Here is my question to the chemist type folks... since I need an exact match to compare FTIR, is this even worth doing? I imagine that salts will mess up the infrared, right?
I suppose that we could assume that most of what is left is salts and filler and add salt to the ChemiClean and test it, but it would seem that the types matter, right?
Is this as far as I go? Is there any other tests that can be done on the substances?
Are there any known FTIR or NMR of different antibiotics that we can compare ChemiClean to if I get few graphs and the raw data?
@Randy Holmes-Farley
@taricha
@Dan_P
FWIW - I was able to get some doxycycline and amoxicillin for fish treatment from a friend and they did not smell like these three. That is as good as NMR, right? If anybody has used ChemiClean or any of these other EM products, they really have a distinct smell. Those others also do not reported to make the skimmer go crazy like EM does, but I did not test them. Maybe I can ask @Jay Hemdal if remembers any skimmers overflowing if he ever treated with other antibiotics other than EM.
Ok - I have to go and do my water change and put some GAC on this tank.
I’ve always used expired veterinary EM at 12 ppm to control cyano in FO tanks. I’ve never used it in a reef, or in a tank with a skimmer, so I don’t know about skimmer activity, sorry.
Reverse engineering has always been a fun challenge for me. I recall one Aiptasia killing product that was apparently calcium hydroxide and Elmer’s glue to keep it in place (grin).
None of these aquarium companies have real labs - they just skim the literature for ideas.
Edit: since Aquarium Systems and Marineland closed their small labs.
Jay
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