| We used Mica Balance in selected show tanks at KA one year at the urging of a few MAKC show people. The results were inconclusive, i.e., we did not observe any appreciable difference between tanks with or without MB.
I had used the product first in a mock show on my back patio before using it at KA and found that it did lower the pH somewhat, but I no longer recall the exact data. Someone thought this could be counter acted by adding Baking Soda to the water to help maintain the pH and some was added to select tanks but this did not seem to make much difference in pH in the show tanks as measurements were inconsistent.
It is a flocculent and at KA that year did seem to work well for that purpose in some tanks that contained a fine greenish silt. I believe the directions on the bottle state to put it in the water 24hrs or so before introducing fish so it really would not be of practical use maybe for that reason in a show setting. Its use in Henry's vendor tanks is a different application in that he uses a filter system in conjunction with the tank set-up. The water has the flocculent and the filter more easily picks of the solids, thus the very clear looking vendor tank.
As far as stress is concerned, NovAqua or StressX is added to show water at the beginning of the show and many fish seem to respond well to this in that ones that often come in looking stressed generally improve overnight in the treated show water. Since the water in a transport tank is continually being stirred up this would seem to defeat the flocculent aspect of the product. I can not comment one way or the other regarding other claims. |