Dictionary: Acronyms, Abbreviations and Key Words commonly used in fishkeeping

Below is a thread I started in a forum to build a "Fish Acronym Dictionary" but I wanted to have this available on my GoldLenny Blog as well.

I'm just starting this list late on a Tuesday night so I'm only putting a few to start with. Please post your Acronym/Abbreviation/Key Word with a definition and I will add it to this "master" list... with credits to you, of course.

ACF - African Clawed Frog

ADF - African Dwarf Frog

BR - Bolivian Ram (Cichlid)(Thanks to XSV Paintballer)

BW or Brackish Water - A mix between Fresh and Salt (Marine) water usually have a salinty count between 5-18ppm or specific gravity between 1.002 - 1.022

CAE - Chinese Algae Eater. Not a good community fish. Also see SAE.

CFS or CS - Chain Fish Store or Chain Store... like Petco, PetsMart, etc.

CO2 - Carbon Dioxide...released by fish during respiration and also used to fertilize plants. (Thanks to Hailey)

Cycle - Abbreviation for "The Nitrogen Cycle" which you can read about on the Beginner's Tutorial on the "Pinned" Training Page link in my sig.

Detritus - Debris, Fish Poop, Uneaten Food, Dead Plant Matter, etc., in your gravel.

dgh- degrees hardness...common measure of gH and kH (equal to 17.86 mg/l or ppm) (Thanks to Hailey)

DI - Distilled Water (Thanks to Hailey)

FW - freshwater (Thanks to JoeGarcia)

GBR - German Blue Ram (Cichlid)(Thanks to XSV Paintballer)

GH- general hardness (level of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water...this level is what is being referred to when people talk about "hard" or "soft" water) (Thanks to Hailey)

gph - Gallons Per Hour for filtration/circulation purposes (Thanks to JoeGarcia)

H-Tank - Hospital Tank HOB - Hang On Back Filter System (also called a Power Filter)

HOT - Hang On Tank filter (power filter)...means the same as HOB (hang on back), but this abbreviation is used less frequently (Thanks to Hailey) (GoldLenny Note: I haven't really heard this term before so I really think this is what Hailey thinks when she looks in the mirror.. HOT! ;-))

Ich/Ick - Ichthyophthirius or White Spot. Common, but dangerous parasite disease. (Thanks to JoeGarcia with added info from GoldLenny)

JD - Jack Dempsey (Cichlid)(Thanks to X24)

KH- carbonate hardness (buffering capacity...a measure of the water's ability to maintain a stable pH when acids or bases are added) (Thanks to Hailey)

LFS - Local Fish Store. An independent, non-chain store.

MAC - Magnetic Algae Cleaner (Thanks to XSV Paintballer)

mg/l - milligrams/liter (one millionth part of a liter... same as ppm)

N-Bacteria - Nitrifying Bacteria. (I have to pat myself on the back for inventing this term since I got tired of typing "Nitrifying" all the time.) The scientific research is still going through some some major changes as it was originally thought that the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were the N-bacteria in freshwater but further genetic research is revealing that it is actually Nitrosomonas, Nitrosopira and Nitrospira that are the actual and best N-Bacteria in freshwater. Nitrobacter seems to have been a big mistake from the beginning which is why so many "bacteria-in-a-bottle" products do not work as advertised, since they were based on bad science. Bio-Spira seems to be the only product (due to a patent) that has the correct N-Bacteria for quick-cycling a tank.

NH3 - ammonia. The first part of "The Nitrogen Cycle" (Thanks to JoeGarcia with added info from GoldLenny)

NO2- - nitrite. The second part of "The Nitrogen Cycle" (Thanks to JoeGarcia for reminding me about NH3)

NO3- - nitrate. The final part of the "The Nitrogen Cycle" (Thanks to JoeGarcia for reminding me about NH3)

O2 - Oxygen (Thanks to Hailey)

pH - Potential of Hydrogen - pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. Solutions with a pH less than seven are considered acidic, while those with a pH greater than seven are considered basic (alkaline). pH 7 is considered neutral. (From Wikipedia definition)(GoldLenny)

ppm - parts per million; a measure of how much of a material is present in (usually) water or air. Same as mg/l (Thanks to Joe Garcia with mg/l added by GoldLenny)

PWC - Partial Water Change (Usually a 25% PWC but some people do 33% but it's best not to change too much water at one time unless of a contamination or emergency since the fish actually acclimate to "bad" or dirty water slowly over time and if you change the parameters too fast, it can "shock" the fish.)

Q-Tank - Quarantine Tank.

RO - reverse osmosis. A method of producing "pure water". Used more in SW aquaria than FW.(Thanks to JoeGarcia)

SAE - Siamese Algae Eater. A fairly common algae eater that grows to 4-6 inches. Peaceful. (Thanks to GoldfishCrazy11)

SW - saltwater (Thanks to JoeGarcia)

UGF - Under Gravel Filter (Not used as much in current fish keeping but some modified UGF's are making their way back.)

UV- ultraviolet light (Thanks to JoeGarcia)

If you do not find your "word" on this list, please post a comment about it and I will add it to this dictionary, with credit given to you. You can also try this other site http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/glossary.html.

I hope this helps with some of the frequently used acronyms.

GoldLenny

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