surly you cant be suggesting that half a cucumber, even in a 10g tank would degenerate enough in 4 hours to affect the tank, never mind smaller bits, which is what many people use. you are correct though, as i did assume that the tanks being talked about would be of pleco size 40g+. even so my comments are sound.Darkstar
Actually that isn't the case, or not always. You've made a sweeping statement and applied it to everyone and everything. Nowhere has she stated how big the tanks are or how much veg is being put it into the tank. A large piece of veg if left to rot will alter the water in a small enviroment. In fact I find it a little strange how you can use the argument about par boiling being cooking and yet at the same time say you can leave veg in the water till it rots and it won't have any effect on water quality...of course it does, it might be minimal but everything has an effect.
For the record, when I put a 'piece' of cucumber in my tank,...I slice the whole cucumber down the middle and stick both pieces in. Within 8 hours the whole cucumber has been stripped bare by a number of plecs. The cucumber waste from the plecs alone is enough to block the filter inlets if I don't keep an eye on them, one more way to screw your water up.
i do not, and did not even suggest par boiling, the opposite in fact, as i suggested using weights. i mealy pointed out it was in fact cooking the veg, however slightly/
is better than par boiling, as many do to cucumber/courgette, simply to make it sink.I've no idea why there's a comment about weighing the food down....using lead or stainless steel to make veg sink is 'better' than what?
Cutting vegetables will lose as much good stuff as cooking?!?!?but snapping or breaking doesn't......I find that an incredibly odd statement, so if I cut a courgette in half it's the same as boiling it is it?
Blanching or cooking veg doesn't just increase the degredation of the veg, which yes it does do...but it also helps soften certain veg which makes it more digestable to plecs. Although, vegetables such as cucumber and courgette do not need softening in the freezer or par boiling anyway. Potato is a good example, although if you don't want to blanch it you can leave it some tank water for 24 hours to soften it up.
I've no idea why there's a comment about weighing the food down....using lead or stainless steel to make veg sink is 'better' than what?
well i'm sorry for you lack of knowledge on the effect cutting as opposed to tearing has on the loss of nutrients in veg. anyone with a modicum of training in the culinary field will tell you the same.as i recall close to 60% of the vitamin content of say cabbage is lost through cutting, it is closer to 30% when it is torn. so yes torn, snapped and boiled veg will have a higher nutritional content than cut an boiled will. yes the loss of nutrients is roughly the same for boiling as cutting. odd but true.
AHH!! cooking/ per boiling does indeed soften the veg, this is however simply degeneration without bacteria. the heat causes the veg to break down its bonds just as bacteria would if it were left to rot, just because it does not smell or look bad does not mean it has not degenerated!
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It's only tubers and leaves that need softening, and then only gently blanched, not cooked.
Do you think you need to correct him too?
no because if read in context, the statement is correct, true the word fully is not written, but the sentence does imply that.
Like I said earlier not veg all is preferred fresh by plecs. I can put potato in my tank and they won't touch it....soften it up for a 24 hours in a seperate container and they'll readily accept it.
very true, however my post did say let it break down, for those who do not like it fresh.
Of course, a lot of this is still open to scientific debate. Some argue that plecs such as Panaque should not even be fed vegetables but instead should be fed nothing but wood.
indeed so. but if you are going to feed them anything, you may as well make sure it got something in worth the effort. cutting and par boiling will leave precious little in the thing except fibre.