Recent content by Wickette

Each grain of BDBS contains about 50% silica, 20% Iron, 20% Aluminum, 6% calcium, 4% of various other salts,metals, minerals. So it all sticks to magnets. But because only 20% of each grain stick, it's easy to knock them loose by giving it a hard smack. A tiny percent sticks really well and...

Fluorite alone wouldn't do anything for plants. It's inert, just more porous than silica (less pourous than filter carbon) I'm currently dry sifting out with black diamond sand a (clean) piece of window screen. Discarding what falls through. It's a little disconcerting that it sticks to magnets.

I've got one each of the 7.7lb and 15.4lb. only opened the small bag and see how it goes. First impressions this stuff breaks apart very easily, no wonder Seachem doesn't state the size on the bag. IDK if all the grains are equally soft. Seems very easy to pulverize a lot of it into dust by...

Alas, that's ordinary pea gravel. 10-15x bigger than what I'm looking for. BDBS contains Aluminum Oxide, Iron Oxide, Calcium oxide, Potassium Oxide, Magnesium Oxide, Sodium Oxide almost all strong bases. Leaching is minimumal and slow, Not being rinsed enough, or doing infrequent water changes...

Im talking about Seachem Flourite Black, not "Flourite Black Sand" Seachem is secretive about partivle size, seems to change year to year. AFAIK regular Seachem Flourite is huge:4-12mm, Seachem Flourite Dark:3-4mm, Flourite Black is 1-2mm , Flourite Black Sand: 0.1-1.0mm (smallest particles of...

My setup is low tech and very few root plants. I'm not looking for plant growth. Just sand with grains large enough to gravel vac. Only inert aquarium substrates that are black 1-2mm gravel (aka 10-20 grain size sand) is Seachem Flourite and AquaNatural Black Diamond. The latter having very...

Time and filtering isn't an issue, Ive got spare tanks to wash and filter it for weeks if needed. But does it brake down and get cloudy again when it's moved? (I plan on using a fish net to scoop out and transfer the flourite, so the smallest particles won't make it into the real tank)

Easiest way to remove the gravel is to scoop out what you can, then get 3/4" or larger tubing and siphon out the rest. Not gravel vac, just bare tubing will have enough suction and size to remove left over gravel. Might be a good idea to leave a large portion of the gravel in a few open...

I've been looking for 1-2mm black gravel/sand for years. Seachem Flourite is the only aquarium substrate I've found in the US that is black, 1-2mm, inert, and isn't blasting sand/slag. Does flourite ever actually get clear. Not "settle" down, but wash clean and have it stay clean even after...

Digital camera over corrects for lighting. It makes the white spot look cleaner/sharper than it is. IRL the white spot is bigger and hazy. ^This is the tetra that has it in both eyes. I guess the fins are a little shabby too. IDK if that's a symptom or just age or nipping damage.

Pop eye, eye flukes, something else? Two of my 5y/o BH Tetras have opaque white spots in the center their eyes. One has a single small white spot. The other has a much larger spot in both eyes (half the diameter of the eye). Spot is under the lens, eyes are not cloudy, lens over the white...

Food and Agriculture grade have to do more with source, handling, contaminant exposure. Food grade was use a targed purity like 95% and can add other things to it (like anti caking agent like magnesium stearate) which you don't want your fish wating ACS Grade, Ref Grade, USP Grade have specifix...

Those in the USA. where/which Potassium Bicarbonate do you use? USP Grade KHCO3 prices seem to has sky rocketed sine home brewing. Using food grade seems reckless.

Curiosity only, how long did you all wind up using Ich-X for? Ich-X and Super Ick Cure dosing both equal 0.5mg Malachite Green per 10gal. But super ick cure is 2 doses over 4days. Ich-X daily dosing means concentration of malach. green goes much higher, much faster (and ostensibly for much...

I have been. Thought it was cycled til I had the one ammonia spike of ammonia (could've been not cycled, couldn't been extra rotten food, could've been resolved when I added more cycled media) Been doing daily water changes since. Never got the tell-tale nitrite spike of a mini-cycke. I was just...