Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post

blanden.adam · 07/31/2013, 07:21 AM

Alright guys, this fight about the quantitative role of calcium hydroxide's effect on phosphate in a reef aquarium has been going on long enough and I agree it is getting tiresome. I will propose an experiment to address the issue to see if it is acceptable to the community to quantitatively address the issue.

I will take 3 500mL beakers and fill them with artificial seawater taken from my aquarium at my next water change. It will be tested at that time for specific parameters, but roughly they will be

(all mixed from reef crystals)
s.g. 1.026 (atc refractometer calibrated to 1.0264)
alk: 8.6 dKH (saliftert test kit)
cal: 450 ppm (salifert test kit)
mg: 1450 ppm
phosphate: 0.00 ppm (hannah checker)
ammonia/nitrate/nitrite: undetectable by API test kits

To that I will add sodium phosphate buffer at pH 8.3 to set the phosphate level at 0.10 ppm (by hannah checker). Then, under continuous stirring, I will add 5 mL of saturated limewater in 5 equal doses of 1 mL added slowly spaced evenly across 24 hours. I will do this for 3 days, and then measure the phosphate of each beaker. Is this an adequate experiment to address the issue?

Oh, and of course at the end the final volume will be made up to 500mL with the addition of water.

07/31/2013, 07:21 AM	#10
blanden.adam Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Manlius, NY Posts: 1,666	Alright guys, this fight about the quantitative role of calcium hydroxide's effect on phosphate in a reef aquarium has been going on long enough and I agree it is getting tiresome. I will propose an experiment to address the issue to see if it is acceptable to the community to quantitatively address the issue. I will take 3 500mL beakers and fill them with artificial seawater taken from my aquarium at my next water change. It will be tested at that time for specific parameters, but roughly they will be (all mixed from reef crystals) s.g. 1.026 (atc refractometer calibrated to 1.0264) alk: 8.6 dKH (saliftert test kit) cal: 450 ppm (salifert test kit) mg: 1450 ppm phosphate: 0.00 ppm (hannah checker) ammonia/nitrate/nitrite: undetectable by API test kits To that I will add sodium phosphate buffer at pH 8.3 to set the phosphate level at 0.10 ppm (by hannah checker). Then, under continuous stirring, I will add 5 mL of saturated limewater in 5 equal doses of 1 mL added slowly spaced evenly across 24 hours. I will do this for 3 days, and then measure the phosphate of each beaker. Is this an adequate experiment to address the issue? Oh, and of course at the end the final volume will be made up to 500mL with the addition of water. Last edited by blanden.adam; 07/31/2013 at 07:34 AM.