[Killietalk] Thanks for help on water chemistry/mix questions!

[Jason <rusticitas at yahoo_com>]

ee, Larry, Dennis, et al,

I *really* appreciate the input. Writing my original message up helped
clear up my thinking a bit, and the responses privately, and here, have
been extremely helpful in getting me to hone in on what I need to focus
on.

Some of the replies have brought up a couple of followup questions:

With respect to salt addition for fry tanks, is it specifically NaCl
that is beneficial? Is there much practical difference between
non-iodized salt, marine salt mix{1}, and Seachem's Livebearer Salt{2}?
(I have a fair amount of the latter two on hand, which if they are good
to use, I will to use them up. I just have not done any tests on them
to see how they differ pH-, GH-, KH-wise.)

I have not tried filtering anything over peat yet, but I think I will
set up a test tank, watch the parameters to learn from that. Standard
air-driven corner filter, I assume? Does the amount of peat used matter
much? I happen to have coco-coir bricks on hand, as well as some of the
Jiffy peat pellets and a bag of peat from a garden supply center. I am
assuming any/all still need some boiling to leech out some
harmful/toxic elements? (Which makes me wonder how long they need to be
boiled, or soaked, or rinshed to make them safe.)

As a side note, at some point more than three years ago I came into
possession of a bag full of almond/ketapang leaves which I've not used.
Are they of any benefit or use with any killie (or other softwater)
species, or are they mainly for fish like betta, gourami, etc? If so,
does one just drop them into a tank? (I'd completely forgotten I had
them until I wrote this message.)

I'm going to dig out my AKA Beginner's Guide again, and try to find my
copy of Ed Warner's book as well and re-re-review it all. Luckily I'm
absolutely fascinated by all of this! :-)

-Jason

{1} I have some Instant Ocean on hand which I got from a friend who
keeps reefs, which I've been using for my occassional hatching of bbs.
{2} From Seachem's reply to my question, they said it is more Mg, less
NaCl (so as not to "burn" plants), and raises pH and Alkalinity
slightly.


{ Jason Stanford - rusticitas at yahoo_com - Bethlehem, PA, USA }



 
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