anyone ever had experience with this mineral? it is used often with koi ponds and is said to bring out the coloring in the koi. it also has (supposedly) some water polishing qualities. also, where have you found some online? thanks
montmorillonite
- Thread starter swede
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Its pretty neat stuff. Its amazing all its used in like facial mud and detoxifying agents. I use it primarily as a flocculate. I have not noticed it make much difference in my tanks for fish health or water quality (both are decent as is) It does help clump fines in the pond if you have a good filter to remove them. I have noticed since I started using it the red on my comets has deepened, but the white has decreased into more of a pinkish color.
The Koi people seem to like Gene's clay the best for its overall calcium/mineral content and pricing. http://www.koiclay.com/index.asp
I have been using exterme clay from united pond supply and like it. It is a little slower to settle but flocculates the water pretty well since it stays in the column longer.
The Koi people seem to like Gene's clay the best for its overall calcium/mineral content and pricing. http://www.koiclay.com/index.asp
I have been using exterme clay from united pond supply and like it. It is a little slower to settle but flocculates the water pretty well since it stays in the column longer.
i want to use small doses in my tank. i would probably put it in a small fine mesh media bag. I was also thinking of baking it so it takes a solid form and slowly releases into the tank to prevent clumping. its supposed to help crystal red shrimp
It's a psylosilicate, which is why it brings out colors in animals. It's basically a semi-solidified micro/macronutrient clay. Don't bake it, if you do it's almost no good to the creatures involved as it won't leak cations into the water or cause biomaterial precipitation.
That's the same thing as baking it, and also how we used to make clay bricks back in the old tribal days.
The way psylosilicates work is through their hygroscopic properties. They absorb massive amounts of water. If you bake it, it becomes electrically neutral, losing this property and making it no better than volcanic rock.
The way psylosilicates work is through their hygroscopic properties. They absorb massive amounts of water. If you bake it, it becomes electrically neutral, losing this property and making it no better than volcanic rock.
the dosing i have read is only about 2 tsp per 1000 gallons. for a tank my size, i think i would just dab my pinkie in and flick some in the tank
Sounds about right, keep in mind it will expand by about 4000% when it reaches saturation. So jsut a dab will do ya when it comes to psylosilicates. Dosing any more than the recommended amount will most likely start a diatom bloom that you'll never get rid of.