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  1. happychem

    2 Weeks! Water Still Cloudy!

    Hold a sample of the water up to a piece of white paper. Is the cloudiness white or green? Green would mean a green algae bloom, white bacterial bloom. In either case the bloom was likely caused by stirred up nutrients. The key will be dilligence and patience. I haven't seen the initial...
  2. happychem

    PH too High in New Tank (cross-posted)

    This is completely wrong, I'd call it an outright lie, but I think that it was spawned out of ignorance. The most basic gas solubility rule is that the solubility of a gas decreases with increasing electrolyte content. Why? When a salt dissolves in water, water molecules arrange themselves...
  3. happychem

    How often can I clean tank?

    Deep gravel is not likely to cause a problem. Right now, do plenty of water changes, but don't stress on the gravel cleaning. How deep is your substrate?
  4. happychem

    PH too High in New Tank (cross-posted)

    Osmoregulation. Roan's not wrong, she has the jist of it, but I'm always worried about the "broken telephone effect". That is, one person sais something that's mostly right, another repeats it with a little change, and so on. Osmoregulation is a metabolic function which the fish do to balance...
  5. happychem

    PH too High in New Tank (cross-posted)

    Everyone is getting very close to the answer without taking that last step. Fish don't read pH, they read osmolarity. Osmolarity is a function of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) - essentially a measure of the amount of ions in the water: this could be Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO4, PO4, NO3... When...
  6. happychem

    KH test kit components

    The alkality test is a simple strong acid titration. Usually the kits use HCl and bromothymol blue. The trick is standardizing the kits in a convenient manner, such as ppm per drop.
  7. happychem

    Ammonia

    If you can find a source of nitrifiers post-haste there's no need to return the fish. However, Cathy is correct the too many fish were added at once for a fishy cycle. Smaller LFS's will often sell you one of their established filter sponges at the cost of a new one. This is an excellent option...
  8. happychem

    What is this a symptom of?

    Tap water often has elevated CO2 levels. It's possible that the water straight from the tap had high CO2, low O2. When this was added to the tank, combined with overnight plant respiration and the lack of aeration resulted in low O2 levels. One way to prevent this happening in the future is to...
  9. happychem

    Fire extinguisher used near fish stuff

    Hydrazine is only one of the products from the rather messy reaction of ammonia and bleach. You also produce chloramines and chlorine gas. In short, nothing good comes of it. All you need is a good rinsing under running, warm water. Never use bleach unless you're trying to eliminate some form...
  10. happychem

    Please explain ammonia removers.

    Crushed coral is CaCO3 and, to a lesser extent, MgCO3. It dissolves into HCO3 (bicarbonate) and CO3 (carbonate) which raise both pH and KH. The ultimate increase in pH is a physical property of the base being added (in this case, carbonate), the rate at which it reaches that pH is a function of...
  11. happychem

    brown hair algae? fungi? Gah!!

    Yeah, Otos won't touch it. I'll try to get a better pic tonight.
  12. happychem

    brown hair algae? fungi? Gah!!

    Ever since I moved and set my 33g back up - more or less from scratch - this brown, hairy gunk has been growing like wildfire, moreso of late. After it withstood a 5 day blackout (and dare I say, grew during!), I'm no longer convinced that this is an algae. However, before I try anything like...
  13. happychem

    Fertilizer Recommendations & Info - the Informal FAQ

    Thanks. The gluconate is a chelate, just not in the traditional sense that one usually thinks of chelates. Basically it's just a big (a statement open to interpretations) organic molecule which binds the metal and keeps it in its 2+ state. I'm keen on measuring stuff myself - being an...
  14. happychem

    Fertilizer Recommendations & Info - the Informal FAQ

    While I do not disagree with the general sentiment of process detailed in your post (it was very well done), I suggest you update your research somewhat. Excess PO4 and NO3 are not the cause of algae, despite older references stating that they do. Test kits, while a good idea, are not strictly...
  15. happychem

    29 Gallon Filtration

    TKOS, my post wasn't in reply to yours, we were both composing at the same time, you just happened to have the drop on me by about 4 minutes. Cannisters are an all around better choice, period. I was simply adding my arguments to the "HOBs aren't evil" lobby. :D
  16. happychem

    29 Gallon Filtration

    Any surface distruption will increase the rate of gas exchange - that much is a given. That doesn't, however, mean that surface distruption is a bad thing, on the contrary. With a DIY system - from personal experience - surface distruption from an HOB can make maintaining contant, decent CO2...
  17. happychem

    fishless tank?

    Please don't come in late in the thread and post a suggestion which is poor fish husbandry to the very core. Responsible fish husbandry involves keeping fish healthy, a QT serves to protect the existing stock from diseases and parasites that could be imported by new fish. Keeping some of those...
  18. happychem

    my Java Moss are greedy

    Drop the pellet in through the same hole in the canopy where your filter goes through.
  19. happychem

    fishless tank?

    You could also buy some pure ammonia, it's about $1 per bottle, and dose a mL or so each day to keep up the NH3 supply. Just use a test kit to verify the amount. Start small.
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