cal hypo and ph

[john509]

Thinking about this, I remembered Leslie advertised some cal hypo "shock" as PH near neutral but not this one. If i can't find the spec sheet I suppose I could test tap water then add a little cal hypo and see how much PH rises. Any idea of how much water to how much powder to use?

[chem geek]

Any hypochlorite source of chlorine (bleach, chlorinating liquid, Cal-Hypo, lithium hypochlorite) will have the pH rise when you add it to the water. It is when the chlorine gets consumed/used that the pH drops back down since that process is acidic. The pH neutrality comes from the combination of chlorine addition AND consumption when you end up back to the FC where you started. As I noted, there is a small net pH increase from all of this, but it is usually relatively small compared to the pH rise from the outgassing of carbon dioxide caused by the TA being too high or having more aeration.

As waterbear noted, you need to deal with your algae problem first. As for test kits, get the Taylor K-2006.

[waterbear]

As for test kits, get the Taylor K-2006.

Couldn't agree more. It will pay for itself over and over again!