Screwcumber

[Undawada]

I just bought a fish gadget off ebay.

Screwcumber

It hasn't arrived yet, just ordered today. Anyone else have one? Looks pretty simple and less messy than using plant anchors (as I've been doing).

 

[Dwarfs]

$5 for a fancy screw

Looks useful, if only my fish liked cucumber

 

[Dorkhedeos]

you couldve probably gotten one from the tackle shop. they sell stainless steel rings like that to retrieve lures

 

[Bloo]

Yep I've posted about that gadget a few times here - it'a a great little thing that works a treat. I can thoroughly recommend it !

 

[abstract]

Yep I've posted about that gadget a few times here - it'a a great little thing that works a treat. I can thoroughly recommend it !

i wouldn't recommend it - what a ripoff! i'm sure it works but so does 5,000 other household items, rocks, peeling skin partially off, etc...

 

[Undawada]

It's probably overpriced for what it does. But $5 isn't a big investment in the first place. My fiancee thinks I'm crazy.

I could probably get some household item to do the same thing, it was the marketing that got me. What a funny name

 

[Bloo]

As I have explained in previous posts: I have large & strong plecs. No rock will hold it down. No amount of plant weights will hold it down – unless I use so many weights that you can’t see the cucumber. Even if it did use the rock method (I tried !) , the tank is so high that my arm would be in to under my armpit to jam it in under a rock. Not great .
Taking the screws out and getting my arm wet up to my armpit every second day is enough thanks.
I don’t believe in blanching or nuking stuff. I only use organic whole produce.

So quite personally I would recommend it

 

[abstract]

EDIT: and bloozoo, you know i love you and i'm not trying to start an argument at all! i would never!

i, too, use organic produce for my fish...and quite frankly, there is nothing unnatural IMO about micro waves ....20 seconds in the micro doesn't remove close to as much nutrients as boiling for several minutes (and i really, really think that the whole argument "boiling removes too many nutrients" does not have a foot to stand on without hard data...it seems that people are quick to say it, with no proof as to how much (i know no one has mentioned it in this thread, yet, but i see it everywhere)...sure boiling for several minutes until it is a pulp will remove SOMETHING, but dipping it in a cup of boiling water for 20 seconds, then plopping in a cup of cold water then straight into the fish tank has a minimal loss of nutrients)...plus i do not really agree with adding anything that hasn't been strelized to my aquarium....who knows what germs/bacteria/etc the people who touched the produce had before you introduce it to the tank...just because no pesticides were used does not mean it is completely safe...even rinsing with hot water will not kill everything that boiling water will...

i have a very scientific and logical mind and i do realize that boiling has an effect, but it seems that the greatest effect is weakening the structure of the veggy so that air pockets are released, and more water is absorbed....if you think your pleco isn't getting enough nutrients from a single piece of cucumber...give him 2 - he will surely eat it...

i have never had a single piece of cucumber not sink after dipping in boiling water for 30 seconds, dipping in cold water for a minute, and then putting it in the tank...so, why everyone is getting their arms wet is beyond me

sorry about the rant, i know it is kind off topic, but $5 here and $5 there really adds up in this hobby...when there is a proven way that works, i don't know how others can completely disregard it because they have heard through the grapevine that nutrients are lost...what percentage of nutrients, then, i ask you?

 

[Bloo]

EDIT: and bloozoo, you know i love you and i'm not trying to start an argument at all! i would never!

i have never had a single piece of cucumber not sink after dipping in boiling water for 30 seconds, dipping in cold water for a minute, and then putting it in the tank

ok - sorry if I sounded argumentative. Didn't mean to. I just like that gadget and don't feel like I wasted my money.

However........ I will try the 30 second boiling water thing and see if that works. I can live with 30 seconds and just don't like the idea of a 2 minute microwave nuke.

 

[abstract]

yea, i only use the microwave to quickly boil a small cup of water...that way you don't have to clean a pot everytime you do up veggies...how annoying that would be! dip the cuke in for less than a min, quickly dip in cold water and it should def sink...if not, just for the sake of it, try dipping in boiling water for a min or two - maybe we can find out the minimum amount of time a hunk of cucumber needs to be in boiling water before it will sink...ah yes, science at its greatest

*takes another sip of coffee*

i don't take anything that you say as an agrument bloozoo...believe me, you state things much more civily than many others (including myself, most likely lol)

 

[Undawada]

<OFF-TOPIC>
Boiling veggies loosens and breaks the cellular structure (hence why they get mushy) and many cells burst. The contents of these cells are literally washed away by the water. Think about bursting a balloon under water.

Also any aqueous mixture with solids will try to reach osmitic balance. The minerals in the vegetables, which are not present in high concentrations in the water, will migrate into the water towards equilibrium, and is expidated by heat, which is in essence microscopic kinetic energy that encourages this migration, thereby reducing the mineral content of the vegetable once the water is discarded.

The percentage you ask? Depends on how long it is boiled and in how much water.
</OFF-TOPIC>

 

[abstract]

that helps

so to minimize nutrient loss you would boil as little amount of water as possible and leave it in there for only as long as it needs to sink..

so assuming solids and an aqueous mixture will try to reach a mineral balance, are the minerals also being dissipated into the aquarium every second the vegetable is in there (even if it is not boiled)? or does this only occur during the boiling process for some reason? or is it that it occurs exponentially FASTER in a boiling aqueous solution?

i.e. if i soaked a vegetable in a cup of cold water, it would still try to reach equilibrium right?

 

[Undawada]

so to minimize nutrient loss you would boil as little amount of water as possible and leave it in there for only as long as it needs to sink..

exactly right.

so assuming solids and an aqueous mixture will try to reach a mineral balance, are the minerals also being dissipated into the aquarium every second the vegetable is in there (even if it is not boiled)? or does this only occur during the boiling process for some reason? or is it that it occurs exponentially FASTER in a boiling aqueous solution?

That's right. This occurs much faster when boiling due to the heat and movement of the water molecules. The rate in which this happens will be very slow in an aquarium, on a scale of hours or even days instead of minutes. This is why tannins from bogwood leach into the aquarium water. For a simple experiement take two carrots, put one in a glass of room temperature water and wait for the water to turn orange. Then put a carrot in the same amount of water in the microwave and see how long it takes to turn the water orange.

edit : used <code> instead of <quote>, whoops!

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

cool might get one

 

[Undawada]

Also like to add, this is why it's not a good idea to use distilled or reverse osmosis water in your tanks (without adding minerals to supplement). The water will literally suck the minerals out of the fish by osmosis. Osmosis is also why saltwater fish die in freshwater and vice versa, Osmosis is very important fundamental to marine biology, or biology in general for that matter.