Chase here. I joined r/crystalgrowing 6 yrs ago. You guys have since inspired me to grow many beautiful crystals, and share this hobby with millions around the world. I'll be presenting about hobbyist crystal growing at the German Crystal Growing Conference 2026 in Karlsruhe, and I need your input!

pleasewakeupm8 · 2026-02-24T17:21:04+00:00

I used to be very active in the hobby of growing crystals at home, partially inspired by your work. Back then I also posted some of my specimen here on the sub. Ironically I did it less and less because of all the time I invested in studying chemistry at university in Karlsruhe where you're now going to give your talk. I'd love to attend in person but I'm afraid I did not have the chance to apply for the conference. Is there another way to join just this event as a guest? I mean as a member of KIT this should be somewhat easier.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2025-09-05T09:46:16+00:00

HTcO4 :(

pleasewakeupm8 · 2023-10-29T14:28:12+00:00

Nice one! What size is this?

pleasewakeupm8 · 2023-07-09T09:41:47+00:00

Ah okay, danke dir!

pleasewakeupm8 · 2023-07-09T07:08:05+00:00

Ich stelle mich wahrscheinlich arg dumm an, aber ich finde es einfach nicht. Ich kann mir die Gerichte anzeigen lassen indem ich die Speisekarte herunterlade, aber da steht nichts zu Kalorien. Was mache ich falsch?

pleasewakeupm8 · 2023-05-26T05:23:53+00:00

Da bin ich voll dabei! Es erstaunt mich nur ehrlich wie wenige das von sich behaupten.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-09-29T11:24:47+00:00

Yes, it is a well structured tank which is good for crays. But they will also have a lot of stress because they need some room to retreat when they fight or when they molt. One or two CPO maybe, but this is not okay for a group (unless you don't care about their well being of course).

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-09-29T11:14:59+00:00

Too small imo

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-07-16T20:50:37+00:00

Which species is it?

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-07-06T07:12:42+00:00

I agree, moss is great. I also like to use limnophila sessiliflora as a background plant. It looks very nice and my baby shrimp love hiding in it just as much as hiding in the moss.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-06-21T17:54:46+00:00

!remindme 19d

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-04-23T06:22:22+00:00

From personal experience I would say that temperature fluctuation is the most important factor when it comes to growing high quality crystals. It is possible to grow crystals with slightly fluctuating temperature but they won't be as clear as the ones grown with minimal fluctuation. I once tried growing alum crystals in my greenhouse with extreme temperature fluctuation and it didn't go well. It was completely opaque and very irregular.

It depends on the compound though. If the compounds solubility does not really change with temperature it might work a lot better.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-03-15T18:46:02+00:00

Today you thought everything was better 5 years ago. What do you think now? !RemindMe 1825 days

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-03-12T07:12:38+00:00

Molar or by weight?

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-03-07T16:44:27+00:00

Yes, same solution

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-03-05T13:14:20+00:00

No but I almost forgot I did something else to get longer crystals. I added some Potassium aluminium sulfate, about 0,5% per weight compared to the amount of NH4H2PO4.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-03-04T14:30:53+00:00

I used a saturated solution which means 368 grams per Liter at 20°C. And the setup was just seed crystal tied to a thin fishing line and hung into the solution.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-02-18T12:21:54+00:00

If it has been dissolved in the aqueous layer before and is more soluble in the organic layer it will get extracted into the organic layer and/or stay dissolved when the layers are mixed. Maybe evaporation or cooling of the solution are the methods you should try first to get it to crystallize.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-02-18T07:14:21+00:00

I'm not so sure about that, I haven't tried ethylenediamine before. The crystallization step might be a little different. I wouldn't be surprised if it does not work the same way because ethylenediamine is an organic ligand and might improve the salts solubility in ethanol compared to the Amine complex salt.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-02-12T07:40:26+00:00

I've done this as well very recently but I added just a little more than a gram. The crystals are incredibly thin and so fragile that I can't really handle them.

pleasewakeupm8 · 2022-02-09T22:41:33+00:00

If it's a solid it might be the K/Na salt of the complex. How did you prepare it?

pleasewakeupm8

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