Path: utzoo!mnetor!spectrix!clewis
From: clewis@spectrix.UUCP (Chris R. Lewis)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: potash & PH
Message-ID: <441@spectrix.UUCP>
Date: 11 Feb 88 23:04:14 GMT
References: <2610@encore.UUCP>
Reply-To: clewis@spectrix.UUCP (Chris R. Lewis)
Distribution: alt
Organization: Spectrix Microsystems Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 49

In article <2610@encore.UUCP> corbin@encore.UUCP writes:
>with basic tropical fish: angels, swords, tetras, zebras, algae eaters
>and a catfish.

These according to my book all like neutral or slightly acidic.

>The problem is with maintaining the PH levels.  We have a private well
>with pretty awful water: ph 5.6 and 18-20ppm iron (basically mud).  Our
>filter system pushes the PH to 8.5+ to remove the iron.  The PH is raised
>by injecting potash into the incoming water before it reaches the filter.
>The potash is so strong that the PH adjustment chemicals I get from the
>local fish store have little effect....

Is the potash and filter just for the aquarium or more general use?
I wouldn't want to drink your pre *or* post-treated water!

You could always try adding some muriatic acid.... ( 8^O, well, just
fooling)

What you could do to kill two birds with one stone so-to-speak is to
get an in-line water distillation unit installed into your plumbing.
I don't really know how expensive one of these things is, but if you
use a holding tank, you could economize and get a very low volume one
and use it both for the fish and your drinking water.  You should
be able to find out your options from a plumbing, drilling contractor
or adverts in one of the "home" magazines.  If my water was bad enough to 
throw caustic potash into it, I'm sure I'd rather drink distilled water.

You'd also probably have to add some conditioners to the water for the 
fish because there'd be no chemicals in it - no buffering whatsoever -
the PH could change really rapidly.  One of those buffer blocks
might do the trick.  Sodium Bicarb is a buffer too isn't it?

Or, buy distilled water instead (buffering still needed).

"Bottled water" is quite possibly no good at all - it will have a lot of
minerals too, and gawd knows what the PH is.  (remembers me the US government's
comment about Acid Rain - "It's no more acidic than Tomato sauce", to
which the reply is "You only find dead fish in Tomato sauce" :-{)

I seem to remember reading that people "live longer" with somewhat hard
water.  Yours seems a little extreme.  Besides, that isn't be ideal
for your fish.

Or, you could switch to African Cichlids....
-- 
Chris Lewis, Spectrix Microsystems Inc,
UUCP: {uunet!mnetor, utcsri!utzoo, lsuc, yunexus}!spectrix!clewis
Phone: (416)-474-1955