question on water hardness and leaching

[Yvonne G]

Not really a good excuse IMHO. Just go buy 2 inexpensive identical glasses at any department store.

. . . or at the dollar store!!

 

[anewbie]

. . . or at the dollar store!!

At great expense of $5.21 i have purchased two glass cups. Now these glass cups probably leach but at least they will hopefully leach equally

 

[Mike Wise]

It take years for glass to leach silicon ... unless it is in an extremely caustic solvent like hydorflouric acid or monosilicic acid (found in some dishwasher detergents and why glasses sometime become etched after multiple washings).

 

[anewbie]

Will start that now.... (i.e, no).

Ok i used ro water instead of distilled water - the base is ec 9 @ 74.5

Today a week later the ec was 6 @ 74.1 (i had to re-calibrate the probe when the battery died which probably explains the drop). So in any-event i think that the water by itself did not leach Today or tomorrow I'll restart the test with fresh substrate.

 

[anewbie]

It take years for glass to leach silicon ... unless it is in an extremely caustic solvent like hydorflouric acid or monosilicic acid (found in some dishwasher detergents and why glasses sometime become etched after multiple washings).

What if the glass is made with lead ?

 

[Mike Wise]

It will leach lead only under very acidic conditions, like under pH 3. Lead is not used in drinking glasses anymore.

 

[Ben Rhau]

Today a week later the ec was 6 @ 74.1 (i had to re-calibrate the probe when the battery died which probably explains the drop). So in any-event i think that the water by itself did not leach Today or tomorrow I'll restart the test with fresh substrate.

I don't think I could conclude anything from the results you've given, but I also don't think the substrate was leaching (independent of your test). If there's a diffrence with fresh substrate, I would think it's from debris that will eventually be rinsed away.

 

[Ben Rhau]

What if the glass is made with lead ?

It's possible if you're using leaded crystal (quite unlikely) or painted glass (possible). But the amount of lead that would leach into the water would only be a few ppm, and it might take weeks to get to that point.

 

[anewbie]

Ok i started a new test with fresh substrate never used - the ec is 9 @ 75.0; one more post next week. Sadly i did not use the new glasses i had purchased for these experiment but reused the one i got from copenhagen since i had completed the ro water test.

 

[anewbie]

I don't think I could conclude anything from the results you've given, but I also don't think the substrate was leaching (independent of your test). If there's a diffrence with fresh substrate, I would think it's from debris that will eventually be rinsed away.

Well that test merely shows the water by itself does not go up in ec due to biological activity spontaneously raising the ec. Right - i mean it is a control of sort.

 

[anewbie]

So with the new substrate this a week later the ec was 10; so i guess this means the substrate does not leach but even a small amount of leaves or similar can significantly raise the ec. I.e., @MacZ was right.