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  1. C

    Welcome Anthony Calfo

    Welcome Anthony! Best Regards...Collin
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    Salt the question, once again!

    Eliyah, Yes, that is OK too. Whatever works. I would just suggest starting with some small changes first. The idea being to acclimate your animals to the new salt and to make sure there are no adverse effects of mixing the salts. I always hear stories about bad things happening with mixing...
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    Salt the question, once again!

    baking soda or washing soda are fine and are basically just what alkalinity is. Alkalinity in salt water is a mixture of Carbonate and bi-carbonate. Baking Soda and Washing soda are quite pure forms of these materials. Also they will convert in to one another to reach equilibrium in the...
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    Salt the question, once again!

    If you want to swith salts, I would suggest to do smaller and more frequent water changes with the new salt for a few times, watch parameters and adjust as needed (5% changes 10 times over a few days). Then if everything looks OK, do about 5 or 6 LARGE water changes of 25% or better at a more...
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    Phosphate build up

    Ok, I think we can all agree that this is where the discussion is going to get complicated as biology is complex. So first I want to lay out a few points about cells and how they equilibrate and then set some ground rules for the discussion to progress. I've got to go to Miami day after...
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    Phosphate build up

    Willful, this is an intuitive but difficult question. I was hoping no one would ask. OK...both equilibrium (binding) constants have to be fullfilled. To calculate the actual concentrations requires 3 equations and 3 unknowns. For instance we know that in the two flask sytem...
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    Phosphate build up

    Ok, so on to the next phase. I think we should start talking about biologics now. So we have a nice clean tank with fresh substrate in it...maybe a remote tank too. There is a high concentration of Pi in the sand beds and rocks so what happens? Algea and bacteria like to eat Pi so they grow...
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    Phosphate build up

    Ok, Nikki your gut is right and that is what I was wanting you to get. I think I actually made a mistake earlier and at one place defined the binding coefficient verbally as the ratio of Pi(water)/Pi(substrate) and then wrote the equation as Pi(lime)/Pi(water). I meant for you to use the...
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    Calcium Carbonate

    Sorry, I don't know the formula's off the top of my head. I'll bet you can find them on the net somewhere. I just use the calculators...C
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    Calcium Carbonate

    MikeS, Try this calculator out. It will give you the anwers you need and you don't even have to calculate it yourself. Sincerely...Collin
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    Phosphate build up

    Yes, it does. I'll go off topic and discuss this for a second just for fun. Somebody asked earlier why does a system have to equilibrate? This is a very interesting question that puzzled some of the greatest minds in history for decades. The answer is that there are two fundamenal driving...
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    Phosphate build up

    That is right. What this shows is the the system is "dynamic" things will move around according to their need to reach equilibrium. Ok, now imagine the same setup. Instead of putting aragonite into both flasks, lets assume that into one flask we put sand again. Binding constant 0.25...
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    Phosphate build up

    Nearly but not quite. Let's stay away from the saturation point for now. For these discussions lets assume that we don't have enough Pi in the system to even get close to the saturation point. If we allow the Pi to get near the saturation point, we need to employ some more compicated...
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    Phosphate build up

    Ok, as I've said, I have a plan. I am trying to lay out a conceptual framework from a technical perspective that we can use as a "toolkit" to better understand some of the complex biological processes that go on in our tank. I have two (or three) more disscussions or examples I would like to...
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    Calcium Carbonate

    I would imagine there is little effective or imporant difference between the fancy Kalkwasser and pickling lime. One is probably slightly more pure than the other but considering the markups and required profit margins of the aquarium business, I'll bet the one isn't signficantly better than...
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    Phosphate build up

    Ok...I'm glad I'm sparking some thought. Nikki you're welcome. I'm enjoying it. Also, right now, what you are saying is correct. I want to leave the biology completely out of it for now. I am trying to lay down some basic tools we can use to understand the biology as we go forward, which is...
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    Calcium Carbonate

    MikeS. I'm not sure why you are having more luck with CaCl2 and BS than with Kalk. I would think that Kalk would be easier to balance since it is perfectly balance by definition. It could be an air mixture problem. You need enough CO2 from air entering water to make Kalk work. Also, could...
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    Phosphate build up

    Scooterman, The simple answer is that because equilibrium is a fundamental law of nature. Everthing is in equilibrium all the time. Think about a box on a shelf. It is in equilibrium. The force of the boxes weight is exactly balanced by the force of the table. If equilibrium is interupeted...
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    Phosphate build up

    First let me re-say what I said to Witfull. I made a mistake saying binding constant of 0.99999, that would be near one indicating 1/2 in sand and 1/2 in water. I meant of very large binding constant like 100 or 1000. this would put very much more in the sand and very little in the water...
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    Calcium Carbonate

    Well, its good to go slowly and look for any changes. I think you are doing it the right way. Your mixing procedure looks fine. I add vinegar, dump in Kalk, swirl until its all broken up and dispersed and then add water and start an immediate drip..C
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