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I just hooked up another cansister to my hagen diffusor using a t-valve. I want to see what happens to my bubble rate. So far after 3 hours it's running about the same - one bubble every 5 seconds.

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You really won't be able to tell until the mix really gets bubbling in the second cannister - at least a day or so. Hopefully, you used your own yeast . Mine was outdated by almost 3 years from the Hagen packet. ]:|

I'm a little disappointed. My first real good batch, with fresh yeast yielded 1 bubble every 3 seconds and maintained my pH at 7.2 from 7.8, with a kH of 4.48 for almost 9 days. The bubble count slowed to one every 5 seconds for the last 4, but it still continued.

What I'm disappointed about is that I made my next batch the same way - fresh yeast, baking soda, sugar and tank water. After one day, it was running about 1 bubble every 4 seconds - not bad. Once again my pH was down to 7.2 from 7.6 before I renewed it. However, today, it was down to one bubble every 9 seconds and my pH climbed ]:|. I don't get it. I decided to try my own experiment and not having any ammonium sulfate (for yeast food), I put in a shrimp pellet to create ammonia . Time will tell.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 07-Mar-2005 12:33

Right now I'm still using the supplied ingredients, but will go to my own mix in the near future.

I was getting about 1 bubble every 5 seconds for about 2 weeks. How often do you empty your canister. I guess it depends on the bubble rate. Do you clean it out completely or leave what's on the bottom.

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Unfortunately, I dumped what was on the bottom and probably shouldn't have. I put a little more yeast in which boosted production a bit, but I know that's probably a one day bandaid. I thought I may have had too much ethanol in there so I dumped some of the water out and put in fresh tank water and the shrimp pellet. I'll know in a day or two what effect, if any, the shrimp pellet will have. I need to get some ammonium sulfate.

Why does Hagen say not to use tank water. I would think the temp would be better than the tap. Does something in the tap water get the action going faster?



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The most likely reason I can think of for not using tank water is preventing contamination of the mixture and impeding the fermentation process.

Tank water has a small amount of ammonia, which yeast like to eat. Nyberg recommends tank water and uses it in her mixtures.

Great article over at the Aquatic Gardeners Association:

[link=http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/Nyberg_yeast.ppt]http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/Nyberg_yeast.ppt" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Gotta have powerpoint to view. .

After three days of using two Hagen cansisters with one diffusors I'm up to 1 bubble every 3 seconds.

Looks like my ph dropped from about 7 to about 6.7.
My kh is still at 3.

Now if I could get rid of my thread algae on some of my plants. I think it's because of my zero nitrate reading.





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Are you sure your plants are taking up nitrate or are you using a product like Prime or Amquel Plus. I ended up with a zero nitrate reading, but a week or two later realized it was from using Prime in the tank (above and beyond replacement water). I had used it to help control nitrates while I was sick, and it completely got rid of them.

I ended up buying Flourish Nitrate, but many others use Potassium Nitrate or something like that - Grants Tree Stump Remover . I don't know any more than some people dose it.

I managed to get production up on my Hagen unit. It is still only running 1 bubble ever 5 seconds, but it was about every 9 seconds prior. I remembered what Tarah Nyberg wrote that when sugar is converted to ethanol in excess of 10% it slows production. So, I spilled out some of my solution and added about a half cup of tank water to dilute it and it sparked right up with a ladder full of bubbles a few hours later.

I've decided that my next batch will include some molasses and some soy flour (protein source), as suggested by Tarah. Some use protein powder, but I could only get to the grocery store and soy flour was convenient.

I don't know, but my nitrate reading is zero and my tank is pretty well stocked, although most of my fish are tetras.

Don't know if I should stock more or use the stump remover.

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Are you plants asking for nitrate?

- I know it is a funny question, but mine paled really quick and that's what tipped me off to check. I didn't know the nitrate had sunk with the Prime I was putting in for a few days. I thought it would take it down a few points, but not to zero But, when it bounced back up, it was abrupt. Then I had too much nitrate

At this point my plants do look pretty good although the Hygrophila Sunset is showing some clear leaves toward the bottom. But stems and rest of plant looks good. My big problem is some thread algae on sag and wisteria.



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I get that too. I need to breakdown my tank to change gravel. After I do that, I may go the amano shrimp route or one of the other algae eating shrimps. I used copper at one time and I know the gravel and other things in the tank pick it up. Since I need to change the gravel for other reasons and want to switch to Eco-Complete, I won't have to worry about residual copper killing them.

[link=http://www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php]http://www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Cory how strong are those red shrimp and would a large angel bother them.

I have eco-complete now, not sure how long all the good chemicals in there last for. Great thing about eco is that there is no rinsing you just put it in.

I noticed though one bag I bought online came shipped to me the gravel size was tiny almost like send, so when you gravel wash it will go right up the siphon if you are too aggresive.

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Good tips.

I'm not a shrimp expert as I'm only looking into them. I do know that many people with planted tanks use algae eating shrimp. What attracts me is that they eat hair algae . I think they are kind of cool too.

However, a hospital tank for any treatments is a must as most meds would kill them.

Take the link and make a post with it in the invert section. Good rule of thumb is that if it is small enough to fit into an angel's mouth, it is big enough to eat.

They should be already, because my angels don't bother some very small cardinals I recently put in.

I don't usually see those types around me though, I do see the transparent ones alot.



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