Thu, 09/01/2005 - 19:14

So here is a little more information about Algone. It is some type of mystery product that will clear aquarium water if it is cloudy for some reason. That is how it is advertised, but I don't know if that is actually the case. I bought it solely to lower nitrates, as a LFS told me he's been using it on his heavy-feeders (tanks he services) and had great results. Now since I don't actually know my true nitrate readings, this may be an effort in futility, but I'll get another test kit in the near future to make a further comparison to my current nitrate kit.

So here's the stuff. Note the small pillow in the foreground. It is quite thin actually, and there are six of these in a box.

This pillow has been inbetween the baffles of my sump where it would get the most flow and water contact. It was very fat/dense when I removed it, and covered with pods and baby brittle starfish. Those were tossed in the refugium. I decided to cut it open and see what was inside.

It didn't have much of a smell to it, but it did look like mud or manure. 

Cutting the pouch, the material was actually pretty strong. I don't think you'd have to worry about it tearing or leaking into your system. 

I really can't identify a single thing in the pouch. 

This picture was taken without the flash to stay closer to its true color.

A tank under 400g only needs to use 2 pouches, and I've been using 3 for the past week, and will use 3 more this week. Next week I hope to get an accurate nitrate reading, and see where things stand.

In the meantime, I have to imagine the water quality is far better than in the past, with ceriths laying eggs, clownfish producing a clutch of eggs every two weeks, a baby suncoral appearing recently and so on. I'm not seeing coral recession any longer, and if anything it looks like the SPS is beginning to rebound finally.

My next webpage will probably be one about water testing & kits, and the one after that about chemical solutions to problems we encounter.