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More on PO4
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 13:48:48 -0500
From: Chuck H <grendel at usit_net> wrote:
Subject: More on PO4
> It was recently offered that a disposable enema may be a useful source of
> PO4. The analysis sounds interesting and the price is right. What do you
> folks think?
Since I posted the original note on the subject, I confess surprise at the
lack of interest and/or comment, the above from Chuck Huffine being the sole
reply. I admit to using the name of the source as a punch line, because I
thought it was funny. At least one of my sons thought so, too. He e-mailed
me "Come on, Dad, you can't even catch your fish. How are you going to give
them an enema?" Actually, I hadn't even thought about the possibility that
maybe old fish suffer from irregularity, too.
But, there is, as far as I know, nothing wrong with the analysis. Anyone
who, like me, has tried to estimate the weight of a teaspoon of a chemical
by trying to weigh a cup of it on a postage scale(!), should welcome a
premixed solution of a known concentration of sodium phosphates in USP
purified water. (The sodium contribution, as I pointed out, is trivial at
the phosphate levels we seek.)
And, at 150 mg/ml PO4 or about 7.5 mg/drop, it is ready to use, right out of
its own squeezable dropper bottle. At about a dollar for 133 ml (which,
depending on tank size could provide enough for a couple of years), it
struck me as a convenient and inexpensive alternative to buying and then
preparing a solution of, what I have found to be, expensive potassium
phosphate.
So run, don't walk, to your nearest pharmacy and ask your friendly druggist
for a Fleet enema. You don't need to tell him it's for your fish.
John T. Fitch
E-mail: jtfitch at spamcop_net
Web Site: www.fitchfamily.com/aquarium.html