# 30 years of research and development



## Graham CLJ (Sep 3, 2010)

I have been posting this all over the world, I am an Australian manufacturer that has I believe made the best Aquarium products ever produced, I have very good reason to believe this, the following post will explain why.


*Re: SUNSHINE COASTERS PLEASE READ!
*Re: WARNING SOUTH BRISBANE RESIDENTS, TEST YOUR TAP WATER!
This is a copy of what I posted on an earlier thread, this is the reason i specifically manufacture what i do. 
There seems to be a need for a club on the Sunshine coast, judging by this thread, if there isn't already one still existing, I have heard it has had some problems, I am not sure.

Hello Again,
I will explain, why I have come to the conclusions I have made with respect to the problems specific to Hydrated Lime in Town water, please take the time to read the following story.
It was 1989, I had been self employed for 2 years, I had worked in the industry for eleven years before that. Myself and my wife manufactured a range of Aquarium products and also wholesaled Livebearers and Goldfish (all locally sourced). Livebearers losses were, after about 4 days, 30% sometimes 50%, this was sending us broke, I couldn't work out what was wrong.

The solution seemed to me at the time to be, was that there was untestable levels of Ammonia, which continually caused fungal infections. What I did to solve this was to move all the stock fish into an outside pond (5000 ltrs) in traps, where I thought there would be a greater level of stability, I still changed large amounts of town water. At the time we had an enormous amount of rain for about 3 weeks, so I stopped doing water changes from the tap.
Strangely the fish losses stopped, which made me think that there was something that the rain water didn't have that the town water did.
So I contacted the Water Board and asked some questions (you could get a human being in those days). I found that the process of treatment was firstly, pumping water into water large holding tanks, they then added Aluminium Sulphate to clear the water. This acidified the water so Lime was then added to bring the pH up, a combination of Chlorine and Ammonia (Chloramine) were then added. The latter 2 chemicals are combined to keep Chlorine in solution to the end user, this is commonly the case in large cities and has been for many years and is the standard recomendations by the WHO for developed countries. (When testing for Ammonia, firstly the Chlorine must be removed with a cheap De-Chlorinator.)
Knowing that rain water is soft I then concluded that Hydrated Lime was the problem, I also noticed that during hardness testing of tap water, on rainy days the hardness would go up. This should have been the opposite, rain generally softens water sources. I was then advised by a chemist that I could soften tap water chemically with Sodium Hexametaphosphate (Calgon). This action worked reducing my losses to nearly nil, also because they just didn't seem to need it , I reduced my water changes from 30% per week to 25% per month. I then integrated this chemical into my products. 
I did then gain some marketing edge as a result but the bigger American manufacturers out marketed me and advice about the detriment of phosphates in water ways was adopted by aquarists and I got complaints about phosphate tests occurring when using my products. I still believe this is a good practice to remove lime, but because town water is nearly sterile and there is a tendency to do large frequent water changes , and even with Lime removal, it can be hard for a tank biology to keep up. As a result I stopped using phosphates, and thought who's cares just make a profit.
I have also considered selling out and breeding Livebearers and going into semi retirement. But before I did that I thought it was time to make, I believe profound discoveries, public.
After 30 years I have been involved in manufacturing and know extensive amounts about other peoples products and my own. I have worked for Aristopet , Complete Pet and Vet, Masterpet, and Kongs, one I worked for taking my products to them, the others I manufactured for or taught how to make Aquarium and pet products.
I can explain to whoever wants to know whatever they want to know, if I know.

Regards Graham


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