Aquarium ph chemicals

[losfreddy]

if you were to fill a bucket with water and fill it with moss, sand or what have you, could you then use those chemicals to increase the acidity to the proper ph level for CPs?

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Sphagnum and Sphagnum peatmoss are already at the correct Ph.

 

[chloroplast]

If the CPs were growing in their proper soil media, there would not be a need to alter the pH to begin with. If they are not growing in their proper media, then I would suggest transplanting them into suitable media rather than play with pH.

pH is a measure of the concentration of active protons in solution and is influenced by a variety of factors, including the buffering capacity of the solution receiving the acid/base, and the relative pH values of the solutions to be mixed. Adding 1ml of 1M HCl to 1ml of pure H20 would decrease pH by a certain value, but adding the same solution of acid would not decrease the pH of the water to as great an extent if the water was buffered.

So it's not a simple game of "adding this to that," and it's best to use the proper soil medium than attempt to alter pH.

I'm also surprised by the sudden rise of interest in radically altering soil pH....must be a fad!

 

[chloroplast]

Tony, you took the words right out of my mouth.....posted while I was writing! hehe.

 

[losfreddy]

what is the proper ph? (need to know for an experiment)

 

[jimscott]

I just took a sample of water that came from one of my trays of live LFS, and this was a half hour after adding deionized water to the tray, and before I read your post: 6.08 pH. But I can't say that it is representative of a North Carolina swamp.

 

[seedjar]

According to The Savage Garden, pure sphagnum peat ranges from 3 to 5 pH. It doesn't mention any optimal ranges, though. The 'proper' pH will vary from genera to genera, and probably even between species.
~Joe