Neutral Regulator questions...

[LabTest57]

How much magnesium and calcium does neutral regulator precipitate per instructed dose?

Can the insoluble salts become soluble once all PO4 is reduced to almost unreadeable levels (minute amounts) or does it depend on the pH to dissolve them?

Does the PO4 salts bond with magnesium and calcium to render them insoluble or is it some other substance mixed with Neutral Regulator?

For an existing "X" amount of Neutral Regulator in the water column, if magnesium and calcium salts are added to the solution, will these salts become insoluble as soon as they mix with the water or does it depend on the total Neutral Regulator buffering/substance capacity to gH (in terms of magnesium and calcium) buffering capacity ratio?


The product Gold Basics buffers pH to 7.0, but doesn't state that it softens the water; is this phosphate based? If so, why doesn't it soften the water and why must Neutral Regulator soften water?

[Tech Support LK]

Neutral Regulator precipitates out calcium and magnesium and lowers GH through a means of phosphate binding with them. They are no longer available at that point to go back into solution in an aquarium environment. Whether or not GH will be reduced depends on how hard the water is in the first place.

Per label instructions, each dose of Neutral Regulator (the higher end dose of 1 tsp/40L) has the capability of precipitating out abot 0.272meq/L of divalent hardness. This is equal to about 0.76 dGH.

Gold Basics will soften the water a little bit as well, but not to the degree that Neutral Regulator will.

[LabTest57]

That doesn't seem a lot of precipitation, however, regardless of the hardness levels it seems like the amount of Neutral Regulator added is what determines the amount of dGH to be lowered.

[Tech Support AN]

It doesn't really seem like that much, however, it does soften your water when dosed according to the instructions. :-)