Calibrate your CO2 drop checker !

[magnosis]

Wow, I've been using a drop checker for gross estimation of CO2 in my planted tank, only to realize just recently that it should be filled with distilled water brought to 4-5 dKH with baking soda.

The whole time I was using tap water - and my tap water is at best 18dKH (my softener stopped working lately and the dKH jumped to 29dKH, with GH going from 3 to 18)


I found this post on PT.net that explains how to calibrate using a reference point.  I don't think this is necessary but as the scientific (borderline obsessive) mind that I am I like to understand why and how things work the way they do and run my own experiments to validate stuff I gather on the intertubes


Where can I find distilled water in the area ?  I did 2 drug stores close to home and they didn't have distilled water.  It's been a while I've manually distilled water in the high school chemistry class   Is this simple to do at home ?

What about a seltzer siphon bottle, do you know who in town carries this ?

[ThomasLynn]

big grocery stores should in their water section. My father in law needs it for a breathing mask he wears at night and thats where he gets it.

[Patrick S]

Where can I find distilled water in the area ? 

Any pharmacy will have bottles of distilled water.

Patrick

[magnosis]

Pharmaprix on St-Louis @ Alonzo Bridge didn't have any.
The Walmart drugstore didn't either (then again, the clerk there didn't know what HCL was - Hydrochloric Acid)

Thanks guys, I'll try a few more stores tonight.

[fischkopp]

I got some from Metro, not in the pharmacy aisle.

[Saltcreep]

What about a seltzer siphon bottle, do you know who in town carries this ?

Empire Crockery lists one on their website and they have a location in Ottawa http://empirecrockery.com/barware-soda-siphon-c-22_61.html

There used to be a shop at Carlingwood Mall that sold high-end kitchen and barware. If they're still around, they would probably have one. I remember that Sears, also at Carlingwood, has a very extensive kitchen and accessories section. If all that fails, anywhere that sells to commercial kitchens, restaurants or bars should have one.

Good luck.