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Re: Plant weights - Fe or Sn/Sb?
Hello All:
> > ... solder for drinking water plumbing is no longer > allowed to contain lead (I have no idea what they have > used instead - silver and some other metal?).
> I think it's 95% Tin and 5% Antimony. I suppose that since this was
> the formulation chosen for household plumbing, it must not to be too
> toxic. Still, Antimony is in the same periodic table column as Arsenic,
> which gives me pause.
> What about using thin soft steel wire? The local hardware sells 75' of
> #19 (that's skinny -- 1mm) annealed steel wire for $1.50. It's not as
> pliable as lead, but being thin, is very easy to work with, and it's
> oxidation products are unmysterious and beneficial.
> Just a thought... personally, I just jab everything into the Flourite
> and hope for the best (which is why there's a long strand of Ludwigia
> floating around the tank tonight :)
> Sherman
Just a thought here. One of our researchers asked me to obtain some
Egeria for a prac he had to give. I duly obtained this, and he tested
a sample to see if the experiment would work. He used some steel wire
(ungalvanised) to hold it down. Within a day the wire was rusty and
the plant looked very sick indeed.
Moral of the story: Check on some cheap plants before using anything.
For the record BTW antimony is non-toxic
Jacques
___________________________________________________
Jacques Gerber
Botany Department
Rhodes University
Grahamstown
6140
South Africa
Dept Tel#: 046 6038596
Dept Fax#: 046 6225524
Home Tel#: 046 6225000
___________________________________________________