Max's journal

[maxpayne_lhp]

May 25th 2005
So, summer's come, opening up new opportunities to learn new things, do new jobs. This summer, I plan to work with my fishy fishy friends.
Pond: renovation mission
My pond, which is at another house of my family, is home to a school of carps and guppies. Also live there a couple of cobalt gouramies. I or my dad will go over everyday for gardening and feeding the fish.
However, the filter system has broken down and the water is now just like mud . Yesterday, I tough about this mission and put it to action! I went to a equipment shop to buy a pump as a part of the mission. Then I got home, attach in and set up a simple system of it. With a small hmmm what should I say? I small plate where I place a sponge, The system was set up behind the simulation rock (the artist built it to simulate a mountain, quite attractive) the filter now runs a day and rests the day later. The water is now a lil better, I can see the bottom now.
In my plan, I plan to remove the guppies as the carps are about to be very large, and place some more fish in. What fish should I add? IM me!

[maxpayne_lhp]

May 26th 2005
Thanks Shaggy who has changed the title for me!
So this morning, after being up rather late yesterday, I ran into the forum and caught up some information about a mirrow as a background. Every passing day in Fishforums is a learning day! I decided to change my plan: I won't keep betta in the 30 gal tank but rather than that, a heavily planted tank and a couple of Blue Rams are desired. It should be bringing a great look. Mom and dad want something simple so that they can help me handle when I go to the US next year if I can. If I can't, I will stay here and live thru the hell on earth (12th grade) with my little fish.
Maybe in a couple of days next, I'll go find sand as the subtrate for the tank. And plant in many mnay plants...

[maxpayne_lhp]

ish_doc was the betta I've just purchased 3 days ago... he's wonderful and very friendly! He's, of course, beautiful as spreading his fins. Great personalities! That's what I found, even at the very first moment, he came and greet me (you know, I hand-fed him for the first meal of his!)
Fish_doc is now living in a 1.5 gal tank in my bedroom; his home well-secured, well-lighted and has several cabomba inside.
Fish_doc is the first betta of mine.
Here comes fish_doc on his first day:

_________________

[maxpayne_lhp]

Well, just a few min ago, I caught him resting over a cabomba, as quick as I could, I had him in focus! And the photos are better this's one of the photos I've just taken.
My pla ifor aquatic photography is buying some optical cameras, but that's when I grow up!

[maxpayne_lhp]

So I and mom ran to the fish store to day for a brand new guy: Aqua the betta, this cobalt blue betta is my second betta after fish_doc. Fish_doc is now all fine and good. Aqua is a lil shy and nervous at first, but he was the one, also like fishj_doc, received a hand-feed at the very first moment we meet. Say hello and bless Aqua for a good life with me

For more about me and my journal, please go to my space
Thanks hav a nice day!

[maxpayne_lhp]

So I have just taken some more photos of my bettas.
I pull the tanks closer so that fish_doc can see Aqua. And their fin and gills are up. As a flash, I recorded Aqua's fin, it's cool. Here are some:

[maxpayne_lhp]

Hello all. All bettas are doing very well!
I have just moved the turtles into my bedroom and adjust the water depth. A higher resting place was made so that my 2 turtles can rest and dry out, prevent shell-rot as the ppl at TT Forums suggested me. They are very happy and cool! They eat every thing from flakes to fish! I can't handle to hand-feed them (Ouch... a lil inaccuracy can be hurty :P) but they just act very naturally as people stand by them. Love the turtles. One bad thing is that I can't find a UV light for them now

[maxpayne_lhp]

Well today is my birthday. But I'm pretty sure some do :.)
However, I have a plan to put the two bettas to 2 bugger tanks (1 is from my friend and the other one is new purchased) but it seems fo fail cause when I'm in the US, mom and dad will rent this house out and live in a smaller one. Living is not enough, leave alone keeping fish.
The only solution is finding a solution

[maxpayne_lhp]

_Have been browsing at aquarticles recently there're toooo many valuable documents there. I have copied many of them (just a little drop compared with their database) to my notebook. I'll keep them for referral use. But I think sharing is a good idea. This is a cool iste where I can share such articles. The articles are arranged by their categories so that we can keep track them well.
_Spend little time read some!
Note: Some are also found in other aqua sites too.

[maxpayne_lhp]

Some Basic Water Chemistry

by Tracy Hardy

From "Fins & Friends" Regina Aquarium Society, Canada

Aquarticles

Water hardness

Most water contains calcium and magnesium in varying amounts. Most importantly are calcium bicarbonate and calcium sulfates. Water that is rich in calcium salts is considered " hard ", with little calcium salts it's considered "soft ". Hardness is measured in degrees of hardness; one degree is equal to 10mg. of calcium or magnesium oxide per litre of water.

Hardness that is caused by calcium bicarbonate is called temporary, or sometimes called transient hardness because it disappears when the water is boiled. Hardness caused by calcium sulfate is considered permanent because it remains after boiling. The mixture of temporary and permanent hardness produces overall or total hardness.

DEGREES OF HARDNESS

0-4 dGH = very soft 4-8 dGH = soft 8-12 dGH= medium hard 12-18 dGH = fairly hard 18-30 dGH = hard over 30 dGH = very hard

dGH - German Total Hardness

(* Regina's water hardness is approx. 35dGH.)

Carbon dioxide

Small quantities of carbonic acids are formed quite readily by carbon dioxide dissolving in water. The availability and amount of carbon dioxide present to be absorbed by plants depends on the complex system of aqueous carbonic acid and carbonates.

Carbon dioxide is about 40 times more soluble in water than oxygen, but leaves water 10,000 times less easily from water than air. Approx. 0.2% of dissolved carbon dioxide is converted to carbonic acid. When you add carbon dioxide the amount of carbonic acid increases and the PH level drops. When carbon dioxide is removed the PH level rises.

There is a close relationship with the carbonate system/hardness and PH values. Generally speaking the higher the hardness, the higher the PH value, but the PH seems to be easier to stabilize in hard water.

pH values

pH values are the degrees of acidity in water when there is a change from the chemical neutral point. When water is considered neutral there are equal parts of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions. The hydrogen ions make water more acidic and the hydroxide ions make water more alkaline. Neutral water is considered 7.0, pH values above 7.0 means increasing alkaline water, below 7.0 means increasing acidic water.

One unit in pH equals a ten times change in acidity or alkalinity. Two units means 100 times change, 3 units is 1000 times and so on.

The majority of fish prefer a pH between 6.0 -7.5.

(* Regina's water has a pH of 7.5-7.8.)

The nitrogen cycle

The pH value will determine if toxic ammonia or toxic ammonium will be produced by the first stage of the nitrogen cycle. Ammonia happens at a pH of 7.0 and higher. Ammonium happens at under a pH of 7.0. Ammonia can't build up in even the slightest acidic water.

The majority of plants use nitrates.

The 2nd stage is nitrite which is the result of bacterial oxidation of ammonia and ammonium. That bacteria's name is Nitrosomonas sp. Nitrite is very poisonous to fish. Most fish can tolerate higher levels of toxic ammonia than of nitrites.

The final stage is Nitrobacter bacteria converts nitrites to nitrates, which are far less toxic.

The success of the Nitrogen cycle depends on oxygen. If oxygen is in low levels in your tank, organic decay is slower and your water will have increased interim toxic products of ammonia and nitrites.

Reference and Credits:

Baensch Aquarium Atlas (Volume 1), Dr. Rudiger Riehl/Hans A. Baensch. (1991). ISBN 3-88244-050-3. Distributed by Rolf C. Hagen. Printed in Hong Kong. Publisher: Hans A. Baensch- Melle, W.Germany

* David J. Claude Current RAS President ( 2001 ) and Resident all around fish expert!

(See more about Nitrogen cycle in "Tank cycling")



_______________





The Stuff That Water’s Made Of

Part 1: The Molecule, Temperature, Saltwater, and Osmosis

by Lenny Llambi

First published in Fincinnati, the official newsletter of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society

Aquarticles.com

_One crucial component of the aquarium hobby that helps the hobbyist in his/her venture is knowledge. Aquarium keeping is an interesting hobby in that it combines principles from physics, chemistry, and biology. The more we understand each of the principles within these disciplines, the easier our hobby becomes. Of course, biology is the most understood of the three fields, because lets face it our final goal is to maintain living creatures. However, much like junior year in high school, we need to understand a basic level of chemistry to survive (or for our fish to survive as the case may be).

_In this series of articles, I hope to put many of the chemical principles behind aquarium keeping into laymen’s terms. In future articles I will discuss subjects such as the nitrogen cycle, dissolved oxygen, and pH. The more we understand each of these factors in water chemistry and why they are good or bad, the more we understand our hobby as a whole. This issue’s installment is going to start at the beginning: water. Water is such a basic element of the aquarium hobby that it is often overlooked. However, it is no coincidence that water is the molecule which makes up the oceans, lakes, and rivers from which the fish we keep originate. It is because of the way that water interacts with other chemicals, itself, and our fish that the majority of life on this planet is sustained within this amazing matrix.

Water: The Molecule

_Water is a molecule unlike any other. It is made up of one oxygen molecule and two hydrogen molecules. Each hydrogen forms a bond connecting it to the oxygen molecule, forming an “upside-down V” shape. If you look at the upside-down V shape of water, you will notice that the two hydrogen atoms (which have an overall positive charge) are positioned across from the oxygen atom (which has an overall negative charge). This alignment means that one side of the water molecule (the oxygen side) has a slight negative charge and vice versa. Conversely, each side will then attract molecules or ions of opposite charge. This is known as the dipolar nature of water.

_At this point you’re probably having high school flashbacks, because: “Why in the world did I need to know all that, and what will I ever use it for!?!?!?!”

_Water’s dipolarity is exactly what makes it such a great solvent for the laundry list of chemicals with which we aquarists worry ourselves: nitrate, ammonia, oxygen, iron, calcium, etc. All of these molecules and ions have one thing in common: they have a charge (the charge can even be a partial charge like water’s). Imagine, in your mind’s eye, a lone Calcium ion that was just dissolved into your reef aquarium by a calcium reactor. The Ca2++ has a positive charge, so when a group of water molecules encircle the calcium ion with their negative ends pointing in…Voila! The calcium ion has been dissolved.

This brings up a vital factor to the well being of your fish. Due to the way that it must organize itself in order to dissolve a chemical, water has a finite amount of space available for dissolving. Often times nitrates are brushed aside as being not dangerous to freshwater fish. However, a tank which has been ignored and allowed to build up nitrates will have significantly “less space” to dissolve critical molecules like oxygen or carbon dioxide.

Temperature

_Water’s ability to dissolve is also determined by its temperature. Aquarists are interested in dissolving chemicals in every state of matter, whether it is a solid, liquid, or gas. As water temperature increases, solids and liquids tend to dissolve more readily. However, as temperature decreases, gases tend to dissolve more readily, which makes a real balancing act out of maintaining water temperature. In every aquatic environment gases, liquids and solids are essential to fish health. If you think about it, there are really very few fish that require temperatures above eighty degrees. Now you understand why keeping dissolved wastes down is so important when keeping discus at the warm temperatures they enjoy (well, actually that’s only one of many reasons). When phosphates build up due to a poor water change regimen and overfeeding, the amount of phosphate dissolved in the aquarium directly decreases the amount of “free room” water has to dissolve oxygen for the discus to breathe. Oxygen depletion has many deleterious effects on all fish, but the discus, which has evolved in oxygen-rich streams, will be doomed in water unable to dissolve much oxygen.

Saltwater

Those of us who keep marine aquariums are especially affected by the dipolar nature of water. One of the questions I was fielded the most as a pet store, fish clerk was: “Is saltwater really as hard as they say it is?” Now I could have delivered this article in a brilliant oratory transcription, but a) the customer was probably just curious b) “yes” is a whole lot quicker. In fact, the reason that “saltwater is as hard as they say it is”, is due to water’s dipolarity. Saltwater, of course, must first dissolve a series of salts to fulfill the proper salinity before it can begin to dissolve other essential molecules or ions. While most of the people who approached me about starting a saltwater would consider the proper maintenance behind a marine aquarium overbearing, the knowledgeable hobbyist has a number simple of methods at his/her disposal to keep the tank free of excess waste molecules. Protein skimmers, macro-algae cultivation, and deep sandbeds are just three methods aquarists use to remove excess, waste byproducts.

___________



Part 2: Conductivity and General Hardness

by Lenny Llambi

First published in Fincinnati, the official newsletter of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society

Aquarticles.com

In the previous article we discussed water’s ability to dissolve ions and molecules (solutes) is determined by the fact that the water molecule has two polar, opposite charges (dipolarity). We also examined how our fish are able to pump water and other small molecules across their cell membranes, in order to match the concentration of solutes within their cells to the concentration of solutes outside of their cells. In this edition we will examine two water parameters which measure the amount of solute (to varying degrees) in your aquarium water: Conductivity and General Hardness.

Conductivity

Conductivity may not be a water parameter that we worry about all day long, but not only does it need to be explained to understand all other water parameters; I think it needs to be understood better to become a better aquarist. Conductivity is a substance’s ability to “carry” an electrical current. We’ve all done the grade-school experiment with the potato, light bulb, and battery, but did you know that you could substitute the potato for a glass of tap water? The more ions and molecules that are dissolved in water (remember a chemical must have a charge in order to be dissolved by water), the more electrical current that water is able to conduce. As a matter of fact, conductivity is synonymous with the term Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), which is measured in parts per million (ppm). In order to convert TDS to conductivity, simply multiply TDS by 0.64. I hope everyone reading this article now understands why I am covering this water parameter before I go into other, more common water parameters. I guess you could look at conductivity, or TDS, as the mother of all water parameters, because it essentially measures all dissolved ions and molecules.

Conductivity is measured in microSiemens ( S), and is directly proportional to the amount of osmotic pressure exerted on our fish’s cellular membranes. Distilled water has a conductivity of 0 S, whereas seawater has a conductivity of about 5000 S. Every chemical, additive, piece of food, medication, or conditioner you put into your tank increases the conductivity in your aquarium, once the water dissolves it. This is why it is essential that any fish that you are adding to your aquarium be acclimated to your aquarium water before it is released. Your fish needs as much time as possible to slowly pump the proper amount of water in or out, so that the osmotic pressure is equalized across its cell membrane.

What Goes In Must Equal What Comes Out

Looking back at my tenure as a fish clerk in several different stores, I realize now how essential it is to be aware of your water’s conductivity. When I would place a fish order at one of those stores, the supplier would bag several well-fed (i.e. waste-producing) fish in a little bag with water from a tank with, lets say, a conductivity of 500 S. He would always use a very thick stress coat and drop in a tablet of some sort of methyl-blue prophylactic, probably increasing the bag to a conductivity of 650 S. Eight hours later, when the shipment arrives, this bag of waste-producing fish has a conductivity of 1000 S. Since our fish supplier was local, our tap water had similar conductivity readings; so when I received this order of fish I had to slowly reduce the conductivity by fifty percent.

That store had an automatic top-off system so daily water changes maintained a fairly constant conductivity. However other stores are not so generous with water changes. This becomes a problem in overcrowded and overfed tanks, especially when the top-off water is tap water of high conductivity. I have read about people buying freshwater fish that were being kept in 5000 S water at the store. Although this is probably an extreme, when you watch all of the stress coats, aquarium salts, and medications that are indiscriminately poured into some store tanks, its not such an extreme number. This is one reason why, especially in smaller tanks, you should not add water from the bag you received from your local fish store. Now if you purchase a fish from a fellow aquarium society member, you’re probably safe assuming that their water-change regimen is keeping their conductivity at a comparable level. Even then, if you ever acquire any of my fish, you may want to get a feeling for how busy my life has been (that is also directly proportional to my water’s conductivity).

Conductive Spawning

As I mentioned before, many fish are capable of withstanding a broad range of conductivity levels. These fish are also more resistant to changes in conductivity. Many of these fish actually require changes in conductivity in order to come into breeding condition. Two fish species, whose breeding behavior is very elusive, exemplify two extremes. Monodactylus sebae, which can live in fresh as well as marine water, was recently reported only breeding in seawater where its microscopic, larval progeny can enter the planktonic drifts in the ocean. Once a larva reaches the free-swimming, fry stage, it is able to swim further into fresher waters, as it grows.

Botia macracanthus (the Clown Loach) has been reported spawning, accidentally, after its aquarium is “neglected” (i.e. not fed often, not topped off, and not cleaned), then pumping the aquarium full of distilled water after a large water change. By not performing water changes, nitrates and phosphates build up and increase the conductivity. Moreover, ceasing to top-off any evaporated water decreases the amount of water dissolving the solutes in the water, once again increasing conductivity. When a water change is performed, and the aquarium is topped-off with distilled water, the conductivity drops drastically, and the clown loach begins its elusive spawning behavior. This method replicates the dynamic between the dry season and the rain season (when the clown loach breeds).

General Hardness

General Hardness (GH) is a misleading term, because it is actually derived from the German: Gesamt Haerte. It is often confused with a term that we will discuss in the next edition of this article: Carbonate Hardness (KH). Since KH is actually alkalinity, not hardness, the term general hardness should probably be abandoned for the simpler term: Hardness. Water hardness measures the amount of ions which have two extra protons (divalent cations) dissolved in our aquarium water. The most common, divalent cations (almost to the exclusion of all others) that make up a Hardness reading are Calcium and Magnesium. These two ions are essential for bone and scale formation, blood clotting, the importation of other ions, electrical current transfers in nerves and muscles, and numerous other metabolic processes.

Just as confusing its name are the terms we use to measure general hardness. The two most common units used are ppm (more common in the U.S.A.) and dH (German degrees of hardness). In order to convert these two parameters, simply use the following equations: dH x 17.9 = ppm ppm x 0.056 = dH

Many popular fish species such as: discus, dwarf cichlids, and killifish come from soft, and acidic environments, and often require these same parameters to breed. Although the GH readings in these environments are well below those found say in the African rift lakes, a certain amount of hardness needs to be maintained, because of calcium’s and magnesium’s importance to fish development. Fish take in calcium and magnesium mainly through their gills, so these two ions need to be present in water for our fish to develop properly. Actually, if you ever invest in a Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionization unit (RO/DI), it is best (and probably cheaper) that you purchase a unit that is manufactured for use by aquarists. These units do not produce pure water (0 S) Instead they produce “product water” (20-30 S), which simply means that the water has a minimal amount of ions in the water, typically: magnesium and calcium.

Even though most of us don’t concern ourselves with conductivity and general hardness on a day-in day-out basis, our fish certainly do. Conductivity is probably the number one reason fish get stressed when being transferred from one environ to another. The more conductive water is the more osmotic pressure that is exerted on our fish. General hardness may not immediately kill a fish when the parameter falls below a particular level, but it will hamper fish development and many biological processes. This isn’t the first time I’ve said it, and it won’t be the last: we must always remain conscientious of where our fish originate, because this determines what water parameters are acceptable to our aqueous pets. A discus may readily prosper in our unnatural (for discus), Cincinnati tap water (liquid-rock as many of us refer to it). However, you will be hard-pressed to nurture a young Julidochromis marlieri to a healthy adulthood in water of low general hardness. Next issue we’ll venture into some familiar water by exploring pH and the “other hardness”: carbonate hardness, or alkalinity. In the meantime let’s keep learning about and caring for our fish.

I personally have a 29-gallon mini-reef aquarium, which has been a constant bear; because of saltwater’s reduced ability to dissolve essential molecules. A 65W power compact light fixture and a 20W normal output light fixture light the tank. This amount of light raises the temperature into the mid-eighties, at which point all the corals begin to bleach from insufficient dissolved oxygen. I use a fan to keep the temperature down, but this causes a great deal of evaporation. The confines of my small, one-room apartment prohibit an automatic top-off system, thus requiring me to manually top-off the aquarium with kalkwasser throughout the day. This is merely one obstacle in the three-ring circus balancing act that is my mini-reef aquarium.

Osmosis

All of these ions and molecules that we are dissolving in water don’t just “sit there”. They are constantly moving so that they are equally dispersed throughout a body of water. Imagine a ten-gallon aquarium, filled with distilled water, divided into two compartments with a piece of steel. If only one side was adjusted to a salinity of 33, as soon as the piece of steel is removed, the salt ions would slowly distribute themselves so that the entire aquarium registered a salinity of 16.5 (exactly half of 33). This phenomenon is called diffusion.

All of the salt ions, bouncing off of the steel divider, were exerting a certain amount of pressure on the piece of steel, specifically called: osmotic pressure. The higher the salt concentration, the greater the osmotic pressure. Steel is an incredibly impermeable material, but our fish’s cellular membranes are not. In order to prevent a virtual implosion, our fish’s cellular membranes are actually permeable to small ions and water. This means that if the water outside of a fish’s cells has more dissolved ions than the water inside of its cells (i.e. osmotic pressure is greater outside of the fish’s cell); the fish’s cell membrane allows small ions to diffuse into the cell and water to exit the cell until the osmotic pressure is equalized. Every living creature that makes water its home has to be able to deal with osmotic pressure in this manner. Although we take it for granted, this is probably the cell’s membrane most important function.

After thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not a million years, of adaptation, all aquatic creatures are used to a certain amount of natural fluctuation in osmotic pressure. This is another illustration of why saltwater is deemed: “harder than freshwater”. Since the vast volume of the ocean provides for pretty consistent water parameters, corals, sea stars, butterfly fish, etc. are very intolerant of changes in salinity, pH, etc. However, some freshwater fish actually require relatively drastic changes in water parameters to breed (some goes as far a requiring no water for a short period of time, ala many killifishes). Nonetheless these changes happen within a certain range, and due to years of evolution, anything outside of this range is often lethal.

Hopefully all of this painful chemistry sheds a little more light on the “fish-keeping experience”. We now know that water’s dipolarity makes water one of the best solvents on earth, however, with a limited capacity. We’ve also learned that the more molecules that water has to dissolve, the less space water has to dissolve essential ions and molecules for our fish. The higher the water temperature, the more readily solids and liquids will dissolve, while conversely limiting how much gas can be dissolved. Finally, as the molecules and ions that water dissolves move about, they exert a certain amount of pressure on our fish called osmotic pressure. Stay tuned for the next episode, when I will cover everything you ever waned to know about conductivity and water hardness. These two water parameters measure how many molecules and ions are dissolved in water, and directly reflect the amount of osmotic pressure exerted upon our fish. In the meantime let’s keep learning about and caring for our fish.



Part 4: The Nitrogen Cycle

by Lenny Llambi

First published in Fincinnati, the official newsletter of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society

Aquarticles.com

_So far you could say that this series of articles has been leaning toward the "chemistry side of things." We’ve discussed water’s ability to dissolve a variety of different chemicals and the pressure that these chemicals produce called osmotic pressure. _Conductivity measures the total amount of dissolved chemicals, while general hardness specifically measures anions such as calcium and magnesium. Finally, last edition; we covered how pH measures the amount of acids vs. bases that are dissolved in water, and how alkalinity maintains a high pH. This edition we’ll discuss the nitrogen cycle, which is the biological process of reducing ammonia to nitrate. Bacteria that use nitrogenous molecules to receive their energy drive this cycle.

Where Proteins Go When They’re Used

_Many explanations of the nitrogen cycle begin with ammonia and end with nitrate, but the whole process actually begins before ammonia, and ends after nitrate. The nitrogen cycle begins when our fish ingest and begin to breakdown the proteins found in their diet, called: mineralization. Proteins are long chains of individual molecules called amino acids. These amino acids are very similar to the simple sugars that make up carbs; however, amino acids contain nitrogen in addition to hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. This nitrogen allows amino acids to bond to each other (called the peptide bond), thus forming proteins. There is a real complicated explanation behind the physics of this bond, but for our purposes, let’s just keep in mind that the peptide bond offers extra rigidity to the protein molecule. This is why proteins are used to build muscles, enzymes, fingernails, etc. These are all parts, which need to retain a solid frame or shape. Once proteins are separated into amino acids, each amino acid is split into an ammonium (NH4+) molecule and an organic acid molecule. This brings up an important point about fish waste. Due to the organic acid and ammonium byproducts of protein metabolization, fish waste is very acidic by nature, and will cause pH to drop. This is very problematic when keeping African cichlids or marine species, which enjoy a very high pH. As I mentioned in the previous installment, alkalinity neutralizes acids such as those found in fish waste so that pH is not affected.

_Fish are not the only creatures that are contributing to the nitrogen cycle. Aside from any invertebrates you may have in your aquarium, you probably also have a plethora of bacteria that are breaking down the proteins that your fish “miss”. Bacteria from the genera Bacillus, Clostridium, and Pseudomonas break down any proteins found in excess food, fish waste, plant mulm, or any other source of organic matter you may have “laying around” your tank. On the marine side of the hobby, more and more hobbyists are using rock, which is impregnated with a variety of different bacteria and invertebrates, generically called “live-rock” as a natural source of filtration. One drawback to the use of this rock is that often times, after moving the rock, many of these creatures die in transit. This provides a huge amount of organic matter that is constantly being broken down, causing massive algal blooms and an extended cycling time (curing). I have had good success speeding up the curing process by using Hagen’s Waste Controlä, which is a concentrated culture of bacteria (mostly Pseudomonas) responsible for mineralization. By using this product, frequent water changes, and a lot of circulation, I have been able to cure live rock in two weeks as opposed to the usual month.

Ammonia or Ammonium?

_As we discussed in the third article, pH determines whether ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+) is present in our tanks. Our fish actually excrete ammonium, which remains ammonium in acidic water. However, if ammonium is excreted into water with a pH above seven, it begins reacting with the bases in the water to become ammonia. Now it’s really a misnomer to label ammonia as toxic and ammonium as non-toxic. Both chemicals are lethally toxic to cells when ingested. What differentiates the two is how readily they are ingested. I mentioned in the first article that osmosis allows for water and other small chemicals to pass through the cell’s membrane. Well it just so happens that ammonia is small enough to be transported across the cell membrane almost as readily as water. On the other hand, ammonium, due to its charge, has to be actively pumped into the cell using pumps and channels in the cell’s membrane. Therefore, fish have a little more control keeping ammonium out of their cells. Now don’t take this the wrong way. Whatever the pH in your tank, you should make sure your ammonia/um is under control at all times.

Dirt-Eating Bacteria

At this point in the nitrogen cycle, we begin the nitrification process. Basically this process takes ammonium and converts it into nitrite, which is then transformed into the final nitrification product: nitrate. All of these reactions are performed by lithotrophic (roughly translating as: dirt-eating) bacteria of the genera Nitrosococcus, Nitrobacter, Nitrospira, Nitrosolobus, amongst others. One characteristic of these bacteria is that, in bacterial terms, they are incredibly slow growing. This is why it is essential that you exercise restraint while stocking a brand new aquarium. Your aquarium inhabitants are constantly excreting ammonium into the water, while the nitrifying bacteria are only reproducing every 8 hours (every 24 hours in saltwater). Moreover, the lithotrophic bacteria that feed on nitrites, producing nitrates, are actually inhibited by the presence of ammonia. So once you establish a population of bacteria that can handle the bioload in your aquarium, you have only begun the process of tackling your aquarium's capability of dealing with nitrites. One time-tested and approved way tracking the cycling process is to test for nitrites regularly until the nitrite concentration spikes and returns to zero. Dosing products such as Hagen’s CycleÔ, which is a concentrated formula of lithotrophic bacteria, will help establish populations of ammonia-reducing and nitrite-reducing bacteria in much shorter order. The second important trait about these lithotrophic bacteria is that they must anchor themselves to some sort of substrate. Make absolute certain that when you clean whatever substrate these bacteria have colonized, use aged aquarium water, as this water is devoid of any harmful chemicals (bacteria that is) present in tap water.

One last note about nitrites and nitrates, concerning their toxicity. These two molecules actually have the same exact effect. When nitrate is ingested it is not toxic, but it can actually be converted to nitrite, which is toxic. Once nitrite makes its way into the bloodstream it can react with a blood cell’s hemoglobin, which is the site where oxygen bonds to blood. Once nitrite turns the blood’s hemoglobin into methoglobin, blood is unable to carry out its most important task: supply oxygen to the body. This makes nitrite probably the most lethal molecule in the nitrogen cycle, because 1) it is not inhibited by pH like ammonia 2) nitrate must first be converted to nitrite before it becomes toxic. So, again, make sure you measure a nitrite spike and drop-off before you consider your aquarium cycled.

Making Nitrogen Gas

Bacteria in the genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Alcaligines drive the final step in the nitrogen cycle. These bacteria convert nitrate into nitrogen gas, which then escapes into the atmosphere. However, these bacteria only perform this reaction in certain conditions. When these bacteria grow in an area where oxygen is readily available (aerobic), they utilize the available oxygen to break down sugars. However, when these bacteria find themselves in an area of low or no oxygen (anaerobic or anoxic); they actually utilize nitrates (notice the oxygen molecules in NO3) to break down sugars. Those of us who have ventured into maintaining coral reef aquariums can provide such an anaerobic environment by using a deep sand-bed of at least three inches where the bacteria colonizing the bottom layer are starved of oxygen. You can actually see bubbles of nitrogen gas rising from the bottom layers of sand. Those of us who stay on the fresh side of things can duplicate this phenomenon by not cleaning our sponges (as in sponge filter sponges). What? Not clean our sponge filters? That’s right! Now notice I didn’t say stop cleaning your aquarium altogether. However, in theory, if you allow your sponge filter, ceramic beads, biowheel, etc. to become clogged with bacterial growth, so that the inner layers are starved of oxygen; you will then be able to complete the nitrogen cycle in your very own aquarium. Although the deep sandbed in reef aquariums allows for substantially more nitrification to occur than in a clogged sponge filter, we “reefers” still have to take extra measures, including good ole water changes, to keep nitrates to a minimum, so use this tip as an insurance policy not a magic snake-oil.

Although I think that most every hobbyist is at least somewhat familiar with the nitrogen cycle, I hope that the in-depth discussion presented in this article will give everyone more insights. Well after this installment, there is only one more to go. In the final part of this article, I will go over gases in the aquarium. The GCAS HAP program has been growing by leaps and bounds, so I can’t very well skip over the gas of interest for all HAP participants: carbon dioxide. However, one gas that affects every kind of aquarist, but we rarely hear discussed, is oxygen. Next installment I will discuss oxygen’s importance and why I think more of us should take this important gas much more into account when we plan our aquariums, or when we deal with a problem in our aquariums. In the meantime let’s keep learning about and caring for our fish.



Part 3: pH & Alkalinity

by Lenny Llambi

First published in Fincinnati, the official newsletter of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society

Aquarticles.com

After our previous two perhaps somewhat arcane installments, we can finally begin using some more broadly understood terminology in our discussion of water chemistry. We will explore two water parameters for which we have all owned a test kit: pH and alkalinity. Whether we are keeping African cichlids, a planted aquarium, or a reef aquarium, these two water parameters can spell the difference between a successful aquarium and a disaster-in-a-box (a glass box that is). pH is a measurement of whether your aquarium has excess protons or electrons; and therefore, determines how molecules react with each other and the creatures we keep. Alkalinity is a measurement of how well the water in our aquariums can “buffer” a basic pH, or in other words, how well our water can maintain a basic pH.

pH

Ask any aquarist what you are measuring when you take a pH reading, and I’m sure well over 90% of responses would go something like: “You’re measuring how acidic or basic the water is.” Although that answer would be absolutely true, there is more to pH than meets the eye. The terms acidic and basic essentially refer to the number of excess protons and electrons that are present in water. Protons and electrons (generically called sub-atomic particles) are two important building blocks for all ions and molecules. Protons produce a positive charge, which naturally attracts the negative charge of electrons, and vice versa. Any atom, ion, or molecule is constantly trying to achieve equal amounts of electrons and protons, because when this state is achieved, the chemical is considered stable. Chemical reactions are the mechanism by which chemicals equalize the balance between how many electrons and protons a particular chemical contains. For instance, table salt is made up of one sodium ion, which has one more proton than electrons (hence the overall positive charge), and one chlorine ion, which has one more electron than protons (hence the overall negative charge). When these two ions form a bond, the sodium ion gains an electron, the chlorine ion’s extra electron has an extra proton to counteract, and the entire molecule now has equal amounts of electrons and protons.

Unfortunately, a pH reading is not as straight forward as: your water has x number of protons and y number of electrons. So I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to you, in advance, for the massive chemistry headache I’m about to give you. pH does not measure any and every proton or electron, actually it really doesn’t even measure electrons at all. pH actually measures the number of protons that are present in water in the form of the hydrogen ion (H+). The letters p and h stand for the potential of the hydrogen ion. So when your handy-dandy pH test kit measures the pH between 1 and 6.9999; that particular body of water is considered acidic, and it contains an excess of protons. It also means that your water is just rearing to react with negatively charged ions. So, what does it mean when our same handy-dandy pH test kit tells us that our water has a pH between 7.0001 and 14? Well a reading of 7.0000 (neutral) obviously implies that there is no excess of protons, but does a higher reading mean that there is a negative number of protons. Actually, sort of.

A base is defined as any chemical that can accept a proton. In other words, it is a chemical with a negative charge (i.e. an extra electron) that is able to react with any extra protons. So when our handy-dandy pH test kit gives us a reading above 7.0000; we know that our water has an excess of electrons, in the form of the bases dissolved in water. You can think of a high pH reading as a proton debt. If you have a $2,000 MasterCard bill; you would need to pay the $2,000 before you could start putting money into your savings account. Once you pay your credit card off, you then have an excess of money (until the next fish auction rolls around). Likewise, a basic pH needs a certain amount of acid added to it before the water starts accumulating excess protons.

Acid-Base Interactions

In the introduction, I noted that the pH of water determines how chemicals react with each other and our animals. For instance, if the pH is acidic, meaning there are extra hydrogen ions (i.e. extra protons) in the water, the chemicals in water will tend to react with chemicals with excess electrons more vigorously. The most evident example of this is ammonia toxicity. There are actually two forms of ammonia with which we are concerned: NH3 (ammonia) and NH4+ (ammonium). Ammonium is not very toxic to fish, whereas, ammonia is extremely toxic (I’ll explain this in more depth in the next edition). As you can see, the difference between these two molecules is: Ammonium has an extra proton (H+), which is provided to the ammonium molecule in acidic water. As soon as pH rises above 7.0, the extra proton in ammonium reacts with the extra electrons of the bases in the water, leaving the lethal ammonia molecule. This reaction can be summarized with the equations:

NH4+ + NaOH NH3 + H+ + Na+ + OH- NH3 + H2O + Na+

NH3 + CH3CO2H NH3 + CH3CO2- + H+ NH4+ + CH3CO2-

I cannot stress enough, in each one of these articles, that any creature which we maintain in our aquariums has evolved to deal with water parameters in a certain way. For instance, fish blood has a pH of approximately 7.4. This blood, especially in the gill region, is separated from the water in which our fish live, by one or two cell layers. A dwarf cichlid from a very acidic Amazon tributary, has evolved so that the two cell layers between its blood and the river water are able to “buffer the water pH” before it affects blood pH. If we were to dump this fish into an aquarium with a very high pH, the fish into an aquarium with a very high pH, the fish may not have a mechanism to deal with external pH in the opposite manner. Of course many of our fish either live in waters of mild pH, or waters with mild pH fluctuations. However, with the ever-rising popularity of African, rift-lake species, killifish species, and marine species there are also many fish that live in waters of extreme and consistent pH. These fish are probably the most susceptible to either wildly fluctuating pH, or simply improper pH.

Alkalinity

Alkalinity is a seldom-understood water parameter. It is also known as carbonate hardness (KH), and thus allows for confusion with the term General Hardness. Make no mistake GH and KH are two separate measurements. As we discussed in the second article, GH measures how many cations are in the water. Alkalinity, on the other hand, measures how many anions are in the water. An anion is any ion, which has an overall, negative charge. These anions react with any acids (H+) introduced into the water, thus neutralizing them and maintaining a high pH. This is where the definition of a base as a proton acceptor comes into play. Actually, many people consider alkalinity as the total amount of base present in water. In aquariums the most encountered constituents of alkalinity are: bicarbonate and carbonate. We can then define alkalinity as water’s ability to absorb acids without affecting pH.

Alkalinity has three different sets of units, which are the most frequently encountered in the aquarium trade. In the United States Parts Per Million (ppm) is most prevalent; whereas, in Germany, Degrees of Carbonate Hardness (dKH) is the unit most often used. Finally, a more scientific unit, is: Milliequivalents Per Liter (Meq/L). Even though these three measurements have different origins, I have seen all of them used in aquarium literature, without any sort of rhyme or reason. Here is an easy way of converting these units:

50 ppm (mg/L) = 1 meq/L = 2.8 dKH

I hate to sound like your mother (sorry GCAS moms) but: I cannot stress enough, in each one of these articles, that any creature which we maintain in our aquariums has evolved to deal with water parameters in a certain way. Alkalinity actually helps us respect this inevitable truth in many circumstances. For instance, we are all well aware of the fact that African, rift-lake cichlids come from waters with a pH of around 8.0. Fish waste is acidic by nature, and will therefore slowly lower the pH in an aquarium. However, if there is an abundance of anions in the water, these chemicals, which contribute toward alkalinity, will react with the acids and neutralize them before pH is affected. Instead of constantly testing for pH in a rift-lake aquarium, adding a high-quality buffer will act as an insurance policy against lethal pH drops.

Well you made it! This was probably the most gruesome of all the installments. Don’t worry if you have to read it a few times, because I had to re-write this third part about a dozen times. At any rate, I hope this gives everyone a better understanding of how pH affects the way chemicals function in our aquariums, and how alkalinity can help maintain a certain pH. Next issue we’ll discuss a subject that all aquarists must inevitably become familiar with: the nitrogen cycle. Of course, we’ll go a little more in depth than most explanations go, but I’m sure that you’ll get some new insights on this natural process. In the meantime let’s keep learning about and caring for our fish.





Part 5: Dissolved Oxygen

by Lenny Llambi

First published in Fincinnati, the official newsletter of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society

Aquarticles.com

Up until this final article, we have covered a variety of topics within the realm of water chemistry. Topics like the nitrogen cycle are very common within aquarium literature; whereas other topics, like conductivity, are rarely discussed in any detail. I think its safe to say that this month’s topic is one of the least discussed water parameters: Dissolved Oxygen (DO). Its actually no surprise that DO is not a popular topic of discussion in aquarium literature. Life-sustaining levels of oxygen are easily maintained in the aquarium without much extra effort or thought. However, it seems like every time I have a catastrophic, mass extinction in an aquarium it is due to overlooking the aquarium’s oxygen requirements.

Oxygen is important to so many living creatures; including: plants, bacteria, algae, fish, and invertebrates. It is used to break down sugars all the way down to carbon dioxide and water, thus releasing the most amount of energy possible from the sugar molecule. When an organism suffocates; the lack of oxygen literally brings every single bodily process that requires energy to a grinding halt. We terrestrial creatures are blessed with an atmosphere that consists of about 20% oxygen. Your tank is a text book model of a well-oxygenated aquarium, if the water column can hold on to half that much. In order to attain “text-book” status, you will need to maximize the amount of oxygen being dissolved into water; while minimizing the amount of oxygen being stripped out of the water column.

Preparing the Water

You may want to refer back to the first article in this series, because I explain how gases interact with water, a little more in depth. It is important to remember that water cannot dissolve an infinite amount of chemicals. Therefore, the more chemicals that a particular body of water dissolves, the “less space” it has to dissolve any extra chemicals. Since saltwater dissolves so many more salts and minerals than freshwater, DO levels in marine environments are about half that of freshwater. Temperature also affects water’s ability to dissolve gaseous chemicals. Colder water dissolves gases more readily than warmer water. This is evident in small farm ponds where the stock-fish can be found gasping for air on the hottest summer day. In addition to all of the toxic chemicals that industrial facilities can pollute waterways with, many industrial facilities raise the average temperature of adjacent water ways. This is known as thermal pollution. The rise in temperature decreases the amount of DO in the water, causing mass-suffocation, which in turn raises dissolved, nitrogenous wastes and lowers pH, as the dead fauna decomposes. This is in effect what happens in many aquarium crashes. When DO Is used up faster than it is replenished, animals begin to die by suffocation. The decomposing bodies increase nitrogenous waste concentration and lower pH (see part 4) as the cadavers are decomposed, further stressing and poisoning fish. Essentially every thing that could go wrong goes wrong when DO becomes deficient.

Consuming Oxygen

The most obvious consumers of oxygen in our aquariums are fish. As body mass and activity increase, a fish’s need for oxygen increases as well. Even though a kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher) is larger than a rummy-nose tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus), the rummy-nose tetra compensates with its constant activity, which requires quite a bit of oxygen to fuel its metabolism. Moreover, higher temperatures not only hinder water’s ability to dissolve oxygen, they also cause fish’s metabolism to rise. When metabolism increases, the body needs to consume more oxygen in order to burn more sugars and create more energy. Temperature spikes are a double-edged sword for this reason. However, this works in reverse as well. The nest time you come home from an auction with one too many fish (they were rare and seldom-seen in the hobby after all), and you have to keep more fish in one tank than you know you should keep together: turn the temperature down. This will lower the metabolism of your fish, thus lowering their need for oxygen, not to mention the cooler water is now able to dissolve more oxygen.

Of course, any invertebrates that you may keep also use oxygen, but it is the oxygen consumption of an unseen inhabitant that makes up the next largest oxygen consumer in an aquarium. These unseen inhabitants are the nitrifying bacteria that are involved in the nitrogen cycle. The entire process of decomposing a piece of food down to nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide, water, etc. uses oxygen every step of the way. If there is a large amount of decaying, organic matter in the aquarium, DO will naturally fall as the increased number of bacteria consume much more DO. This is yet another complication in the thermal pollution scenario. As larger species suffocate, and begin to decompose, the increased bacterial population consumes even more of the precious little oxygen left. The fact that these invisible bacteria can consume all of the DO in your aquarium is disconcerting, but it underlines the importance of watching your aquarium. When fish begin to suffocate, they become lethargic and discolored and gasp for air at the water’s surface. Snails are an excellent indicator of DO, as the snails will collect at the water’s surface when DO decreases. The possible causes of a drop in DO are numerous, so it really is better to just keep a close eye on your fish’s behavior.

Dissolving Oxygen

The first way that oxygen makes its way into water is from the atmosphere. Anywhere that water and air interface, gases move from the substance with a high concentration of gas to the substance with a low concentration of gas. In the case of oxygen, it diffuses from air (higher concentration) to water (lower concentration). There are several ways that we can manipulate this fact so that DO is maximized throughout our aquarium. The most obvious place that oxygen will diffuse into water from air is the water surface. Therefore, you must leave some room between the water surface and your hood so that the water is exposed to air. Obvious as that point may seem, your hood is not the only thing that can get in the way of atmospheric oxygen diffusing into your water. I have recently moved into an old carriage house that I am slowly renovating. Needless to say, there is an endless supply of dust. One day, a hang-on filter broke on one of my aquariums (of course in the middle of some major sanding), which caused a thick layer of dust to collect on the top of the water. I did not notice anything until I walked by the aquarium and found all of the fish nearly dead, gasping at the top of the tank. I quickly found that the filter had ceased working, and within minutes of replacing it with an operational filter, the dust layer broke and all of the fish were happily swimming about as if nothing ever happened.

Just realize that its not so much the movement of water that prevents the dust layer, it is the “breaking of the water surface”. This is called water agitation, and also helps to increase the amount of DO in the water. Some of the most highly oxygenated bodies of water are fast flowing streams, with lots of white water. As a matter of fact that “white water” is just water with lots of teeny-tiny air bubbles produced by the fast flowing waters churning over rocks and down steep drops in elevation. The most obvious ways to reproduce this is to either use an air pump blowing through a diffuser, or to use venturi injection, which is now an option with almost all major brands of powerhead. Saltwater enthusiasts, gain increased DO as a side benefit of using a protein skimmer. The skimmer is primarily used to remove harmful toxins in the saltwater aquarium, but the large amount of micro, air bubbles used to accomplish this goal, also increases DO. If you don’t like the look of air bubbles in your aquarium, even a hang-on type power filter, where water cascades down into the tank, breaks the water surface, and produces air bubbles below the surface will increase DO.

There is one final point to take into account. If you were to take a 5 gallon bucket filled with only water and measure the dissolved oxygen throughout the water column, you would find that the water near the surface of the water has much more DO than the water at the bottom of the bucket. In deep, placid lakes where there is not a lot of water movement, the lower portion of the lake often times has insufficient oxygen to sustain significant populations of fish. So this means that we need to make sure that the water column in our aquaria is thoroughly mixed, or ‘turned-over’.

The second way to get oxygen into your water is through the use of live plants. Plants produce oxygen as one of the final by-products of photosynthesis. The famous aquascape aquarist , Takashi Amano, actually recommends that anytime you add fish to an aquarium, you should also add some sort of plant life to not only add DO, but also to help with filtration. Now don’t go thinking I’m telling you to go out and buy expensive light fixtures for all of your tanks. There are a myriad of plant species which will grow under a good ole fashioned strip light. Java fern, Java moss, all Anubias sp., most Cryptocoryne sp., hornwort, and Najas Grass are all good plants that can be used under a normal output light. Actually, well-known fish importer, Tony Orso, grows all of his Anubias sp. using the lights on his ceiling (yes you read that right). Moreover, with the exception of Cryptocoryne sp. you can grow all of these plants without a substrate. I’d say most people stay away from live plants, because of the extra effort, but as long as you stay on top of your water changes, the choices that I provided above will help maintain and even increase DO in your aquarium.

I hope that all of these painfully technical articles have broadened your understanding of water chemistry in the aquarium. A lot of people think of water chemistry as a laundry list of numbers that your water test kits needs to conform to whenever you test your aquarium. These people probably think that I test my aquariums weekly with the finest water tests. With the exception of salinity in my saltwater tank, I can’t remember the last time I opened my “el-cheapo” brand water test kit. I rely on the greatest test kit of all, my eyes. You see, I know what my fish and invertebrates are supposed to act like and what my plants and corals are supposed to look like, because I observe my tanks every single day, even if it is just a minute. Whenever any of my aquarium’s inhabitants appear abnormal, I know something is wrong. From this point, I think back and try to identify any maintenance that I may have neglected to perform. Usually I realize that I have not changed the water in a while. Next, I try to identify if I have performed any maintenance differently. Sometimes I realize that I dosed a different amount of a chemical, or that I did not adjust the pH and conductivity in an acidic, soft-water tank. If I still cannot identify the problem, then, and only then, do I blow the dust off of ole reliable, my water test kit and test every water parameter. Perhaps this is all overkill for the average aquarist that maintains a couple of show tanks, but for those of us that could justify charging admission to our basements, understanding a basic level of water chemistry makes caring for all of our many fish less problematic. In the meantime, let’s keep learning about and caring for our fish.





___________________________________





Copper in your Water?

by Bart van Dijk

Edited version of an article first published in The Fishmonger, Vancouver Aquatic Hobbyist Club, September 2002

Aquarticles

My first birthday in our new house...my wife went all out to make it a special evening. We had only been married six months and were expecting our first child. The nausea which my wife was experiencing was coming under control. A great and happy time!

All our parents, brothers and sisters, ten couples in total, knew that my wife had allowed me to buy our first aquarium. This aquarium was duly set up and allowed to sit for a week with just a lot of plants as part of the cycling process.

Want to guess what I got for my birthday?... Each of the couples in our family showed up with a bag of fish. All the bags were duly floated on top of the aquarium for about an hour, and all were ceremoniously released at the same time - kind of like a christening party for my future fish keeping. The fish all disappeared into the plants, but throughout the evening they showed up one by one, floating dead or dying on the surface. Appropriately, by the time the last guest left the last fish had died. Guess where the aquarium was? - yes, right in the point of focus of the living room.

During the next week the water was taken out of the tank and replaced with different tap water, from my Dad's house in Vancouver. A couple of guppies were introduced and they lived happily ever after. And as long as we carted all our water from my Dad's house there was no more problem with fish dying en masse.

During the last few months I have been selling fish to some pet stores....



I make absolutely sure that as far as I can tell they are healthy and good looking, but still I feel kind of responsible and I simply have to go to the stores to check on "my" fish. A few times I have asked store keepers to check the pH and hardness when fish looked uncomfortable, and then when the fish were moved to another aquarium on a different filtration line the problems usually disappeared. I was getting a bit blasé about this and did not go and check on a batch in a certain store.... finally got there a week later, looked in all tanks - none of my fish - makes you feel good all your fish sold within a week.... talked with the fish manager who graciously said "I don't know what we did but they all died."

At one of our club meetings Lee Newman showed us a lot of slides of his newly set up fishroom.... and we were all surprised to see huge containers of several hundred gallons of plain water being conditioned for his fish tanks. We asked him about this, thinking that this was a huge waste of fish space, and he told us that even so he still had a lot of problems. He had had his water chemically analysed and found copper in lethal quantities to fish. So he installed a heavy metal absorption system in front of his holding tanks and was able to keep fish successfully.

***

You might say "If copper in the water is that bad, why on earth do they let it get in, in the first place?" The natural water in our catchment area does not have any copper, or none to speak of. Neither is any added in the treatment plants. All the main distribution pipes are steel, asbestos-cement or cast iron, and you will not find any copper in the system that holds water for a long time (and as we know from previous talks water can be in the mains for about six months to a year). The only place copper is used is to get from the main in front of your house to your house and the lines inside your house. But luckily the water is in these pipes for only a short time, and you and everyone in your house can readily reduce the amount that is absorbed from your pipes by being fully aware of the problem.

Yes, you already begin to see the solution - limit the time the water you want to use is in your pipes. So run that tap till the water is fresh and no more problems. But of course there is always a but - the bugbear is your hot water tank, which gets filled from the water in the supply line to your house whenever hot water is used.

It takes a lot of discipline for sure, but lots of people have had to do it on a regular basis through the ages. In Holland where I was born in the 1930's all the house pipes were made of lead, and every Dutch kid knew how the Roman Empire came to its end - lead poisoning of course, Emperor Nero being the prime example. So if you were the first one awake it was your job to flush the absorbed lead out of the house lines without fail, or all of you were sure to go mad! For our house the waterline from the centre of the street to our property line was 33 feet; property line to the house 55 feet; to the hot water tank 12 feet - for a total of 100 feet of 3/4 inch line. Hence the volume was 530 cubic inches. Now dividing by 1728 made that about .31 cubic feet, and multiplying by 62 made that 20 lbs of water. Divide by 10 = 2 gallons. The toilet furthest away from the point of entry used 3 gallons per fill, so the routine was simple: first thing in the morning, flush away all the water out of the copper lines. Flush that toilet, but make sure not to open any (especially hot water) taps until the toilet reservoir has stopped filling. When we had been away most of the day, flushing that toilet and waiting for the refill was good also. There was also nothing wrong with running a couple of gallons of cold water through our shower or bath before opening the hot water tap. Incidentally this also got rid of the lead dissolved from the solder used to put our pipes together, and for the same reason we dumped all the stale water from our soldered kettle before making a fresh brew, as part of our normal routine

When I first connected all those fish dying to an excess of copper, it made me really fearful about the implications for our unborn baby and my pregnant wife. It was explained to me that the main difference was that fish are extremely sensitive due to absorption through their gills directly into their bloodstream, but the quantities which affect us are very very much higher. Nevertheless, it is good to be aware of the metals. This was recently illustrated to us by news of mercury poisoning in Japan, where the mercury was absorbed by eating food fish which were caught in mercury laden water. And don't forget the rumblings we hear about aluminium pans and Alzheimer's disease - also absorbed via the food we eat.

....So watching out for the health of your fish might also be beneficial to you and your family





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Aquahumic

a Water Supplement

by Loren E. Willis II

from www.boxlotfish.com

Aquarticles

AQUAHUMIC is a Boxlotfish.com exclusive product that will change your fish tank forever. This solution contains all natural ingredients and is completely water soluble. AQUAHUMIC acts as a chelating agent that allows nutrients into the fish's body, and cleans your water at the same time. The Humate factor is possibly more important to tropical fish water than hardness and pH.

What it is:

Environmental Engineering at its best, Humate is a very old organic carbon - "dinosaurs probably ate it first." Humates are the result of prehistoric plants that were broken down by microbes (bacteria & fungus) and cannot be broken down any more except in the very long term.

Humates are now being used in the agriculture business to help absorb nutrient fertilizers into plants and retain moisture in the soil. One quart of the stuff replaces 200 to 500 pounds of dry humate material or 7 to 8 tons of manure in the field. Now that is powerful stuff! Many so-called "Black Water Extracts" are made from peat (tannin) tea and are the watered down humates that have been used in the tropical fish hobby for many years.

Agriculture grade Humates (typical 13% Fulvic acid and 4% Humic acid) are mined from the ground in only a few places on the earth and come from shale-like materials. It is a type of carbon that is not the same thing as filter carbon commonly used for filtering water. Humate is not acid that causes a very low pH. Humates are special molecules that take on three different forms or sizes of molecular weight, humic, fulvic, and ulmic fractions.

These three acids (salts) interact with water chemistry in different ways, with pH and temperature being the most commonly active determinants. Aggregation or clumping happens as the pH goes down, calcium & magnesium go up, or the temperature goes up, thereby "filtration improves." In addition, oxygen and sunlight activate humic acids to produce hydrogen peroxide, naturally, and at a low level of release. Extra electrons provide static charges, "electrolytes and cation exchange" that attract small particles and other molecules. Look it up on the INTERNET and see what a great thing Humic Acid is.

CAUTION: Please consult with your supplier if you decide to make your own. "Humic Acid mixtures are extremely unlikely to burn or explode unless subjected to extremely high temperatures or mixed with extreme acid or alkaline solutions. Aquahumic can cause mild electric shock."

This electrical energy; the result of the combination of humic and microminerals, is good for newly laid eggs, and the general health of the fish. When combined with Humate, the microminerals are easily absorbed by different membranes for the most natural way of doing things; all-natural Chelation Therapy for your fish and plants. It is estimated that natural rivers have a 50% combination of tannin tea and humate acids (salts) that make 95% of the dissolved materials. When you consider that a fish is a high protein animal and drinks its water through its skin by osmosis, then soft water fish do better with their most natural water, as do hard water fish. Microminerals (trace elements) are added to this mix in very heavy concentrations.

CAUTION: Can react when mixed and my supplier has provided me with a special Nitrate free product to avoid this problem. No Nitrates or snake oil added!

AQUAHUMIC Ingredients include: Water, Homogenized Fulvic Acid and Humic Acid concentrate from dry humate. -- Minerals and trace elements including; Natural Hormones, 21 Amino Acids, Vitamins, Chelated Magnesium, Chelated Zinc, Chelated Iron, Chelated Manganese, Boron, Molybdenum, Combined Sulfur, Molasses.

What is the Molasses for? High energy sucrose to reduce parasitic attraction to weak plants. I am not sure about how this Pheromone/infrared aura concept works with fish but who knows? Aquahumic will not raise conductivity, lower pH, color your water, cure all diseases, or cause excess bacteria.

The Need:

Stripped down reverse osmosis water needs something to get it started. R/O water kills red blood cells on contact. De-ionized water has the same problem but with a few other things like Sodium that you don't want. City water with chlorine or ammonia combined with Humic causes cancer in humans so it must be stripped of all Humic before it gets to our homes. I don't know if this stripping solves the problem of cancer (probably not since we drink iced tea with chlorinated water) but Humic should be replaced for our fish that don't have the chlorine and ammonia in their water.

Consulting with several experts I found that the Amazon River system covers a large area so the exact formula for discus water is as different as the number of streams feeding the river. I discovered that the typical carbon content (humate) is 0.5 to 1.0 grams per 100 gallons and pH is anything from 7.2 to 4.0 depending on where you look. Typical trace elements vary almost as much and the heavy metals like Uranium, Copper and Lead are everywhere.

Natural Humic from roots and leaves "locks up" the heavy metals and protects the fish from them. Natural Humic also serves for a large number of other antibiotic/anti fungal/anti parasite protections for organic life of the Amazon River. No Humic in the water means that fish in the wild can be subject to disease, parasites, low levels of slime coat, poor health and color. One common problem on Florida farms is in the transfer of tropical fish from mud ponds to well water vats. Fish quickly lose their slime coat and are exposed to diseases. Chemicals such as Acraflaven and Copper are commonly used to combat these diseases after this change. Humate and all the acids and substances in it, provide one of the most powerful and easily assimilated supplements for overall health. AQUAHUMIC can potentially replace activated carbon or inorganic adsorbent to clean your water with a simple sponge filter. You will still need to clean your sponges and change water.

How to use it:

This part is somewhat experimental at this time.

I would recommend one drop per 10 gallons of water for starters. This represents a 0.5 percent organic carbon solution that might represent a minimum water content in nature. Two drops would represent a 1.0 percent solution that might represent a maximum in nature. There is probably no such thing as a destructive overdose but top of the river or bottom of the river is the natural question.

I have found that my bacteria are established in new tanks much quicker, however; fish are healthier, and eat more, so the ammonia can spike quickly. There may be an ammonia problem when your tank is first established but then there always is.

Please don't over dose. Just remember that a quart of this is equal to 4 tons of manure and there is a considerable amount of CO2 generated by heavy bacterial action (stink) in old organic laden water. Wood eating Plecos can be suddenly affected by sudden changes in humic content of the water unless they have a good diet of wood to offset the changes. The established bacteria are healthier. Other fish like Discus and Angels will want to breed at a younger age so they should have plenty of space to claim as their own. The pH is buffered somewhat but not to the full extent of tank water stability. Generated low levels of Hydrogen Peroxide can increase plant root growth and decrease unwanted Algae growth. It is a skill or art to get what nature provides into a small tank and hold it there. Maybe that is part of what the hobby is all about.

Perhaps this product advances the hobby, or just makes things more complicated. AQUAHUMIC will advance our understanding of nature, but I don't think you will see it in your local pet shop soon. You should see a difference in the color and activity of your fish within a week. Your water will be polished by better filtration and have a clear shine about it (no brown).