Tap water conditioner, raising Ph?

[jones57742]

Originally Posted by FinnFan

If I just need to oxygenate the water more, can't I add an airstone or two?

ff:

If you believe that O2 saturation is the "problem" then yes inducing an air stone may increase the O2 saturation but only if the air released from the airstone produces turbulence on the water's surface.

The very small bubbles produced by an airstone contribute very little to virtually no additional oxygen saturation of the water. The turbulence on the water's surface which is created by the current of air bubbles induces O2 into the tank water greater than that produced by a "still surface condition".

TR

[emc7]

If I use NR, I will never have any idea WHEN the ammo spikes

I agree, if you are trying to watch a cycle, not seeing any ammonia would kind of mess things up. But if you are introducing ammonia released from chloramine, you need to be aware of it.

[FinnFan]

Yes, I definitely agree with you there, emc. I want to be aware of it, for sure. I think that when the cycling is done, (if not before) I will switch back to NR or Prime.

I guess I'll just have to keep the best eye on it that I can, and be slow in adding fish. It won't hurt my feelings to hit the LFS every week or two, to buy a couple of new tank inhabitants Might hurt my bank account though Ha!

[FinnFan]

Ok, after reading some articles, I'd like to summarize and see what you think.

There are two types of ammonia that tanks deal with. AmmoniA and AmmoniUM. Fish waste is comprised of AmmoniUM. But if ammonium is excreted into water with a pH above seven, it begins reacting with the bases in the water to become ammoniA. AmmoniA can easily pass through the cell membrane of a fish's gills, and thusly is highly toxic. AmmoniUM is a slightly different/larger molecule and cannot pass through as readily as AmmoniA, hence AmmoniUM being "less toxic" to the fish.

Chemicals such as Neutral Regulator or Prime don't actually *remove* the Ammonia, they simply add a substance which changes AmmoniA into AmmoniUM.

AmmoniA as well as AmmoniUM can be used/eaten by the bacteria you are trying to colonize your tank with. Therefore, using a water conditioner such as NR or Prime won't hurt your cycle, because the AmmoniA/UM will still be in the tank to feed the bacteria, it just won't be able to be absorbed by the fish.

Do I have this straight?

I know this went off track from PH, but since it entered the conversation, I felt the need to get clear on the subject.