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Varicon Aqua - Spheres pH Buffer
Aqua-spheres consist of small spheres (4.0 to 8mm) of magnesium hydroxide. The Aqua-spheres are used in the form of a contact bed through which the water passes. The Aqua-spheres dissolve slowly in response to acidity in the water, and during the process the pH and magnesium hardness of the water are increased. At a pH of 8.3 Aqua-spheres are insoluble in the water, as the pH becomes more acidic, the solubility of media increases, the product therefore has a built in pH buffering capacity. Due to the pH increase on the Aqua-spheres’ surface the product is also excellent for heavy metal reduction.
The pH of the water is adjusted by varying the amount of Aqua-spheres in the reservoir. As an approximate guide, if it is desired to raise the pH from 5.5 to pH 6.8, approximately 0.25 to 0.75 kg of Magna-spheres are required per cubic metre of water treated over a 24 hour period. For example, if the water flow is 100 cubic metres per day the amount of Magna-spheres required would range from 25 to 75kg.
The pH of water is a log scale, thus if it takes 300 kg to raise the pH of the water from 5.5 to 6.8, it could take 3,000 kg (ten times as much) to raise the pH to 7.8. It is virtually impossible to raise the pH of the water to levels greater than pH 8.3 since the magnesium will precipitate out of solution. This property also makes Aqua-spheres the ideal buffer to employ in marine hatcheries and recirculation systems.
In a marine system you cannot use too much of the Aqua-spheres product, indeed the more you have in the system the more stable the pH. As a guide we would recommend 1 to 2 kg of media per cubic metre of water treated per day.
In situations where the freshwater water is recycled, the amount of media should be equivalent to 0.25kg of media for every cubic metre of water recycled per hour. In a marine recycle system this figure should be closer to 0.5kg for every cubic meter of water recycled per hour. For example, in a marine system if the recycle flow rate was 50 cubic metres per hour, there should be at least 25 kg of Aqua-spheres media in the recycled water.
The above figures should be used only as a guideline since there can be a wide variation in the actual quantity required in any given system. There is also a small quantity of sodium present in Aqua-spheres media which will result in an initial high pH.
CAUTION – Read this before using the product.
Aqua-spheres contain some magnesium hydroxide dust, it is therefore important that the product is washed thoroughly to remove the dust prior to it being added to the system.