TJOBrien

💯 EXACTLY!

What are you supposed to do after the 30 minute "rinse" i can find literally nothing in the hundreds of pages of documentation that says what to do after that. Can you leave it or does the water need to be changed again before resuming normal use? I'm confused, what's the reason for the Patent? There's nothing proprietary used here, it's a great idea but doesn't require anything unique so trying to profit off it seems odd. Is there another reason for a patent other than trying to keep others from making money off the idea? Please help me understand. Also, WHY IS NO ONE MAKING VIDEOS ABOUT THIS ON YOUTUBE? All the videos I am finding don't show any real details, results, or instructions. This should be the biggest thing since silicone.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea how's the Christmas Moss doing? Did it develop into the nice triangles of parallel branches or end up more like mine with good parallels but not consistent. Or did you get the random Java Moss hybrid that like nothing like Christmas tree triangles?

@JoeQ I am confused why you call that Christmas Moss. I do not see any parallel branches on any of the main branches that make the Christmas tree shape. This looks like the mislabeled Java Moss hybrid that I keep getting from LFS's with a couple random length parallels. Attached is a picture of some that I found. But it still is not that full consistent triangle but at least it has equally spaced parallels.

@Revaria do you have pictures of your Christmas Moss? Do you sell any or know where I can get really good type? I had some perfect stuff a few years ago and since, I have only found terrible halfbreeds of Java Moss that have random parallel branches. None that have that beautiful Christmas tree look consistently in each main branch.

How's this project going now?

@Kriskm is this still working for you?

I have a few questions as I just got some stock tanks and have seen many people use them successfully. Did you buy this new? If new, did you clean it well with a degreaser? Did you allow time with water to sit in it then drain and refill before adding plants/fish? Did it rust on the inside or the outside? (I ask to see if it was contact with air and dirt, or water inside. I see a lot of people putting drainage rock under these to prevent ground rust.) Thanks! 😊

I looked at this article and many others, combined with my background knowledge of metallurgy, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that zinc is contaminating water. As I understand, the zinc oxide that forms on the surface prevents it from coming off. And zinc oxide is inert, there is a lot of fear around heavy metals in welding as well, it has been determined over and over again that it is at most an irritant as it's particles are large enough to pass through or be filtered out of air and water. So as long as you change your water occasionally and clean your filters, there should not be any build up of zinc. Same idea in welding, wearing a mask with particulate filter is all that is normally used, even if you don't you'll be fine. You may get a bad headache and cough for a few days that feels like the flu, but no long term affects have been found in humans or animals that I know of. The EPA is always looking for things to ban, if they still have no problems with it after it's been applied to metal, I don't think it is a problem. Heat is a big problem with a metal tank above ground. Metal stock tanks can get really hot. Buying a used stock tank is always better as the oils will be removed and the galvanizing will have formed a thick oxide layer from being exposed to weather for a while.

Any updates on this? It seems like the oxide formed on galvanized metal should prevent zinc leaching. The only thing I have heard about stock tank issues is heat just from being above ground and oil if you don't clean it well when it's new before using it.