[Histonet] Acidic tap water and automated H&E

[Greg Dobbin]

Hi Folks,
It seems we have acidic tap water causing our H&E's to stain purple
rather than blue.  We have the tap water plumbed into the automatic
stainer. Is there a cheap solution here?  I am thinking I could add slow
dissolving calcium carbonate to the tap water wash buckets to gently
raise the pH, but the only source of calcium carbonate that I can come
up with that is not in powder form, is pellet lime for lawn
applications. I'm not ready to go out and buy a bag of pellet lime just
yet.  Any other suggestions or thoughts? Surely this is not a new
problem.
Thanks for listening/reading.
Greg 

Greg Dobbin, R.T.
Chief Technologist, Histology Lab
Dept. of Laboratory Medicine,
Queen Elizabeth Hospital,
P.O. Box 6600
Charlottetown, PE    C1A 8T5
Phone: (902) 894-2337
Fax: (902) 894-2385

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