Salt & Freshwater Treatment

Pat-Instant
for Salt and Freshwater treatment

Pat-Instant purpose is to remove chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, prevent stress and to acclimatize and fishes for transporting. The benefits of PAT-Instant are the immediate removals of harmful chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from the water.

Other important benefits is the stimulation that provides natural slime coating on fishes, thereby bandaging open wounds, scratches, promotes healing and preventing shock and stress.

PAT-Instant is ideal for transporting and conditioning fishes plus ages new artificial saltwater and freshwater for immediate use--changing water, adding new fishes or transportation of fishes. PAT-Instant is not a medication and non-toxic with a long shelf-life and should be stored in a cool dark place. Packing Available in 40 ML, 500 ML, and 3,800 ML size.

Applications: Apply (aquarium use), apply 1 drop to 1 gallon (4.5 liters) for changing water for acclimatization of new fishes. Apply 2 drops to 1 gallon (4.5 liters) of water for chloramine and injuries and for pond use, apply 1cc to 5 gallons of water.

Too much CO2 and light and over feeding will cause an
outbreak of algae growth and nutrient imbalances.

Aquatic & Aquarium Tips

How much CO2 should you add to the water?

Slow-growing plants, such as this Anubias barteri, have lower nutritional needs than fast-growing species.

CO2 is only a problem for the fish if you add too much to the water. A good target level for plants is about 20 to 30 parts per million. CO2 doesn't start to stress fishes until the level gets to be about 50 parts per million or higher. But at lower levels, it is great for the plants and harmless to the fish.

Required nutrients for aquarium plants to grow, need phosphorous, which they can get from the nonorganic phosphates in the water, they also need potassium and a variety of trace elements--all which are available in some water. They also need carbon dioxide, of which there is normally very little in water.

(Hair algae above pic) Algae will start growing--if too much light are provided or extra nitrogen that the plants can't use-up.

Plants need enough light so as to get enough energy to use the chemicals--it's partly a question of balance.
If you provide more light or more nitrogen than the plants can use, algae will start growing, using up the excess.

In a tank with moderate lighting of about one to two watts per gallon of high-quality white fluorescent lighting and moderately stocked with fish, the fish food, the fish by products--feces, urine, etc., will be able to supply enough nitrogen and sufficient phosphate for plants growth.

If you want to speed-up plants growth, you can add CO2, which is a relatively harmless, odorless, colorless gas that plants use as a source of carbon. CO2 is generally not necessary, but a good addition to a planted aquarium setup and added CO2 will not increase nitrite or nitrate levels.

Nitrite or nitrate levels are reduced as the added CO2 allows the plants to grow faster and use up nutrients faster. If you get an increase in nitrites or nitrates, it could be from increased fish feeding or an overloaded filter media.

For faster plants growth after adding CO2, add more light (three or four watts per gallon) or keep existing light switched on longer, you will also need to add more nutrients and to keep in mind that longer or higher lighting levels will increase the risk of an algae outbreaks and nutrient imbalances.

Do Planted Tanks Require CO2?
You do not have to add CO2 to grow beautiful aquatic plants. Growth depends on how your aquaria are set up, especially with regard to lighting.

Water Hardness, black or red algae affect your aquarium. Some sword plants growing from a riverbed that was pure calcium carbonate--yet, the swords were flourishing.

Favorite aquatic plants are the swords of the genus Echinodorus osiris, they can tolerate temperatures as low as 60 F or 75 F degrees.

Pruning and Planting. fern, stem or rosette are not trimmed the same way, liverwort Riccia fluitans are trimmed by merely separating a portion of the mass by pulling or snipping.

Freshwater Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) can suffer from Java fern melt if blue-green algae is present due to nutrient deficiencies.

Staghorn Algae outbreak due to nutrient imbalance
(above pic enlarged to double its size) .

A common mistake for most aquatic gardener is to try to achieve the water conditions as for fishes-only aquarium: with low or no nitrites and nitrates, no phosphate and just enough light to be able to view the fish--a condition that will help avoid algae growth.

A well-planted aquarium does a much better job of avoiding algae than a fish-only aquarium--hence, the better the plants are doing, the less able algae will get a chance to grow. Good conditions for plants means avoiding fish-only aquarium. Plants need nitrogen, which they can get from ammonium, ammonia and nitrates in the water.

If there are insufficient by-products nutrients--slow-growing plants will grow fine, and fast-growing plants will grow slowly instead. For faster growth, one needs to have about two watts per gallon of light with good light reflector plus additional nutrients--ammonium, ammonia and nitrites will be sucked up pretty quickly by the plants.

A nitrate level of about 10 parts per million (parts per million) is a good target for a planted aquarium. For phosphate, aim for about a tenth of the amount of nitrates or about 0.1 parts per million.

You can try to do this by adding more fish food, but it's easier to control if you get some potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate from a hydroponics or aquatic gardening store. By using those compounds, you will be ensuring that adequate potassium is available.

How to avoid having algae in your aquarium?
Starve your plants and algae will grow. But can one
feed the plants and avoid algae growth?

Healthy Plants Require Balanced Growing conditions.
An unbalanced planted aquarium need a high level of
lighting without adding carbon dioxide.