Alken-Murray Newsletter - September 2001

NEWSLETTER

P.O. Box 400 - New Hyde Park, N.Y. 11040

E-mail: newsletter@alken-murray.com

Websites: http://www.alken-murray.com
http://www.clear-flo.com	http://www.even-flo.com

Vol. 5: Issue No. 5

September 2001

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**General News**
Thank You to All Distributors & Clients who Inquired About our Welfare Our staff, both in New York and Virginia have all survived this monstrous tragedy that has struck our country. Were it not for our good fortune to have moved our main office away from Canal Street (just over 1 mile from the World Trade Center) in 1994, we could have been seriously affected. We really, really appreciate the outpouring of concern and prayers from all. For those who do not know our logistics, our headquarters and research facility at Fenton Farm Inc. is 30 miles from Dulles Airport and 60 miles to the Washington Pentagon. New Hyde Park is on Long Island, about 30 minutes drive to the World Trade Center. The factories are not near any major war targets, so they are even less likely to be affected, other than by transportation limitations caused by airport shutdowns and higher security.
We would like to Offer Prayers and Condolences to Those Who Lost Family We have received news that a couple of distributors and clients lost family in the tragedy of September 11, 2001. There are no words to express our sincere sympathy.
Remember to add your e-mail address to the diagnostic forms We cannot respond to you if you do not leave your name and e-mail address on the diagnostic forms. We have received several requests for help that did not include and e-mail address, so we could not respond, which is frustrating for both of us.
New Sulfamic Acid Cleaner for Galvanized Steel Alken DRSD 887 is the name of our newest acid cleaner. Contact us if you have a potential application for this product.
New Case Study Illustrates Performance of Alken Solutions C-193K A large Philippine refinery hoped to reduce sludge hauling when they switched to using 2 - 3 ppm of our cationic polymer instead of 100 ppm of PAC (poly-aluminum chloride) . They did indeed reduce sludge by 75%, but also received the bonus of 80% improved oil recovery, too. Contact Mr. Rey Navarro of Fabcon, our Philippine distributor, for more information on this and other projects. In case the e-mail link does not work, write to fabcon@skyinet.net.
Suggested Brand for Gang Stirrer/Jar Tester We use a Phipps & Bird 6 place gang stirrer. Newer models of this unit can be obtained from Thomas Scientific

**Alken Clear-Flo**® **Technical Update**s
*We would like to thank all of our happy CF 1005* & CF 1006** clients We appreciate our happy clients who have extolled our products, thereby gaining new clients for us. We are glad to be contribute to larger crops of healthier shrimps, prawns and fish.
Another Solution to Filamentous Organisms in Waste Treatment A small waste treatment plant in Greece used a blend of *Alken Clear-Flo 4003* and *Alken Clear-Flo 7004* to eliminate filamentous problems in their plant. This blend worked so well that we intend to reformulate *Alken Clear-Flo 7015* for better results (by adding 4 more gram-negative strains) Contact Alina Simeonaki of BioBest, our Greek distributor, for more information. Her e-mail is biobest@otenet.gr
New Strains Coming Soon! Look for new grease degrading strains to be added within 6 months to various products. We are quite excited about recent R & D research, but there are more tests needed to be sure they will be stable in finished products.
New Strain Names Force Revisions to Specification Sheets and Antibiotic Charts If your country requires this information, we try to keep up-to-date with name changes to micro-organisms. The latest affecting a number of products is the moving of a number of Bacillus strains into the genus Sporosarcina. See more about this at http://www.bacterio.cict.fr/s/sporosarcina.html.
Product Improvements in October 2001 By the beginning of October, we will have improved *Alken Clear-Flo 7007* (broad spectrum municipal water treatment, encompasing heavy industrial loadings, surfactants, FOG and hydrocarbons) and *Alken Clear-Flo 7008* (general industrial water treatment, now handling hydrocarbons and odors in industrial plants). Both products will contain one gram- positive spore-forming Bacillus strain and 13 powerful gram-negative vegetative strains. *CF 7008* is also known as *Alken Enz-Odor 8.* With this new improvement, we believe that *CF 7008* can substitute for most applications of *CF7026, so we have discontinued CF7026, once current stock is depleted. For those aquatic clients who used to use CF 7026* to treat petroleum runoff from storm sewers, we now recommend *CF 1006* instead. We have also expanded the applications for our cold-weather industrial product, *Alken Clear-Flo 7018, so that it can be used alone in a wider scope of industrial applications during cold weather. Those clients who used to mix CF 7008* with *CF 7000* or *7001* to create a customized general municipal product, will be very happy with the new *CF 7007, since it eliminates the extra work of blending for yourself. CF 7007* retains its status as the best treatment for small packaged systems, but now works faster and better. Other minor revisions have been made to swap out strains that were less stable for similar strains with improved shelf-life and more consistent activity. These changes are minor and will only be noticed if you keep the product in storage for longer than a few months, but we are always seeking improvement.
*New Instructions for Diluting CF 1100-50x* Manufacturing Concentrate** Please read the revised product bulletin for better dilution instructions. The shelf-life of the refrigerated concentrate is double the diluted product kept at room temperature, so do not dilute until you need to, either for use, or resale. It is also ESSENTIAL to shake the jug or pail thoroughly, both before diluting and before applying the product. Nitrifiers are heavier than water and tend to sink to the bottom. If you do not shake the product, you may end up trying to treat with pure water off the top and it will not work. Please also be sure that the dilution water does not contain chlorine or other biocides or pathogenic bacteria (distillation or charcoal filtration should fix these problems).
Dosage Hint for Shrimp and Prawn Farms Shrimp and Prawn farmers who desire to maintain the green-water micro-algae (also known as "LabLab"), should begin dosing with the second column on our dosage chart for *CF 1005* and *1006. This change is necessary since the chart dosages were set to out-compete all algae, even the green-water kind, in general pond and lake applications. The lower dosage rate is necessary to allow the micro-algae and Clear-Flo* to come to an equilibrium, where both derive the nutrients they need from the water and remain stable, keeping the water clean and healthy for your aquatic crops.
Another Application Suggestion We have heard rumors that some shrimp farmers are considering which product(s) are best to add to fish feed as a probiotic formula. We suggest *CF 1000* or *CF 1005. Since CF 1006* was intended for action in the water surrounding the shrimp, prawns and fish, although it will not harm them if ingested, this product will not be as effective if added to feeds.
New QC Procedure for Lipase Detection QC-99 Rhodamine B Lipase Agar makes a much clearer detection of lipase activity in bacterial formulas. We are now using this procedure to improve our formulas and to compare them with competing formulas. See pictures comparing *Alken Enz-Odor 2* with our old *Alken Clear-Flo 4002*, as an example of how well this test differentiates. We have more pictures that we have not had time to scan and post, but promise they will be coming in the next few months.
New Application for CF 7014 New *Alken Clear-Flo® 7014* can now be used to degrade excess leaves falling into your pond in the fall and winter - dose as per regular *CF 1000* line dry products, once leaves turn and begin cluttering your pond. This product no longer contains surfactant, and is therefore safe for aquatic applications.
New Distributor Has Excellent Website Glossaries New distributor, Steve Wilchinski, has a website at <http://www.bioquaticsupply.com/>. See the very nice glossaries he has posted (ours and two others) at <http://www.bioquaticsupply.com/html/glossarym.htm>. If you like the site, it was designed by the co-designer of the Alken-Murray site, Patrick Mullin. Steve will be handling accounts for microbial remediation of artificial soil, golf courses, lakes, ponds, and other remediation projects in the New England states, with headquarters in Massachussetts.

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