Re: Poor man's SeaChem EQ
Spar said:
I googled "plaster of paris" and it came up as one of the uses being vacation feeders for fish. The white stuff that surrounds the food particles and disolves over time. I guess that ensures Plaster of Paris is aquarium safe!
In a private message you asked me whether Plaster of Paris is aquarium safe and you asked that I respond here ... your question asks first whether I have any experience with it ... well, my tap water comes out with a GH/KH both of about 11 ppm ... so for all practical purposes no ...
That said ... I have a lot of experience "putting stuff" into my aquariums ... both intentionally and not ...
For example ...
- Super Glue is not something that is good to put into an aquarium ... I know this first hand thanks to a son of an employee ... I was never able to salvage this aquarium and officially declared it a toxic waste site ...
- Cats are also usually not good to put in an aquarium ... they will get out and usually break something in the process ... I know this first hand thanks to a son and daughter of a visiting guest ...
- Biscuits and Gravey make a mess, but don't actually hurt anything ... nor do those orange colored Cheetoes, breakfast cereal, waffles, chewing gum, oatmeal, or any of dozens of other food items that unrully children of uncaring parents have thrown into my aquarium in the breakfast area of our hotel ... no apparent long term harm but it does effectively piss off my front desk staff which are responsible for taking care of the aquarium ... and plecos are of absolutely no help in cleaning up this type of mess ...
- Grapefruit Juice and Orange Juice can cause your fish to go a little bit wacky, I think that the acidity of those drinks just really are not very good for your fish ...
- Copper pennies which are not totally made out of copper any more also seem to cause no harm when contributed by our guests, however, in a very modest manner, they are beneficial to me ... I'd really like to experience a long term study of the effect of people throwing Susan B Anthony and Sacagewea dollar coins in though ...
But that wasn't what you really were asking about ... there is nothing wrong with using Plaster of Paris in your aquarium ... I personally prefer to vigorously pre-mix it, because it does not really want to disolve very well ...
So I would say ... go for it ...
Greg