Ahem... Take 2
I botched the mix on that last one and lost the seed... It fell within an hour but also lost more than half it's size by morning.
So, I dug back into the bottle and got the only other seed I had that is big enough to tie, and set up a slightly over saturated mix to ensure this one takes.
If you look close at the last pic, you can see the tell tale "density draft" flowing down off the bottom of the seed. This is due to the seed dissolving, the heavier resulting solution seeking the bottom of the chamber.
The new one:
More typical "flat" seed, but good clarity and form on it, and most importantly... No draft.
The cloudiness of the solution is because I didn't let it settle out before using it, and the anti caking agent used in the "raw" powdered alum is of course not water soluble. It'll settle out and cause some spontaneous seeding on the bottom but won't really affect the growth clarity much. The lattice rejects things that aren't it's own.
I have a "B batch" more or less ready to go for when I do the next solution change and it will have settled out by then. I filter the solution to remove as much foreign material as possible before use but of course a coffee filter is only so fine...
