Big Problem With Eco-Complete

Wow! Happychem, you're a WIZ! :bowing:

Then that answers our question regarding the eco substrate, CO2 and CaCO3. I'm glad you're in this forum.

reiverix and I have certainly learned something important here.

Keep up the good work, and thanks for everything.

Lissette :D
 
No answer yet

No answer yet from my e-mail to Carib Sea about the high Ph. It has been about 12 days so I guess I should not expect anything. Tap Ph here is 6.8 and addition of EC took it up and it has settled about 7.4. So Aquabum, lI will just have to contuine with normal water changes and wait a few weeks and see how it all settles out.
That still does not help though with the "will not affect Ph" on the package.
:confused:
I also appreciate the other posters information.
 
This thread has been basically answered, but I felt that their were a couple of loose ends to tie up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I never saw any measurements of the other 2 "control group" batches of water and water/old gravel. I know that my tap water at my old house would appear much more acidic and less alkaline straight from the faucet vs. 24 hours later. I never saw what happened to the other two batches that were supposed to contain 1) water only, and 2) water and old gravel.

Like I said, this has probably been resolved by the whole "blowing dust theory", but if they did change over 24 hours this could be looked into further. I will also go so far to say that many people have sued companies for much less in regards to "false advertising". Maybe they should state on their product that "after settling for (x amount of weeks), does not affect water chemistry" or just not say anything! Put it this way, I have lost several fish in my day, but I have a Blackbelt Cichlid (Bruce....Lee, of coarse) that I would consider going after a company over. He's the apple of my aquatic eye!
 
I agree that controls are necessary, but I hardly think that this is lawsuit territory. The fact that companies have been sued for less is more a symptom of an ever worsening situation in society where lawsuits run rampant.

Besides, it would be very easy for them to argue that the Eco-Complete substrate does not affct pH. If it is dust blowing from an adjacent pile it is not the Eco-Complete but the dust that is raising the pH, splitting hairs perhaps, but that's the kind of crap that happens with lawsuits and people getting all lawyered-up over something that turned out to be relatively easy to solve in retrospect.

Besides, perhaps the problem has been dealt with and the alkaline substrate or E-C substrate pile has been moved. A lot of bags could have come out of the surface of the original pile before the problem was remedied. I really don't see a whole lot of logic in a company recall of a substrate!
 
Very UNscientific test

CaribSea has not as of yet responded to my E-mail about this "problem."
So before wiriting them via snail mail I did a very unscientific test.

Checked my tape water for pH. 6.4 (well water).

Still had the EcoComplete bag left with a bit in the bottom.
Put about 1 ML of the EC in the 5 ML test tube. Filled tube with my tap water to the 5 ML point and shook it up good.. Ran the pH test (AquaPharmacutical) pH indeed went to 7.6.
The letter is in the mail, we shall see. What do I expect?? probably dealing with a 7.6 pH in the tank!!! :mad:

This was in no way meant to be difinitive of any problem with the EC.
Just an observation on my part and I stand to be corrected on the error of my ways.

Chuck
 
What happens when you put just straight tap water in the tube and shake it up? It's entirely possible that you've got an issue of CO2 solubility in there as well.

What pH does your tank hold at? 7.6 is pretty good, IMO.
 
Un Scientific

HappyChem,

Not sure I understand the question; shaking just the tap water? With anything in it besides the well water?

Regarding the pH, It looks like its holding at this point at 7.4, so I guess I should not complain too much.
As a novice in this I don't understand the Co2 issue that you mentioned.

Thanks,
Chuck
 
Happychem,

Now that we're back on the subject, I think that there's something you should know. I've kept the bottle with the eco and water since our last discussion, and after reading the recent post by Bmeasure and w9nwr, I decided to test the water again tonight.

The results are: Ph: 6.6, Kh: 0 :confused:

Apparently, the ph has risen. What do you make of it?

Caribsea should've at least answered w9nwr regarding the ph issue. I phoned them and left them a message and until today, I've received no answer.

Lissette
 
w9nwr, changes in dissolved CO2 change pH. If your tap water had a higher concentration of CO2 than air equilibrium, then your pH will slowly increase with time as CO2 leaves the water. You need to know if this is the case before being certain that something else is raising pH. The easiest way to test this is to leave a shallow bowl/saucer of tap water on the counter overnight and test pH in the morning. This should have given time for CO2 to equilibrate.

Lisette, that's a tricky question. Since I had assumed that there was some residual acetic acid left over in the porous medium of the eco-complete to lower the pH to 6.0 it's a little tough to reconcile the return to pH 6.6 unless there was some short variation in your tap pH. Perhaps the easiest way to solve it is to toss out the standing water and replace it with fresh water. Also, while you're replacing it, have an identical container with just tap water. Anytime you test pH, test both then we can see the effect of eco-complete vs. normal tap water effects.
 
Happychem,

Thanks for your reply.

No problem. I'll do that and then test them both.

Lissette
 
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