Rainman, I do believe there is some misunderstanding on my end just because of the questions I've ask around Locally, about. My fisheries Biologist is concerned about the interaction of the bottom soil type with the Hydrated Lime-he's my source, and says I may be sorry because of our super high pH soil here, that I put in on top of my seal. He has no exposure to the Alum w/Hydrated Lime in small ponds in this part of Reg 1 in KS because we have no clay particulates in soil here. With that said, sounds like the info I'm getting-whether correct or not-is based on suspended clay particulates only and no other compounds. After asking around, again, just locally, people here are familiar with Ag lime, but not Hydrated lime. My Agronomist says we don't use Ag lime because it's totally unnecessary for AG use and normally, an acid solution is used here to lower the pH for better growing conditions. I understand this is not in the water use situation WE are discussing now, and that may be some of the information I'm confusing here. In a few of the items I've found for use in pond clarification products in the Alum category, I've found 2 commercially packed products with the main makeup being Alum and both use Sodium Carbonate as the buffering agent to keep pH in check. Both products advertise no pH change if applied correctly, and both come premixed in powder form with 1 being 20% sodium Carb and the other just says 15-40% buffering agent-which is sodium Carb. The item I DO find interesting is both products are mixed directly with water right out of the container and then applied...It's my understanding this is not the recommendation when using Hydrated lime as it becomes a paste?? So, with that being said, is the only difference the fact you can mix sodium carb with Alum together for a 1-time app vs 2 apps or is there some data available that states 1 is better than the other for a given application area/scenario?? I'm not finding the answer to why to use 1 vs the other, yet the commercially available items I find use sodium Carbonate. And again, not trying to be difficult, I'm trying to get educated on why 1 chemical make up is better than the other. I guess I need to hear the explanation of why I CANNOT use the sodium Carb and should ONLY use Hydrated lime. Sorry if I'm a PITA..:-))
