely hard water to start with. Um, John, pay attention, he's got a marine tank, not fresh. "Hardness" isn't a concern in marine tanks, at least not the variety produced by carbonates. The live rock, crushed coral, bleached dead coral etc. added to most marine tanks supply large amounts of calcium carbonate to the tank. This is what buffers the pH, and drags it up towards 8+. The addition of a few more carbonate ions will scarcely be noticed. >The carbonate is also probably more beneficial to the plants than the >phosphate in most tanks. True. -- Ben Chase , Rice University, Houston, Texas (First one up against the wall when the fish police arrived.)