Furrow Pump, Inc. P.O. Box 1849 8525 SW St. Helens Dr. Wilsonville, OR 97070 Phone: (800) 937-3666 FAX: (800) 377-9960 www.furrowpump.com |
Unless you already have the necessary equipment and test chemical, purchase the equipment kit and tester (Chlorine or pH) of your choice, and then go to a grocery store to get your test chemical – the smallest amount you can buy will be lots for your jar tests. We find a one liter water sample a convenient size to work with. A concentrated chemical or a bleach solution will generally require using an eyedropper (otherwise known as a pipet). You may prefer using a teaspoon (approximately 5 ml) or 10 ml graduate cylinder for the weaker solutions of baking soda or vinegar. You can overtreat with large additions, test, and then work backwards to the correct jar test result, or if you prefer put in small amounts, mix, and test after each step of the chemical addition. Be sure to draw at least two more water samples for testing to establish an average result. While a one liter jar test sample is easy to work with, a 5.25 % hypochlorite solution represents 52,500 PPM, which is much too concentrated for us to use. We can, for example, understand just how big ONE MILLION DOLLARS is. Well, one part per million is equally small – literally one in a million. Since we generally want a pump feed rate of only 1 or 2 PPM, it will be necessary to dilute the 5.25 % solution a thousand times to use it for jar testing: Prepare a 0.005 % solution of the hypochlorite by pouring some of the 5 % bleach into your first 100 ml beaker. Draw some of this solution into your pipet, and count the number of drops it takes to put 1 ml into your 10 ml graduate. Fill the graduate with water to the 10 ml mark and pour this solution into your second 100 ml beaker. Now fill this beaker to the 100 ml level with water and mix with your spoon. Next, use a second clean (uncontaminated) pipet to draw from this beaker, and count the drops needed to put 1 ml into the thoroughly rinsed graduate (a double check). Fill the graduate to the 10 ml level with water, then pour this solution into your third beaker and mix. This is the 0.005 % solution you’ll need for your jar tests. Use the third clean pipet to add this solution into your 1,000 ml water sample, along with your test kit for free chlorine. When it comes to jar testing, pH adjustment is somewhat simpler than chlorination. You’ll need to collect a one liter water sample for the initial pH testing. Use a pH test strip or your tester to determine your starting point. To raise your pH, you’ll need to prepare a 5 % baking soda solution (baking soda directly from the box is 100 % sodium bicarbonate). Half-fill one of your 100 ml beakers with water, add a level teaspoon of the baking soda, mix, fill the beaker to the 100 ml mark with some more water, and mix again. Depending upon how much you feel you need to bring your pH up, I’d add 5 or 10 ml at a time, mix, and test after each addition until I’d overshot the pH I wanted. Then I’d go back and test more carefully to zero in on the correct addition amount. To lower your pH, pour some of the white vinegar, or 5 % acetic acid, into a 100 ml beaker, and repeat the steps above until you have the pH change you want. |
