[Reverse Respiration]

On 5/7/2024 at 10:47 AM, Odd Duck said:

The seltzer works in a couple ways:  First by pressure of the carbonation vs. just straight CO2 levels in the water, and also by a massive and abrupt pH change vs. sustained low pH.  You are likely to get some effect from extremely high CO2 levels and it might be enough to knock out most animal pests, but very unlikely to be enough to knock out algae.  If you can mostly seal up the tank (at least enough that very high levels of CO2 are held above and in the water), then you might do a decent job of knocking out all animal pests.  You don’t need to hold pressure, just stop other air circulation - no regular air pumps running, for instance.  There weren’t any tests run on just adding CO2 to the water as the tests were not done with CO2 systems (at least not that I remember, @dasaltemelosguy can correct me if I’m wrong) but they were experimenting with different known plant disinfectants, then eventually trying seltzer water because of information @dasaltemelosguy found.  He and @Guppysnail tried it, it worked for snails, etc, then they started testing against algae.  She noticed the other plant benefits, and the rest is history.

I actually did that with my moss and guppy grass from the GSAS Auction. I used a 66 liter tote with a lid and cranked the CO2, like 10 BBS basically a steam of bubbles. I did this for 36 hours because I figured it would take some time to completely dissipate the oxygen. 

The lid is not air tight but did stop air flow. All the snails and algae died, INCLUDING Black Beard Algae. The BBA in my "Jaxa" Moss did not die right away, but it's dead now. Not sure if that was a typo by the seller, but it does kinda look like Xmas Moss. LOL. 

It did kill the moss right where the BBA was, which was weird. As the BBA died and turned brown and my fish ate it, I noticed that right where it was attached had turned brown. See picture. The rest of the moss looks amazing though. 

Guppy Grass did not fair too well but I've always had issues with that stuff surviving. Not sure what I do wrong there but it was no worse with the CO2. I bought twice as much as in the picture below. 

[Reverse Respiration]

I have tried this method with success. But, after reading all your research I decided to try something a little bigger in my fish room. @Guppysnail have you done any research on keeping high CO2 levels with other methods? 

Picture below is my 45 gallon with CO2 injection that I've been keeping right at the limit of the yellow color on my drop checker. I had a bad infestation of "Mini Ramshorn" the flat tiny ones that i think are ugly and don't clean nearly as well as regular Ramshorn. It seams to not kill the eggs even with really high co2 for a couple days in complete darkness.

Is there something else key in the seltzer? Or should flooding the tank with CO2 kill them? 

I decided to just lower it to the mostly yellow stage and keep it there for a week. I've had a few new snails hatch and basically go straight to the top and get out of the water then die. 

I have been adjusting the CO2 up and down as soon as I see green on the drop checker. See picture. 

Thoughts, anyone? 

Also attached a picture of my breading setup that I plan to drain into my planned tank for water changes. 

 

[Reverse Respiration]

On 1/22/2024 at 3:01 PM, Galabar said:

One interesting thing is that Cory/ACO don't seem to mention it in their YouTube videos.  There seems to have been many opportunities, but I've never heard it mentioned.

On a side note, I've used it and it worked for me... 🙂

 

💯 EXACTLY! 

[Reverse Respiration]

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. 

[Christmas moss]

@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?

[Christmas Moss help]

@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. 

[Fluval Flex 15 gallon]

@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. 

[Back yard pond]

How's this project going now? 

[Galvanized Trough - Epoxy coat or not?]

On 10/6/2020 at 4:17 PM, Kriskm said:

I have 5 young koi. My first winter with this trough, we had a lot of snow and I lost all but one fish. This last winter I threw in a 200 W heater for the cold months when it can get below freezing at night, and they all did great. The heater only kept the water at about 38, but that was enough to help the fish. The koi will eventually outgrow this setup, of course--probably next summer. Then I'll either need to rehome them or upgrade the pond. Gold fish would do fine as well. You have more options down there, but I haven't looked into pond fish for warmer areas.

@Kriskm is this still working for you? 

[Patio pond update]

On 8/24/2022 at 12:41 AM, GreenCircleGirl said:

I wanted to add an update with this pond. Note to self - do NOT choose galvanized water troughs. First, it leaked. Second, most of the fish and snails died. Third, the floating water plants developed a sickly green color and failed to thrive. Though it is intended to be used for animals to drink out of, it must leach out something toxic into the water. It also rusted in spots within a few months. The bigger Rubbermaid stock tank is much better. The plants and fish are thriving. 
 

 

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!  😊 

[Galvanized steel fish pond]

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. 

[Galvanized tub for pond?]

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.