Originally Posted by
jw1977
http:///forum/post/3204325
The Alk was 8.0, Caclium 400, and Mag 1140. I have no idea what an interceptor dip, can you please explain. The fish I have are 2 clowns, firefish, blenny, hawkfish. By the way i've had the acan for a year.
was the alkalinity 8.0 or your pH 8.0? because you posted two posts one saying your "pH was 8.0" and the other saying that your "alk was 8.0". there is a difference between the two:
"The degree to which a solution maintains its pH when acid is added is termed the "alkalinity" of the solution. Related terms used in reference to aquariums are carbonate or calcium hardness, and its German equivalent, KH or dKH. The amount of "buffers" in sea water determines the alkalinity."
Therefore your alkalinity level will be your buffering system which is what keeps your pH at a constant rate. The higher amount of bicarbonate (now dont go adding loads and loads or you can overshoot your desired pH and have negative results with your corals--i believe its only 1 teaspoon mixed in a glass of freshwater for every 20-30 gallons for the kent marine superbuffer dKH) in your system the more your tank will be able to tolerate pH changes when it begins to drop. Your alkalinity will help to keep you from getting dramatic drops in pH.
If i remember from my chem and ochem and understand correctly, adding bicarbonate (aka baking soda or i know there are other "saltwater aquarium specific" brands on the market (like Kent Marine Super-Buffer-dKH which is what i use and claims to "raise and STABILIZE your pH") will raise amount of buffer in your system (which allows this buffering system to work properly at the proper pH) and also helps to keep it at a consistent pH by buffering your solution by up-taking excess dissociated H+ ions. When water and carbon dioxide combine (H2O + CO2 it forms H2CO3 (carbonic acid). Well the problem with this is that when below equilibrium (H2CO3>hCO3-), the H+ molecule will dissociate forming HCO3- + H+ (H+ is acidic because of the H+ oxidizing everything and destroying your tank, the stronger--or lower the pH--of the acid the more dissociation of H+ ions will result) so if you do not have enough of the bicarbonate or you are at the equilibrium point or below, HCO3- which is the salt of carbonic acid is unable to uptake the excess H+ ions, so your pH will lower because of the excess hydronium ions. SO when any acid is added (acidity is based on the amount of dissociation of hydronium ions aka H+) whether intentionally or unintentionally, the hydrogen molecule will then dissociate into the water to form H+ thus resulting in a lowered pH. Well having a buffering system--by adding more of that salt of the acid (aka bicarbonate because in our tanks our main acid that dissociates its H+ molecule which lowers our tanks pH without a buffer is carbonic acid--from CO2 + H2O). When we are in equilibrium or below it, the extra H+ molecules floating around will either lower the pH--or by adding bicarbonate will accept the H+ ions and inturn raise/maintain the pH by allowing this salt of the carbonic acid to uptake that extra hydrogen molecule--so doing this will thus result in little or no pH change in your system; depending on how much H+ your system can buffer which is directly related to the amount of bicarbonate in your system.
When the H2CO3 / HCO3- system is at a pH that allows existence of significant amounts of both molecular (undissociated) and dissociated (H+ = hydrogen ion that has split off) forms, it resists a change in pH by undergoing a change in relative concentrations (ie the H+'s will be uptaken by HC03- (bicarbonate) to form H2C03-(carbonic acid) which is a weak acid and will not be able to dissociate the H+ ion because there is an shift in the equilibrium due to an abundance of carbonate molecules which are able to uptake the H+ ions and convert that to H2CO3 which throws off the eqiulibrium in favor of the bicarbonate (good thing) and will maintain your pH because all the H+ ions floating around are quickly uptaken by the bicarbonate. When acid (H+) is added to a buffer solution, the resulting change in pH is less than it would have been if the buffer were not present.
Hope i didnt confuse you or anyone else and i hope all of my information is correct, its been a year or three since i last took general chem and this isnt a major topic in ochem because you are expected to know this. good luck to yah. i would recommend the powder form of Kent Marine Super-Buffer dKH or others out there, just do a little research on them.
