Digital Changeling

May 25, 2007

OMG Not Quartz!

(More pictures, including better ones of the algae balls, here.)

So I bought two pieces of rock from the fish store back when I got my starter fish. One is a pretty striped piece of sand stone and the other is a clear crystal. I had assumed that the clear crystal was quartz and I was appalled to see that the fish store has some gypsum on their rock shelf when I was there today. I obviously didn't look at the rocks carefully enough when I was there last week. When I got home I took the crystal out of the tank and sure enough, it's gypsum. >.<

A good chunk of it has dissolved into the water, probably totally screwing up my water hardness (as if it isn't hard enough already, f'ing wells). I am going to go back to the fish store and complain loudly. I want my money back and a promise they'll pull gypsum from the shelves. It is not appropriate for aquariums in any way. Grr.

The only thing in their favor so far is that the sand stone does not appear to contain calcite (I pulled it out and used the vinegar test on it).

On the up side, they had algae balls when I was there on Friday. I now have a green tribble infestation in my aquarium. :P

The only real down side I can see for the algae balls is that they are by far the most lush green in my tank. My other plants look a little bit sad now. Oh well.

I should probably also note that putting in the plant bulb (right after the previous set of pictures) very much changed the light quality in the aquarium. The bulb that came with the fixture made everything look sort of purple-ish blue and the new one is far more natural looking (with a slightly warm cast).

posted by Eva @ 8:40 PM

2 comments links to this post

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Comments:

your tank is pretty already! :) I never saw algae balls before, what an interesting idea. :) Hang in there, you're doing great.

:) Linda

posted by  Linda Schiffer : 5/26/2007 3:58 PM

 

Thanks Mom! ^_^

The algae balls are a relatively new addition to aquarium plants in this country. You can read more about them here if you want:

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/cladophora.html

I'm still worried about the water quality in my tank, but the fish seem happy for now. I have to do about a 10% water change tomorrow, so hopefully that will help some. Perhaps I'll do a 20% change since it's worrying me so much.

posted by  Eva : 5/26/2007 10:27 PM

 

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