Amano New Year Build!

To think people feed this shit to their fish.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_blue_FCF

Nontoxic apparently but there's no way I'll be adding any more goodly pinches of this.

 

is the brilliant blue in the fish food?

 

Has to be - the goldfish food contains distinctly blue flakes. It could be one of a small handful of different blue food dyes, but the Blue FCF seems to be the most common and so it gets the finger. The label on the jar only lists "Colorants" but what it is precisely doesn't really matter.

 

So checked mine and it only has 1 set of holes to keep it open.

 

Stupid question, but did you check both sides? Mine only has the double set on one side, but it's enough to secure the pin.

 

Not a stupid question because I only checked the front facing side. Will revert back after a more detailed inspection.

 

I can confirm that mine also has the double pin holes on the other side. Thank you, will save me a fortune in future cable tie expenses.

 

Come now, your OCD has been lavished upon with the ambrosia of neatness. ADMIT IT!

 

It will definitely look less backyard mechanic

 

In these dangerous and uncertain times I consider it a mission-critical safety feature - if the brown hits the round you can just yank the pin.

 

I'm going to chime in here and say I love this thread. Alot to digest but informative indeed. Reason I commented here though is regarding the co2 cylinder. I used to use the fire extinguisher one and use the pin on the second hole, however, every time my cylinder was empty the valve needed servicing too. Turns out that the press valve style cylinder has a feature that damages the valve when used completely to force a service or something like that is what was explained to me. I switched to the one with the ball valve ( has like a tap on top) and since then I don't have to pay for a service every time I run out of CO2. I admit this could be region specific and not the case in south Africa but I mention this to bring this one simple fact to light just in case. You can get the valve replaced to the ball valve type and this should save you in the long run.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be swapping my 5Kg for Jakes' 2Kg and will see what the refiller says when the day comes. Possibly your provider was performing a spot of Carpe urinum but it's good to be aware of any potential pitfalls. Did you experience any leakage while still using the lever-style valve? Is the implied suggestion that if you must use the lever style it's better to use a cable tie and only crack the valve part of the way?

 

lol 1st time i hear that

 

XD I wish I could take credit, my dad comes up with all sorts of funny wordplay

 

So a bit of an update is in order. I added the goodly pinches of 3-1-6 and fish food on Sunday afternoon, and the ammonia reading still hovers conSUStently around 2ppm regardless of the time of day, with nitrate at anywhere 5 to 15ppm depending on what time of day I test. Nitrite has been consistently undetectable. I don't know what to make of it; is the fish food still decomposing, or is there still urea present? Did I hurt the cycle? It's being produced from somewhere and clearly it's being processed, I just don't have any idea of the source and can only roughly extrapolate from the nitrate consumption what the rate is.

I've added nothing but CO2 in the interim and while I like the stability of the numbers if it implies a long term means of keeping the cycle going and the plants fed (phosphate excepted), it doesn't help that I don't know what's going on. I will simply have to wait for everything to drop to zero and do a few controlled tests.

Mr. Farrot's Poot has grown at least 1.5cm and added two, maybe three new nodes in 24 hours. Very impressive - it looks like the rotala in the background is also trying to impress!

 

I also notice in the evenings after the CO2 turns off that the water turns slightly cloudly. This suggests calcium carbonate coming out of solution as the pH rises. I have a plan for an experiment to permanently soften the water and convert the calcium carbonate into calcium phosphate - but I'll need to get my hands on phosphoric acid...

 

some ph down aquaponic solutions contain phosphoric acid..

some metal prep solution for welding, tile cleaner, grout cleaner as well, but probably wont be aquarium safe..

 

I'll need pure stuff and will need to do some titrations first to see how much calcium carbonate is present.

 

I've had no leaks. And I've never done the cable tie half way kind of method of opening so I cannot comment on that. However, I'm not the only person who has had to repair the valve after using it opened full and we're not all in the same town.