Slimy Packs With No Leak: What Grows in Gel Made With Well Water
A pack that turns slippery at three weeks has not failed chemically. Where the contamination comes from, what to test, and how to stop it at the fill head.
The Smell in a Sealed Tank Is Usually Ammonia, Not Mould
Sharp and sour are different problems. Tell ammonia from anaerobic sulfide with a strip test, see why a wet floor traps nitrogen, and fix it without a teardown.
Free Chlorine at 2 ppm: Recycled Irrigation Water and Gel
Free chlorine at 2 ppm softens gel at the emitter while salt load cuts absorption by a fifth. How to adjust dose and pre-swelling on recycled irrigation water.
Hard Water at 380 mg/L: The Formulation Adjustment Most Gel Lines Skip
A pack plant in the Middle East filled two batches on consecutive days, one with softened water and one with mains water at 380 mg/L as calcium carbonate. The softened batch hydrated to a firm gel in 12 minutes. The mains batch took 26 minutes, never fully smoothed out, and produced packs that relea…
What Leaches Out of Substrate and Into the Water Bowl
Amphibians sit in water, drink through skin and, in many setups, share that water with the substrate. Anything soluble in the medium ends up in the animal, which is why a tank can look clean and still be chemically wrong. The usual culprits are not dramatic: tannins from coir and bark, a rise in dis…
Reading EC Before You Buy: Salt, Fertilizer and Gel Together
Two growers on the same soil, using the same gel at the same rate, can report completely opposite results. The difference is usually in the water and the feed program. A polyacrylate gel is a charged polymer, and everything dissolved in your water competes with it for the same charges. Before you bl…
