Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Guppysnail]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:09 PM, Ken Burke said:

Turn the handle, pull the lever, get a banana.

That’s me, that’s me 🤣

my guess at the sediment is mulm bacteria debris tiny bits of the algae that fell away, microfauna we murdered. I’m …ahem..cultivating 🤣 a plant with tons of algae at the moment. When the eggs on it hatch I’ll soak it and look at the gunk under the microscope and let you know. 
this is actually a question for @dasaltemelosguy he may already know. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Torrey]

On 6/20/2022 at 4:55 AM, Guppysnail said:

think the worst feeling is feeling less than about oneself. Being made to feel that in our hobby’s is even worse.  Where is the joy in that?  No one is less, just different. How boring would it be to live in a cookie cutter world where we are all the same 🤮. Diverging based on experience or education is not community.  Coming together because of our shared aquarium interest is community. That is the conversation we had surrounding this and how it fits in the forum community.  

I see the benefit in starting a "science thread" where the research and deep detail can be bandied about, as it would expose young people to a new way of looking at research, and have a parallel thread that focuses on the fun aspect.

Same information, catered to two different audiences.

Can't wait to see what comes up next!

 

[Torrey]

On 6/20/2022 at 6:41 AM, Guppysnail said:

Friends “wash” each other’s backs. 🤣 

Nemo nerite was helping his mystery snail brother with his algae hair-cut. Shrimp stepped up to finish styling it 

ORD 🤣

 

On 6/20/2022 at 1:09 PM, Ken Burke said:

Sorry for the late reply.  
 

@Guppysnail, you are too kind.  
 

I think of efforts like Reverse Respiration as a cord of three strands.  Strand one, theoretical science, makes observations, develops working theory’s, and conducts controlled experiments in the lab.  Strand two, scientific application, expands on the theory and refines the process, again through controlled experiments.  I live in the third strand, practical application.  Turn the handle, pull the lever, get a banana.

I have satisfied my curiosity, carbonated water is effective at killing algae and snails.  Now I’m curious, what was in that sediment on the bottom of my second application, and did the CO2 bubbles dislodge stuff on the plant?

 

 

@Ken Burke I agree on the three strand theory, and some people have fun in all 3, and some people don't, and all of the above is exactly perfect.

[dasaltemelosguy]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:09 PM, Ken Burke said:

Sorry for the late reply.  
 

@Guppysnail, you are too kind.  
I think of efforts like Reverse Respiration as a cord of three strands.  Strand one, theoretical science, makes observations, develops working theory’s, and conducts controlled experiments in the lab.  Strand two, scientific application, expands on the theory and refines the process, again through controlled experiments.  I live in the third strand, practical application.  Turn the handle, pull the lever, get a banana.

I have satisfied my curiosity, carbonated water is effective at killing algae and snails.  Now I’m curious, what was in that sediment on the bottom of my second application, and did the CO2 bubbles dislodge stuff on the plant?

 

@Ken Burke thank you so much for trying this and especially the constructive feedback! To your question, I'm guessing based upon what it likely is as I've not tested the precipitant extensively, but the brown stuff is probably denatured carotenoids, proteins and enzymes and the white stuff are the carbonate salts, mostly from the magnesium (that's the predicted magnesium destruction in the mass/energy equivalency section of the piece) in the algae that you ruthlessly murdered! I'm sure there's generic sludge the effervescence literally scrubs off the plants to as well as other assorted salts and sludges one could analyze ad infinitum, but if the snails and algae are gone, as this thing was so much work, I'm happy with just the banana now! 🤪

[Guppysnail]

Woohoo 🎉🥳

I finally have a LOCAL in person fish friend. @Purple Guppy I met her at the CCY and ACLC fish clubs. She is going to raise some of my purple guppies I can never keep 😍. So I will finally get to see them all grown up 🥰

we started chatting and of course I told her about our awesome forum and my forum friends. 🤗

HAPPY ADVENTURES…MAKE A NEW FRIEND

Edited June 21, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Purple Guppy]

Im happy i found a fish forum.  I'm very new and look forward to some good information and to learn from you all.  Thank you Guppysnail.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/21/2022 at 2:22 PM, Purple Guppy said:

Im happy i found a fish forum.  I'm very new and look forward to some good information and to learn from you all.  Thank you Guppysnail.

There is a tab for introduction and greetings. I encourage you to start a new topic an introduce yourself and your fish. Folks here are super friendly and helpful. We love to get to know new folks. Here is how to say hi.  Here is where to find the guidelines ines 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Ken Burke]

On 6/21/2022 at 1:22 PM, Purple Guppy said:

Im happy i found a fish forum.  I'm very new and look forward to some good information and to learn from you all.  Thank you Guppysnail.

Life’s better with fish friends!  

On 6/21/2022 at 9:50 AM, dasaltemelosguy said:

@Ken Burke thank you so much for trying this and especially the constructive feedback! To your question, I'm guessing based upon what it likely is as I've not tested the precipitant extensively, but the brown stuff is probably denatured carotenoids, proteins and enzymes and the white stuff are the carbonate salts, mostly from the magnesium (that's the predicted magnesium destruction in the mass/energy equivalency section of the piece) in the algae that you ruthlessly murdered! I'm sure there's generic sludge the effervescence literally scrubs off the plants to as well as other assorted salts and sludges one could analyze ad infinitum, but if the snails and algae are gone, as this thing was so much work, I'm happy with just the banana now! 🤪

So, you are saying the sludge is algae the i blowed up?

 

bananas are good

[Guppysnail]

Just spotted this beautiful little red girl in Hershey’s tank. 

[dasaltemelosguy]

On 6/21/2022 at 4:14 PM, Ken Burke said:

Life’s better with fish friends!  

So, you are saying the sludge is algae the i blowed up?

bananas are good

Hi, yes, pretty much. I'd imagine a some of it is just assorted schmutz too!

The brown residue is probably denatured proteins, pigments and enzymes from the algae that are insoluble in seltzer with such a low pH so it's sediment. Same with the white powder, the carbonates also from the algae. 

A true chemical analysis would be ideal here in lieu of that possibility, I ran the following the night after seeing your pictures. 

Of course, this is within the vague limitations of a simple water test strip on a kitchen counter, but it did reveal some interesting stuff about what your precipitant might be.

For one, all of the insoluble residue was soluble in plain water once filtered from the seltzer (see the lower image). So, the seltzer's pH basically forced them not simply out of the algae but out of the solution as well. That is in concert with the cell contents solubility/pH in the charts in the article. 

The predictive model in the mass/energy section insists that most of that residue must magnesium bicarbonate, stripped from the algae molecules in water.  However, when the water evaporates, it's just magnesium oxide like you commonly see as a heartburn remedy.

But, when that residue was resolubized in water with a pH of 7, this may help to illustrate, albeit vaguely, what actually occurred in your vessel:

The elevated nitrate, nitrite and cyanuric acid are indicative of organic decay, the brown schmutz. What's much more telling however is the carbonate and pH sections. The carbonate content is literally off the chart as predicted in the model. Perhaps more telling is when that precipitant was resolubized, the pH rose, indicative of the algae's magnesium bicarbonate converting to magnesium oxide once dried, is a common antacid, hence the pH rise. 

I think you've brought to light a concern that may benefit the integrity of the data so I would like to eventually get that data included in the above section once I have better testing available than a test strip on a paper towel! 

@Ken Burke, thank you so much for this important input. 

[Ken Burke]

@dasaltemelosguy said “For one, all of the insoluble residue was soluble in plain water once filtered from the seltzer (see the lower image). So, the seltzer's pH basically forced them not simply out of the algae but out of the solution as well. That is in concert with the cell contents solubility/pH in the charts in the article. “
 

so I didn’t blow them up, but I DID suck the life outta them.  He he he….

[Torrey]

On 6/22/2022 at 10:45 AM, dasaltemelosguy said:

Hi, yes, pretty much. I'd imagine a some of it is just assorted schmutz too!

The brown residue is probably denatured proteins, pigments and enzymes from the algae that are insoluble in seltzer with such a low pH so it's sediment. Same with the white powder, the carbonates also from the algae. 

A true chemical analysis would be ideal here in lieu of that possibility, I ran the following the night after seeing your pictures. 

Of course, this is within the vague limitations of a simple water test strip on a kitchen counter, but it did reveal some interesting stuff about what your precipitant might be.

For one, all of the insoluble residue was soluble in plain water once filtered from the seltzer (see the lower image). So, the seltzer's pH basically forced them not simply out of the algae but out of the solution as well. That is in concert with the cell contents solubility/pH in the charts in the article. 

The predictive model in the mass/energy section insists that most of that residue must magnesium bicarbonate, stripped from the algae molecules in water.  However, when the water evaporates, it's just magnesium oxide like you commonly see as a heartburn remedy.

But, when that residue was resolubized in water with a pH of 7, this may help to illustrate, albeit vaguely, what actually occurred in your vessel:

The elevated nitrate, nitrite and cyanuric acid are indicative of organic decay, the brown schmutz. What's much more telling however is the carbonate and pH sections. The carbonate content is literally off the chart as predicted in the model. Perhaps more telling is when that precipitant was resolubized, the pH rose, indicative of the algae's magnesium bicarbonate converting to magnesium oxide once dried, is a common antacid, hence the pH rise. 

I think you've brought to light a concern that may benefit the integrity of the data so I would like to eventually get that data included in the above section once I have better testing available than a test strip on a paper towel! 

@Ken Burke, thank you so much for this important input. 

@dasaltemelosguy I'd be satisfied with your test strip on a paper towel tbh. I've been thrilled with the Co-op test strips, because I no longer need to ask my arms to replicate a test tube agitator from the lab (I hated the noise, never thought I'd miss them, lol)

I'd never been satisfied with other strips' accuracy, but 3 weeks of testing against API I'm happy with my curent mode of testing pH, GH, KH, chlorine, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia... I am intrigued by your test strips, lol (should I add this to the "I might be a nerm" post?)

[Torrey]

Oh yeah, I'm drooling. Unlike most images in here, yours get clearer on my larger screen. I want to be able to test for iron, copper, bromine, and flouride! Not to mention lead👀

I had to buy a Pur filter, and follow it with a ZeroWater filter so we could safely drink anything out of the tap, or suffer kidney stones. I would *love* to be able to find the happy balance on water blends so I don't have to take everything out and then remineralize water. I refuse to go RO living in the desert....

Looks like this could potentially also help identify how long I could go between water changes in tanks, saving even more water.... ::thinking cap::

[Guppysnail]

On 6/22/2022 at 6:04 PM, Ken Burke said:

@dasaltemelosguy said “For one, all of the insoluble residue was soluble in plain water once filtered from the seltzer (see the lower image). So, the seltzer's pH basically forced them not simply out of the algae but out of the solution as well. That is in concert with the cell contents solubility/pH in the charts in the article. “
 

so I didn’t blow them up, but I DID suck the life outta them.  He he he….

Mass murdering VAMPIRE NERM 🤣🤣🤣

[Ken Burke]

On 6/22/2022 at 6:28 PM, Guppysnail said:

Mass murdering VAMPIRE NERM 🤣🤣🤣

And mighty proud of it. 😈

[Guppysnail]

Hershey is berried 🥰

[Atitagain]

On 6/26/2022 at 10:01 AM, Guppysnail said:

 

Hershey is berried

 

Such a fitting name and such a beautiful color. Congrats!!!

[Guppysnail]

@Ken Burke here is a better pic

[Guppysnail]

OH YES I AM!

BEDAZZLE ME BABY 🤩

NO MORE WINDOW WASHING FOR ME!

Just hired 17 professional window washers

[Guppysnail]

Everyone made it home and is actively nomming 🥰 pics tomorrow 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/29/2022 at 12:42 PM, Guppysnail said:

Just hired 17 professional window washers

They are beautiful, @Guppysnail!  ORD! 😍

[Bev C]

 i like  the colors Guppysnail  hope they like their new home 

[Guppysnail]

Meet the gang 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

They like green bean? My Nerite ignores anything I put in there for snails. He just wants to eat biofilm and algae. Except 1 time when I put zucchini. Every subsequent zucchini was ignored.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/30/2022 at 5:39 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

They like green bean? My Nerite ignores anything I put in there for snails. He just wants to eat biofilm and algae. Except 1 time when I put zucchini. Every subsequent zucchini was ignored.

My Nemo (olive) ignores them also.  I placed them in the food dishes on top of the green beans so they know where they are as well as a nano spirulina block chip for consumable calciumSo far the only ones I seen eat them were Jan & Dean. I did not have GBs in all the tanks though. 
im wondering if The Ronettes also being zebra they would enjoy them?  I’m I’m going to start dropping a tiny piece in tanks I don’t normally feed veggies to.  
 

Here is Jan having a field day with the green beans