organic aqua revisited - Part I

And finally another post by Yasser

I have to put in my 2p's worth regarding the Organic Aqua. I've been using it for about 3 years (or possibly longer) and I've nothing but good to say about it. I run it in my 250 litre freshwater tank and I also run it in a tank I run in my local school.

My own tank get's well looked after and there's never a trace of algae or any problems with my fish (barring a non organic related tank wipe out a year or so ago ).

The tank I run in the school doesn't get the attention that my own tank gets but the Organic's has been a god send. All I need to do is go around once a week, put the few drops in and the teachers can be trusted to do the feeding. Once a month I go around to the school and do a water change and the tank is looking really well and again there's not a problem with fish or algae.

It really is a great product and for new fishkeepers I would highly reccommend it. It makes the hobby a lot easier and safer (for the fish).

10 out of 10 in my book

Great to see so many people taking part in this discussion.

I don’t think OA or anything else is a good substitute for good fish husbandry, all fishkeepers need to learn about the environment they maintain their fish in, understand their fishes requirements and how to provide these, they need to understand the nitrogen cycle and how a biological filter works etc etc. I always work on the principal that I don’t keep fish I keep water, if you provide the right conditions the fish will look after themselves 99% of the time, the obvious exception being disease, but disease outbreaks are much reduced by maintaining fish in the right conditions to start with.

What OA does for new fishkeepers is allow people read, get involved in forums and learn while their fish do not suffer. How many new tanks are sold to inexperienced fish keepers and then stocked within a short period resulting in fish stress and death? Unfortunately even when a shop 100% accurately explains to a new customer how they need to go about cycling a tank or getting used filter media and starting with small numbers of fish that does not guarantee disasters will not happen either through the impatience of the new owner or the inability to spot early signs of stress, over feeding etc.

There are a few other things about OA that should be mentioned, some already covered above others I have not seen mentioned, it would be good to get some feedback from the distributor on these points.

OA clouds the water?

I have not found this to be a problem generally, although one tank did go cloudy for a few days after I started using OA, the fish showed no sign of stress and it cleared in a couple of days. I would be interested to know what causes the clouding, is it a bacterial bloom. Other tanks I started at the same time in the same way did not cloud at all.

OA tanks need to have their hood left open?

OA tanks need an airstone to assist the dissipation of nitrogen gas for the water, there needs to be room for the gas to escape and not sit on the surface blocking oxygen take up. How much does the lid need to be open by, for how long.

You can’t test OA tanks?

Traditional Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia tests will not give useable readings. The reason for this was explained before to me, but I would like to hear that again.

OA and pH?

You can test water for pH when using pH and the effectiveness of OA depends on the pH of the water, it is most effective at higher pH levels with an optimum at 8.0, ideal for African cichlids, below 6.5 it is not effective at all. Those figures need to be confirmed, it would be interesting to understand why too.

You can use OA in a power cut?

Someone asked me before if OA would keep their biological filters alive in a power cut, my understanding of how OA works work suggest this would be a bad idea. OA bacteria would compete with traditional bacteria in the filter. OA requires washing tradition filters in tap water to destroy the traditional bacteria. However in the event of a long power cut where the traditional bacteria filters have died OA could be used to get the tank going again, rather than recycling.

In a power cut what happens an OA tank?

With the airstone turned off, how long until the build up of nitrogen take before it starts to adversely affect the fish? What’s the best thing to do in this circumstance?

OA and plants?

As I don’t active grow plants I have no experience on the effects of OA on a planted tank. I understand there is a separate OA product for planted tanks. Why does the original not work with plants, if that is the case??

Breeding fish in OA?

My only personal experience of fish breeding in OA is Corydoras schultzei, they spawned unexpectedly and I raised some fry, there did not appear to be any difference from fry raised in a traditional environment, I would be interested to hear have other people bred fish in OA and did they find existing breeders more of less likely to do so.

Some people are giving out about the lack of information on how this product works. There are enough people on the forum here that have used it or are using it to build up quite a bit of information.

I am tempted to do another test of two side by side tanks with identical fish in each and run one traditionally for 6 months and use OA in the other and monitor the results, maybe I will put that on the short finger…


Daragh

I have used Organic Aqua (OA) once to start up a quarantine tank which wasn't planned. The water turned milky/greeny in that tank but so did simultaneously my other tank which didn't have OA ... Bacterial bloom due to water was my conclusion - nothing to do with OA.

While I find the concept of OA very interesting, I too would advocate the 'traditional' way of cycling and maintaining a tank. Indeed, it is a great if steep learning curve when you have never been exposed to it. The education value of the fish-keeping aspects is definitely of great value. In my opinion, the challenge and the fun of learning/understanding how the bacteria develop, the impact of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH, the cycle of white spot, biotopes, etc... is what I find the greatest about fish keeping. Granted, in my short fish-keeping experience, I have so far been lucky in that I have had no disasters (this forum has a lot to do with it) but research has taught me so much ... I would never have learnt all this, had I been using OA from the start.

However, OA would probably be an asset in the case of an emergency for a hospital tank or the typical impulse buy with no quarantine tank ready back home!

Valerie

Daragh_Owens wrote:

Great to see so many people taking part in this discussion.

I don’t think OA or anything else is a good substitute for good fish husbandry, all fishkeepers need to learn about the environment they maintain their fish in, understand their fishes requirements and how to provide these, they need to understand the nitrogen cycle and how a biological filter works etc etc. I always work on the principal that I don’t keep fish I keep water, if you provide the right conditions the fish will look after themselves 99% of the time, the obvious exception being disease, but disease outbreaks are much reduced by maintaining fish in the right conditions to start with.

What OA does for new fishkeepers is allow people read, get involved in forums and learn while their fish do not suffer. How many new tanks are sold to inexperienced fish keepers and then stocked within a short period resulting in fish stress and death? Unfortunately even when a shop 100% accurately explains to a new customer how they need to go about cycling a tank or getting used filter media and starting with small numbers of fish that does not guarantee disasters will not happen either through the impatience of the new owner or the inability to spot early signs of stress, over feeding etc.

There are a few other things about OA that should be mentioned, some already covered above others I have not seen mentioned, it would be good to get some feedback from the distributor on these points.

OA clouds the water?

I have not found this to be a problem generally, although one tank did go cloudy for a few days after I started using OA, the fish showed no sign of stress and it cleared in a couple of days. I would be interested to know what causes the clouding, is it a bacterial bloom. Other tanks I started at the same time in the same way did not cloud at all.

IN AN OA TANK THERE IS A CERTAIN COMPLIMENT OF HEALTH TREATMENT THAT CAN APPEAR QUITE HEAVY/CLOUDY IN THE WATER.
A FEW CASES I HAVE SEEN WHERE PEOPLE HAVE NEGLECTED TO USE A FINE ENOUGH PREFILTER THIS HAS BECOME AN AESTHETIC PROBLEM WHICH IS ALWAYS QUICKLY REMEDIED WITH THE ADDITION OF SUCH FINE MEDIA (FILTER FLOSS IS GENERALLY CHEAPEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE).
IN RARE CASES I HAVE SEEN INEXPLICABLE CLOUDINESS, AS I HAVE IN NON-OA TANKS, AND CAN ONLY ATTRIBUTE IT TO THE USUAL THINGS LIKE- SUBSTRATE NOT WASHED WELL ENOUGH, FILTER NOT RUNNING CORRECTLY ETC.
I WOULD URGE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO EXPERIENCES THIS OR ANY OTHER DIFFICULTIES WITH OA TO POST UP HERE AND I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT A SENSIBLE CONCLUSION CAN BE DRAWN.
IN ANY OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED CASES THOUGH AS DARRAGH HAS NOTED, THE FISH THEMSELVES WERE AT NO TIME STRESSED LOOKING.

OA tanks need to have their hood left open?

OA tanks need an airstone to assist the dissipation of nitrogen gas for the water, there needs to be room for the gas to escape and not sit on the surface blocking oxygen take up. How much does the lid need to be open by, for how long.

I HAVE FOR THE LAST NUMBER OF YEARS BEEN RECOMMENDING PEOPLE TO LEAVE THEIR LIDS OPEN AT NIGHT WHEN THEY TURN OUT THE TANK LIGHTS AND CLOSE IT AGAIN IN THE MORNING.
ALTHOUGH A FULL STUDY OF HOW LONG, FOR WHAT TANK SIZE AND WITH HOW MUCH BIOLOAD ETC HAS NOT BEEN CARRIED OUT, I FEEL THAT THERE IS AT THIS POINT NO REAL NEED AS THERE HAVE BEEN NO PROBLEMS WITH ANYONE WHO ADHERES TO THIS SIMPLE ROUTINE.
I AM AWARE THAT IN AN IDEAL WORLD (AND THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW 'ISSUES' I HAVE WITH OA) ONE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO KEEP THE LID OPEN AT ALL. THIS SAID I FEEL IT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR A PERFECT TANK ALL THE TIME WITH NO HASSLE.
I AM LOOKING INTO DIFFERENT METHODS OF SUCCESSFUL GAS DISSAPATION THOUGH AND WILL KEEP YOU ALL INFORMED.

You can’t test OA tanks?

Traditional Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia tests will not give useable readings. The reason for this was explained before to me, but I would like to hear that again.

GENERALLY SPEAKING THE TESTS FOR AMMONIA AND NITRITE ARE QUITE ACCURATE AND THE TEST FOR NITRATE (DEPENDING ON WHICH KIT YOU USE) CAN BE MISLEADING.
I HAVE SEEN PERFECT LOOKING TANKS WHERE THE NITRITES SEEM TO BE OFF THE SCALE THOUGH AND NOT ONE FISH IS LOOKING DISTRESSED OR ANY SIGN OF CLOUDY WATER.
I ALSO MORE REGULARLY SEE SEEMINGLY HIGH LEVELS OF NITRATE AND CAN SEE NO EVIDENCE OF IT- IE NO ALGAE, FISH ALL ACTING HEALTHY AND HAPPY.
MY USUAL LINE TO PEOPLE ON THIS IS - WATCH YOUR FISH AND WATCH YOUR TANK!!!
IF YOUR FISH ARE IN ANY SORT OF TROUBLE YOU WILL 99% OF THE TIME SEE IT IN THEM AND THEN TEST THE WATER. ADMITIDLY IT DOES LEAVE ONE IN A PREDICAMENT AS TO WHAT TO DO IF THERE DOES SEEM TO BE A PROBLEM IN THE TANK AND YOU ARE UNSURE OF THE ACTUAL LEVELS.
THIS IS SOMETHING WHICH NEVER REALLY HAPPENS IN AN OA SYSTEM AND I WOULD, AND ALWAYS HAVE MAINTAINED TO CLIENTS, LIKE YOU TO PRESENT ME WITH THE PROBLEM EITHER HERE OR BY PM OR MOBILE OR EMAIL IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT ANYTHING IN YOUR OA SYSTEM.
THE ONLY THING I ASK YOU TO KEEP A REGULAR CHECK ON IS pH.

OA and pH?

You can test water for pH when using pH and the effectiveness of OA depends on the pH of the water, it is most effective at higher pH levels with an optimum at 8.0, ideal for African cichlids, below 6.5 it is not effective at all. Those figures need to be confirmed, it would be interesting to understand why too.

OA DOES SEEM TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE AT A HIGHER pH AND THE MAIN PROOF OF THIS IS ITS SUCCESS AT RUNNING COMPLEX SALTWATER SYSTEMS WITH VERY BASIC EQUIPMENT.
ALSO IN AFRICAN CICHLID TANKS PEOPLE HAVE HAD RESOUNDING SUCCESS USING OA.
WITH REGARD TO LOWER pH RANGES I HAVE FOUND THAT RUNNING A SYSTEM BELOW 6.0 CAN BE DANGEROUS AS THE BACTERIA DON'T SEEM TO DO VERY WELL IN SUCH ACID CONDITIONS.
THE GUIDELINES ON THE PRODUCTS THEMSELVES ARE NOT SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR USING THE PRODUCT BUT RATHER RECOMMENDED PARAMETERS (WITH PARTICULAR REF TO PONDS) FOR MINIMAL ALGAL GROWTH.

You can use OA in a power cut?

Someone asked me before if OA would keep their biological filters alive in a power cut, my understanding of how OA works work suggest this would be a bad idea. OA bacteria would compete with traditional bacteria in the filter. OA requires washing tradition filters in tap water to destroy the traditional bacteria. However in the event of a long power cut where the traditional bacteria filters have died OA could be used to get the tank going again, rather than recycling.

SEE BELOW

In a power cut what happens an OA tank?

With the airstone turned off, how long until the build up of nitrogen take before it starts to adversely affect the fish? What’s the best thing to do in this circumstance?

WHETHER USING OA OR NOT IN AN EXISTING SET UP, THE CASE OF A POWER CUT MEANS THE USE OF A BATTERY OPERATED AIR PUMP IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
IF YOU ARE ALREADY USING OA THEN SIMPLY CHANGE YOUR AIRLINE FROM THE MAINS POWERED AIRPUMP TO THE BATTERY OPERATED ONE AND PLACE A BATH TOWEL OVER THE TANK (IF TROPICAL) AND DONT WORRY ABOUT GAS DISPERSION.
IF NOT ALREADY ON OA THEN ADD IMMEDIATELY AND ADHERE TO STEPS ABOVE.
IN MOST CASES HERE THE POWER COMES BACK VERY QUICKLY BUT FOR PEOPLE WITH VERY EXPENSIVE SYSTEMS OR WHERE YOU FEEL THE POWER MAY BE OUT FOR MORE THAT A FEW HOURS THEN ADHERE TO STEPS ABOVE.

OA and plants?

As I don’t active grow plants I have no experience on the effects of OA on a planted tank. I understand there is a separate OA product for planted tanks. Why does the original not work with plants, if that is the case??

SIMPLY PUT, PLANTS DON'T GENERALLY LIKE TOO MUCH OXYGEN IN THE WATER AND WHEN USING OA THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU GET!
AS SUCH THE PLANT TREATMENT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO COUNTERACT THIS BY PROVIDING NON NITRATE OR PHOSPHATE BASED FERTILIZERS AND ADDING VARIOUS PLANT BASED EXTRACTS THAT HELP THE PLANTS TO ABSORB ANY AVAILABLE CO2 TO GREAT EFFECT.

Breeding fish in OA?

My only personal experience of fish breeding in OA is Corydoras schultzei, they spawned unexpectedly and I raised some fry, there did not appear to be any difference from fry raised in a traditional environment, I would be interested to hear have other people bred fish in OA and did they find existing breeders more of less likely to do so.

I HAVE HEARD MANY REPORTS OVER THE YEARS FROM PEOPLE (GENERALLY JOE BLOGGS TYPES WHO WERNT EVEN TRYING TO DO SO) WHO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BRED EVERYTHING FROM CICHLIDS TO SEAHORSES USING OA.
MORE DETAILED DOCUMENTATION OF THIS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS FURTHER EXPERIENCES IN THIS REGARD.

Some people are giving out about the lack of information on how this product works. There are enough people on the forum here that have used it or are using it to build up quite a bit of information.

I am tempted to do another test of two side by side tanks with identical fish in each and run one traditionally for 6 months and use OA in the other and monitor the results, maybe I will put that on the short finger…

ONE FINAL NOTE I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE HERE IS IN REFERENCE TO THE MISCONCEPTION THAT THE HEALTH TREATMENT IS SOME KIND OF SALT THAT IS USED TO CONTROL THE WATER PARAMETERS.
IN A NUT SHELL- THE BBAC AND GENERAL TREATMENT USED ALONE MAINTAIN THE HEALTHY WATER AND AS SUCH THIS MISCONCEPTION MUST BE IMMEDIATLY DISCREDITED.

Daragh

PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ABOVE POST THE CAPPED TEXT INDICATES RESPONSE FROM ME.
NOT REALLY USED TO ALL THIS FORUM QUOTING BUSINESS... ;D

CHEERS STEVE

Acara wrote:

I'm also enjoying this discussion.I havnt seen anybody mention any actual negative experiences with this product,so I will be down to you Thursday eve Dayo to pick some up.

Dave

Yes, I am not saying not to use it, I think its a great idea when cycling a new tank,its a interesting idea that you are adding a \"different\" stain of bacteria to conventional bacteria: If this is true then these \"different\" bacteria may need a additional source of food from apart from ammonia and nitrite, this would expanding the chemicals (white stuff), I am a bit secptical as I recall what the trade is capable of getting up to e.g in minireef who when bough out by International Sea Board(Philippine marine importers in the states I used to work for in the early 90´s) They marketed a food source for de nitrating bacteria and sold it in a nice plastic bottle with a nice sticker (more professional designs than Organic;) Any way it ways just tap water with a kind of sugar dissolved in.

Now Organic has a suspicious has a trade addressee with P.O.Box number short of having a hot mail email address it looks doggy, but if you are will to pay the money for it I have no problem with it.

For those of you that live in Cork (or surrounding areas), the guy from OA is in Petstop tomorrow!!!

He might be afraid to go there if all the doubting Thomas's turn up! Just kidding! He actually has a wealth of fishkeeping experience too, so could be interesting. I doubt all the conversation would be around OA,or at least I hope it wouldnt be solely on it,fishkeeping is far more expansive than a packet of readymix!
Gavin

I agree fishowner but I think that there is alot of critics out there when it comes to OA (even though some may have never used it!!). This is a great oppurtunity for ppl to get to talk to Steve and see what he has to say!

although i have enjoyed reading and respect the different viewpoints of all contributers to this topic, i remain convinced that everyone who uses this product will be amazed and pleased at it's effectiveness. It can be a painfree road for all beginner tank owners and their new pets. Setting up a new tank can be a daunting task with the vicious circle of new tank syndrome (overfeeding, ammonia, nitrite etc..) leading to stressed fish contracting diseases and parasites and the inevitable medicines and so on.

Any product that eliminates this hassle and unnecessary suffering and mortality has to be welcomed and I imagine if the fish could talk they would opt to avoid the experience of toxic ammonia and whitespot.

There may be negative aspects to long term use that i am not yet aware of and there may be equally good or even better products out there waiting to be discovered, but until such time as they become known I will actively encourage fishkeepers to try it and make up their own mind.

hi, very interesting thread,

and darragh good idea.. i think im also going to trial OA.
I currently have lots of fry on the grow
so what im thinking of doing is diving the
fry into two seperate tanks.

Same amount of fry,
same amount of water,
same amount of feed

and try to keep one tank running the good old fashioned way, and one using OA.
and ill post the results in a new thread.

I used to use OA a couple of years ago when i was running this tank

I never really had a complaint, the fish seemed to be happier, grow
fast, and seamed to eat less frantically whatever this means.

this was early days in OA terms however and i wasnt aware that
i had to get rid of my nitrifying bacteria by not cleaning out the filter.
The only complaint i had about it was that test kits didnt seem to work
at all. nitrate readings going through the roof but again this could have
been false and it freaked me out so i stopped.

However i did go away for 3 weeks before and had a randomer
staying in the house.. was great to be able to just get her to feed
(which she overfead of course) and the amount of drops to add weekly.
came back, food all over the tank but all the fish were fine.

Anyway now i think with a fishroom almost set up i think ill give
this another go from scratch. ill document my experience and include photos
where possible.

ive got the following fry that i could trial this with

calvus (very young)
occelatus (fairly old)
nigripinnis (fairly old)
leptosoma
leleupi (fairly old)

i could even mix a few to see if one tank has more aggression than the other
..what would be the most beneficial test do you think? test begins next week
all vote now!

I'm sorry to announce that in fact I will not be in Cork today.
I had planned on being there today or tomorrow but unfortunately cannot make it til next week as I'm too busy with all the new shops taking product on.

Dayo from PetStop Blanch will be there today and tomorrow and will be happy to field any questions anyone may have.

I can also be contacted by mobile - 087-9115073


Cheers,

Steve

Having read this thread with interest I thought I'd add my tuppence worth to the debate. I'm new to fishkeeping having only set-up a tropical tank in July....(I never did get around to introducing myself so hi everybody!) This I did using OA and I have to say that for this purpose I couldn't fault it in any way. I simply filled my tank, heated the water and dropped my first fish in that very day. Brilliant! I ran OA for the next four months with great success and no fatalities but have since reverted to traditional methods. The reasons for this were twofold....

1) The price of OA is still a bit on the high side for me.

2) I felt the need to clean the tank every week anyway (for aesthetic reasons only) so wasn't seeing the benefit of monthly waterchanges.

As an aside, I also had some plants that did not seem to grow well while using OA and were outcompeted and covered by hair algae. This I put down to my water at the time as it is everything you don't want for plants (high PH, high hardness, low CO2 etc).

Now this may be all coincidental due to the tank maturing but since I stopped using the product my plants have taken off and are looking healthier. This may be for a couple of reasons and is probably unrelated to the OA but it may also be because I was running an airstone as required with OA and this was removing what little CO2 was in my my water. There is however an OA plant additive that you can get for this reason but it requires that you keep your PH at ~6.8 if I remember correctly, mine is about 8 so no chance of that at the moment.

So, for me OA was a godsend when setting up my tank and for the first few months as it bedded in. It gave me the leeway I needed to overfeed etc and basically to learn without killing my fish. I moved away from it for my own reasons but would not hesitate to recommend it to anybody for either long or short term use.

Ronan

Thank you for the post Rodo.

From what I can gather you may not have been leaving your lid open for long enough or possibly not washing your filter media out correctly (tap water for OA systems, tank water for traditional systems) and as such suffered the wrath of hair algae and the need for weekly cleaning.

When used correctly, OA will leave your tank SPOTLESSLY clean all the time.

Plant treatment can be used in any pH but for best results with minimum algal growth it is recommended to maintain a pH of between 6.8-7.0.

Thank you for using OA though and I feel this underlines the fact that one may revert back to a traditional system at almost any time when using OA. (The exception of course being straight after a water change where tap water was used to clean biological media!)

Wishing you the best of luck in your fish keeping future!

cheers,

Steve

Sean wrote:

Yes, I am not saying not to use it, I think its a great idea when cycling a new tank,its a interesting idea that you are adding a "different" stain of bacteria to conventional bacteria: If this is true then these "different" bacteria may need a additional source of food from apart from ammonia and nitrite, this would expanding the chemicals (white stuff), I am a bit secptical as I recall what the trade is capable of getting up to e.g in minireef who when bough out by International Sea Board(Philippine marine importers in the states I used to work for in the early 90´s) They marketed a food source for de nitrating bacteria and sold it in a nice plastic bottle with a nice sticker (more professional designs than Organic;) Any way it ways just tap water with a kind of sugar dissolved in.

Now Organic has a suspicious has a trade addressee with P.O.Box number short of having a hot mail email address it looks doggy, but if you are will to pay the money for it I have no problem with it.

I feel it only fair to point out sean that OA comprises of three products-

1) General Treatment (G.T.)
2) BBAC
3) Health Treatment (H.T.)

G.T. and BBAC are used in conjunction with one another to control the toxic gasses in a given body of water.

H.T. is what you have described as looking a bit like salt or some sort of chemical and as the name would suggest is in fact a Health Treatment for your fish.

As pointed out by many on this forum, H.T. can be used as a stand alone product in traditional aquaria and is not something that has any effect on the water quality at all.

Similarly the G.T. and BBAC can be used as stand alone products too.
When combined though they perform this unlikely scenario whereby the toxic gasses are freed from the water in gas form and leave your fish in a relatively safe and happy environment.

Thank you for your endorsement of the product as a means of safely starting a new tank though, much appreciated!

cheers,

Steve

You may be correct in your diagnosis Steve....I used to leave the lid open for about 12-16hrs per day (which I was told was enough) but never washed ALL of my filter media under the tap at the same time (I was afraid to take the chance). As I said before, other than that I couldn't fault the product so if that was my problem then I'd be tempted to give it another go, either way I still keep a stock on-hand in case of problems, holidays or the need for a quarantine tank. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

Ro

Delighted to have been of help in your situation Rodo, please keep me posted on how you're getting on.

All the best,

Steve

ooops i hav'nt been washing the filters in tap water, best do now. How often should this be done,

Daragh_Owens wrote:

What evidence is presented with most fish medications and treatments on the market, John did you research the last dechlorinated you bought. What were the findings? Did you find exhaustive trials and technical explanations of how the product did what it claimed? I doubt it.

An interesting point you make Daragh.

A popular dechlorinator which is widely used and marketed as 'natures liquid bandage' seems to have a not so 'natural' ingredient-

aquariumpharm.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=43

Click on 'Product MSDS - English'.

Quite frightening I'd say...

Wow, and Stress Coat is used in all fish shops when bagging fish.

I use API's Tap Water Conditioner to treat all my tap water before adding to my aquarium. Do you recommend this Steve or know anything about it?

I met you some years ago when you ran Fish FX in DunLaoghaire and you were very friendly & helpful to me. Best of luck with the new OA venture.

wow.. scary link steve.

just a side note, i dont know if you've been following but
there is another person doing a trial and a descussion happening on 'the other forum'
and also one on cichlid forum
(links removed)

might be of interest.

louis wrote:

ooops i hav'nt been washing the filters in tap water, best do now. How often should this be done,

Typically one should do this every water change (every 4weeks) for maximum benefit although there have been reports from people who don't do this at all.
Mostly though they seem to suffer more algal growth than should occur.
How is the algal growth in your tank?

tm2204 wrote:

Wow, and Stress Coat is used in all fish shops when bagging fish.

I use API's Tap Water Conditioner to treat all my tap water before adding to my aquarium. Do you recommend this Steve or know anything about it?

I met you some years ago when you ran Fish FX in DunLaoghaire and you were very friendly & helpful to me. Best of luck with the new OA venture.

Hi tm2204,

I don't want people to think that using Stress Coat in the small doses that are required by your typical fish keeper is dangerous as it is my understanding that only when used in large doses or transported in large volumes (hence the disapearance of the old 5L buckets of it) is there any sort of danger.

Do you use OA in your system?
If so then you do not need to use any water conditioner as the products do in fact break down chlorine etc in tap water anyway.
If you are not using OA then I would strongly recommend the use of some sort of dechlorinator/water conditioner.

Good to hear from you,

Cheers,

Steve

Only in the last few weeks have I been getting a little hair algae.I periodically wash the filters in tank water. another confession... I very rarely use the airstone and the lid would not be open for extended periods.I allways thought that you did'nt need an airstone with OA.thanks for all the advise folks

Steve, am I right in thinking that doing the 25% water change once a month ther is no need for dechlorinator with the use of OA.

I started using it a month ago. Thanks to Damien and Adrian in Petstop. I had a bad case of fin rot in the tanks and since I ysed OA the fish are looking great.

I do use a filter with sponges so do I need to clean them in tap water? I usually clean them in tank water once a month! A bit confused on this aswell!!

Thanks,

Leonie

Hi Leonie,

You are correct in assuming that there is no need to use any other dechlorinator when using OA.

With regard to washing your sponges, tap water is the prefered method when using OA.

Best of luck with the tank,

Cheers,

Steve

Tks for the reply Steve.

No, I don't use OA as I only read about it after i'd setup and cycled my tank.

I've only the one 4 foot tank for my Oscars and I actually quite enjoy the weekly/bi-weekly water changes and keeping the gravel clean with a gravel-vac. It keeps me focused on the tank & fish and helps me spot any problems in advance. For me, in the past, good aquarium maintenance & water changes was the cornerstone of the 'keep the green at bay' challenge. A larger than required biological filter either internal or external combined with weekly/bi-weekly water changes kept my readings at Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate ~10ppm which is optimal. Can definitely see huge benefits to anyone keeping multiple tanks or a commercial fish shop setup where the maintenance is a real chore & hence often skimped on or indeed overlooked.

Many people have spoken of the health benefits of OA and from your previous post I derive that this comes from the 'Health Treatment (H.T.)' portion of the product. Is this available to buy separately and can I use this with the same benefits in my standard setup biologival filter tank? I have in he past used Tetra Blackwater Extract and API's Melafix.

Thanks Steve.

Tm2204 I have bought the HT in a tub in my lfs and used it with out the B-Bac or the GH treatments and it has worked a treat. I know Petstop in Blanch sell all 3 parts of the OA maintenence kits seperately and in various sizes.

www.organicaquariums.co.za/

Here is the link to the OA site which gives more detail.

@Steve - I should be getting freebies for this - Only kidding!!

Thanks Nonie; might give it a spin.

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South Africa
South Africa


European Sales
Steve Whiteside

U.K. Mobile:
+44 (0) 79 2791 9080
A land line and office to follow shortly:silly:
Email:
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North American Sales
Mr. A. Daily

www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://th...snum=2&ct=image&cd=1

U.S Mob number to follow;)
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