Banquet Blocks

[JoeQ]

Does anyone have any messurements on how much the various block sizes raise gh/kh by? 

[Fish Folk]

Hmm… well, to start, here’s what’s in it:

Whether or not your fish actually eat it makes a difference. I cannot find any actual measurements anywhere online. Maybe you could run an experiment?

I think the cautions in this article are actually understated. I have not used them for long vacations because they just tend go foul up the water - leading to fungus and algae blooms.

I pay a friend to feed once per day while I am away. I make this easy by placing pre-measured amounts of food in weekly pill dispensers for each tank.

If you have a lot of tanks this adds up, but using automatic food dispensers is great if you just have a few tanks.

FYI — in a well-planted aquarium, adult fish can survive just fine for at least a week without any food.

Another thing I’ve done is seed substrate with lots of live black worms. Fish can eat as they grow hungry over time.

 

[JoeQ]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:24 AM, Fish Folk said:

Hmm… well, to start, here’s what’s in it:

Whether or not your fish actually eat it makes a difference. I cannot find any actual measurements anywhere online. Maybe you could run an experiment?

I think the cautions in this article are actually understated. I have not used them for long vacations because they just tend go foul up the water - leading to fungus and algae blooms.

I pay a friend to feed once per day while I am away. I make this easy by placing pre-measured amounts of food in weekly pill dispensers for each tank.

If you have a lot of tanks this adds up, but using automatic food dispensers is great if you just have a few tanks.

FYI — in a well-planted aquarium, adult fish can survive just fine for at least a week without any food.

Another thing I’ve done is seed substrate with lots of live black worms. Fish can eat as they grow hungry over time.

 

Thanks, but I don't use them to feed my tank while im away, I use them to supplement calcium for my snails. As for expiramenting, I use test strips which aren't accurate enough to messure tiny changes which Is what I would imagine a small Banquet Block would make.

[Fish Folk]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:40 AM, JoeQ said:

Thanks, but I don't use them to feed my tank while im away, I use them to supplement calcium for my snails. As for expiramenting, I use test strips which aren't accurate enough to messure tiny changes which Is what I would imagine a small Banquet Block would make.

Gotcha! That was what i was missing. 

[gardenman]

I used to buy them for a big Gibbiceps pleco I had. He'd chomp down one big block a day. (I was buying them by the case for him.)  I have no idea what effect they had on the GH/KH, but they made him grow like a weed. I would assume that consumption by the fish/snails would affect the GH/KH changes. In an empty tank you'd be more inclined to see fluctuations. If the fish/snails are eating the blocks quickly, they would be more inclined to absorb the calcium and other GH/KH altering compounds. If they had an excess amount, they'd then poop out the excess if they had any excess. If your fish/snails are calcium deprived, then there might be no effect if they eat the blocks quickly and absorb all of the calcium.