Alkalinity questions

[sese]

Can someone explain alkalinity and buffering capacity to me?

I am a little confused about differences between carbonate alkalinity, hydroxyl alkalinity and bicarbonate alkalinity. Are these used in reef tank considerations?

Do you know the equations relating to alkalinity and buffering?

I thought that a buffer was an acid and it's conjugate base. What is the acid and what is the base?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[randy holmes-farley]

This article details everything that you want to know about alkalinity as it relates to marine aquaria:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... mistry.htm

This article talks about actual buffering (not alkalinity or alkalinity supplementation) of seawater (in the context of buffering by borate and bicarbonate/carbonate):

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2002/chem.htm

This article describes the relationship between pH and alkalinity:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2002/chem.htm