Evening star., 1935-01-23

water" means is q task, but here goes:
The term really means the potential
of the hYdrogen-ion concentration,
but this in itself means nothing un-
less one knows his chemistry ana
electricity, and the complicated meth
cd, using logarithms, which Is used to
determine water standards.
For everyday usage the term PHI
may be said to be "the relative acid
ity and alkalinity." Therefore. II
one reads such phrase as PHI u,
he may know that it denotes rela-
tive alkalinity of that degree, in q
scale running, for average purposes
of the aquarium keeper, from a low
point Of to a high point OF 7.6, with
Z as neutral, neither acid nor alkaline.
4
Last Sunday, with snow in the
morning and rain in the afternoon,
was a field day made purposely for
the amateur "fish fan" interested in
water.
What would rain and snow test?
A small portion Of snow was gath
cred from an unsullied place and per-
mitted to melt.
Tested, the snow water gave read
ing of ga, or definitely on the acid
side. 1t must be reiterated that this
acidity is very small and IN no sense
corrosive, or eating, in any way.
Rain tested later in the day gave a
reading even lower, PHI of 81.
These waters are soft, in the popu-
lar sense, just as tanks which have
been running along well for many
months contain soft water, rather than
hard, or alkaline. Again it must be
emphasized that acidity and alkalinity
are not great, one way or the other,
but Just enough so that simple tests
show which way the scale runs.
Kk*
It is significant that tanks which
had been running along successfully
for many months tested 6.4 and 81,
exactly the same as our tests Of snow
and rain
theoretically, If fishes from these
tanks had been placed in quantity
of rain or snow water, properly
brought up to the same temperature
as that in their tanks, they would
have suffered nothing as result Of
the change.
Actually, the four kinds Of water-in
two tanks, and rain and snow-could
not be the same, in that the life proc
eSses in the tanks would have placed
in their water quantities Of various
substances which would not be found
in the rain and snow.
The chemical analysis, in other
words, would be entirely different.
1t is thus seen that the PHI" of the
aquarist shows only one thing about
water, and this information, if one
lives in this vicinity, is scarcely neces-
sary for general aquarium manage
ment
Good general advice is to keep chem
icals out of the aquarium. as much as
possible.
It will be realized, then, that the
"pH" of water is only one factor Of
many, and by no means the most i'm
portant. Successful aquaria may be
and have been kept for years by per-
sons who never heard of the term.
They concentrated on proper man.
agement. They kept fewer fishes in
a given body of water, got good plants
and gave them enough light to make
good growth, kept water temperatures
over 10 degrees for tropical fishes,
chose good foods and wisely dispensed
them, did not fuss over their tanks,
but still kept them sanitary, and in
other ways helped the fishes establish
themselves, so that in time they be-
came experts, in their way, without
once bothering their heads about the
water, since good water supply did
the latter for them.