homemade rift lake buffer

[cblue0426]

Here are some directions to make a cheap home made buffer. You will have to test this out on a bucket of your tap water first because not all tap water is the same. Its also a good idea to mix up a batch and keep it in a jar so you always have some on hand.

For every 5 gallons of water add:

1 tsp. of baking soda
1 tbs. of epsom salt
1/2 tsp. of aquarium or marine salt

[z rock]

Adding 1 tsp. of baking soda will raise the KH to what? Then what will my PH be?

What will aquarium salt do?

What does the marine salt do?

If the Ph of my water is 8.2, Kh is 250ppm, Gh is 500ppm. Do I still need to keep some of it "on hand"?

If the Ph of my water is 6.5, Kh is 2dKH, Gh is 2dGH what would I need to do?

[mk_ultra]

Besides him not citring his source and to pacify the devil's advocate:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

[Glaive]

Zrock is a tough devil's advocate because he has a lot of knowledge with regards to chemistry. He has many times helped out others on here, and has participated in one of the more mind numbing thread with regards to understanding the chemistry behind our tanks.

He may come across tough, but this only because he cares a lot about potential disinformation.

Glaive

Side note to Z:
Zrock,

You and I need to write a chemistry paper to end all the questions and suggestions. Something to be used in the future for this board. I know there are already plenty on the net, however with our knowledge pooled and differences in opinion I think we could, through a concerted effort, provide the users here with an article that provides for all levels of knowledge.

[z rock]

I really don't know squat about water chemistry other than what I picked up trying to keep water from eating up a boiler tube in the Navy.:lol:

My knowledge beyond that I picked up from the Phd's on Marineland and Seachem's web sites.

There really is no difference of opinion; it's either proved scientific fact or still theory. The Ph d's know a lot more about the facts than I do so I may venture into the theoretical at times.

I used to keep African cichilds without any problems at all till I got on a cichlid-forum and discovered African cichlid's like hard water and everyone was all anal about keeping them in exact rift lakes water.

Well, you all probably know by now my city water is 8.2Ph. But it always would drop to 7.5! So after going through all the suggestions of coral substrate and adding this an adding that none of it made any difference. And nobody ever seemed to be able to answer my question..... why does my Ph not remain stable?

Then one day I came across Larry and Laura's Koi site and Larry explained it quite well. I guess someone that keeps a $1500 fish would tend to be concerned about such a thing.

Check out the part on baking soda:
http://home.netcom.com/~larry_l/koi.htm

http://home.netcom.com/~larry_l/baking_soda.htm

[z rock]

Originally posted by mk_ultra
Besides him not citring his source and to pacify the devil's advocate:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

Devil's Advocate- an official selected to examine critically the facts and raise objections in the case of a dead person named for beatification or canonization 2. a person who upholds the wrong side or an indefensable cause, perversely or for arguments sake.

I would say your being more of the devils advocate than I.:ok: