|
Post by billyk on Jul 11, 2016 4:47:11 GMT -5
7/11/16 So I finally had some time, no thanks to that Pokemon Go. My wife had me traipsing all about collecting Poke-stuff. It was fun but what a time sink!! I made a 5 gal bucket of my filtered tap water, plunked a 300 watt heater in it, added 10 drops or .5ml of Prime. did the math as best I could and came up with 3.5 grams Alk Buffer and 1.25 grams of acid buffer. That gave me a KH of about 7 and a pH of 6.8, did not measure GH. I took out about 1 and a bit more than a half gallon and put 2 gal in.
Going to test KH and pH this morning and see what I got.
@carl the Omnivore food is very well received in both tanks. The CPD love it as predicted. I have a new 20 gal high, Need to make room and get it fired up. I saved the water from the change to help get it started,
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Jul 11, 2016 9:02:31 GMT -5
I think my reaction to the numbers I am getting is the right one. KH is the thing that I am on now. Going to work on the stability. Exactly! I think you are doing awesome with your aquarium. I should note that IMO, while there are certainly yes/no answers to aquarium chemistry questions, we all find unique ways to achieve what is best for our particular aquarium. Carl
|
|
|
Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 11, 2016 13:18:42 GMT -5
7/11/16 So I finally had some time, no thanks to that Pokemon Go.
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 11, 2016 14:38:55 GMT -5
Hey! Thanks for the compliments and encouragement Carl! Much appreciated. devonjohnsgard , ya you laugh, wait until your kids, wife, grandchildren, buddies want you to play with them... Seriously though, good fun and some exercise, but the totally cool thing is the augmented reality that it offers a real glimpse of. It's like I am part of a William Gibson novel. The "Blue Ant Trilogy" especially "Spook Country" with it's locative art and other types of technology similar. Amazing, truly. So I am getting another tank! Craigslist this time. 20 long with 2 filters, heater, etc, and three zebra danios! And the price, FREE!! Just have to take care of the fish which I will indeed do. So I now have three twenty gallon tanks, two long and one high. Need to design and build a nice stand arrangement.Wow I am psyched. Now what to do with them!!
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 11, 2016 17:25:32 GMT -5
Arghh... Power outage, half the county was out. I had to go home and take care of the wife and other things. No big problems power came back afetr a few hours. I did not however get to pick up that aquarium set-up. Hope the person giving it away understands... Oh well if it was meant to be it will happen.
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Jul 11, 2016 19:41:08 GMT -5
Arghh... Power outage, half the county was out. I had to go home and take care of the wife and other things. No big problems power came back afetr a few hours. I did not however get to pick up that aquarium set-up. Hope the person giving it away understands... Oh well if it was meant to be it will happen. Sorry to read today did not work out. hopefully tomorrow will be a better day BTW, here is our article about Power Failure & Aquariums: www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/08/aquarium-moving.htmlCarl
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 12, 2016 5:07:45 GMT -5
Thanks Carl. The person never responded to my emails so I think that I will not be getting that freebie. Thanks for the link; good info! I use a UPS, I can get 5 hours with a 50 watt load. My filter uses about 16 watts, so I was good for a while. My servers and network are another story, I can only keep that up for 30 minutes. That's why I wanted to get home. I think I am, no I am sure I am investing in a generator. They make some good ones with inverters for a sine wave output so that should work nicely. My goodies are slated to arrive today. I am excited about the UV widget!
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 12, 2016 15:54:12 GMT -5
WooHoo on my way to pick up the free tank and zebra Ds!!
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 13, 2016 5:15:03 GMT -5
7/13/16 Well... Lot's going on, my goodies arrived, I have new fish, new tanks... Lots. Last night when all my chores and busyness were done I got a chance to sit in front of my tank. Wow this is what it's all about. I just got lost in my little world. It is what I had dreamed of and dared to hope for. Life everywhere, micro and macro, baby shrimp, baby corydoras, spawning adults, snails that are growing almost faster than they move. I was so fascinated by it all. This is just so great, thanks for the help and thank you Carl for all of your published knowledge. I can say that I am sure i would have gotten where i am without it but I can also say it would have been a fleeting glimpse as I would not have been able to maintain it. I am now fairly sure i can, and know where to get help when it gets weird.
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Jul 13, 2016 9:08:41 GMT -5
Wow! Seems like a great find! Good luck with this new tank. Make sure to check it out for any potential leak issues too The picture/diagram shows what to basically to look for as to silicone coverage in the important joint where two glass panels meet. This is where most of the strength is obtained from the silicone. If the silicone is missing or pulled away (as can be easily observed by looking through the glass at each joint to see if air or water is present in place of silicone), you may need to repair this.Reference: www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/03/aquarium-silicone.htmlCarl
|
|
|
Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 13, 2016 10:33:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 13, 2016 10:58:56 GMT -5
OK so here is my first try at a video on YouTube. Hope you like it. I'll post it in videos as well.
|
|
|
Post by angelminx on Jul 13, 2016 11:24:21 GMT -5
Those baby cories are sooo cute! Your kitty sounds exactly like mine when she wants attention . . . I even had to look to make sure . . . nope, she's a sleep !
|
|
|
Post by angelminx on Jul 13, 2016 11:27:51 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip on the tank seams, Carl . I hadn't even thought about it, but since the tank is out of commission at the moment, now would be a good time to repair them, if needed. Angelminx
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 13, 2016 11:28:03 GMT -5
Those baby cories are sooo cute! Your kitty sounds exactly like mine when she wants attention . . . I even had to look to make sure . . . nope, she's a sleep ! Hey! Thanks! Was thinking of you when I posted, saw all those tiny ones zooming about and you talking about your tanks and corys etc,.
|
|
|
Post by childofiam on Jul 13, 2016 13:51:19 GMT -5
OK so here is my first try at a video on YouTube. Hope you like it. I'll post it in videos as well. Fantastic Idea.... I will try this too My dogs heard your cat and came charging into the room looking every where.... Richard
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 14, 2016 5:10:44 GMT -5
7/14/16 I think I have my first casualty. One of my mystery snails is missing. Cannot find it anywhere. It is my hope that it escaped! Not happy but not too upset. The snails are the largest thing in the tank besides the cories so having one less is probably a good thing, I just had hoped to move one to another tank. I really like them and they are fun to watch. Feeding the tank seems to be working well. Everyone comes out when the food is out. Takes about 5-7 minutes and most of the food is gone. In 30 minutes there is not a trace. I am doing this twice a day using something different each time. Feeding, like watering my garden, is a difficult thing to wrap my head around. I think I am doing OK but could be better. My guppy tank was creating a layer of bubbles on top where the airstone output "bubbles" up. I was concerned but the essential numbers are good 0 and 0. Need to test nitrates but am sure they are high. Put fresh carbon in each filter and that decreased it to almost zero. Doing a 20% water change this morning. Proteins? Something effecting surface tension? Zebras in the bucket are OK, need to get that tank up and running. Have to wait until the weekend. I change out a gallon a day and add prime and stability. There is a sponge filter burbling away in there. Need to test I guess.
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 14, 2016 8:22:54 GMT -5
Hey! Well the Wife found the snail. It was on the floor in front of the tank, I have no idea why I could not find it. I was looking behind and around and there it was... Anyway the darn thing is still alive! I put it in a cup of tank water and left it to see; lo and behold it was stuck to the side and moving slowly! Resilient little buggers. It will move to the guppy tank for the time being.
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 16, 2016 7:02:08 GMT -5
7/16/16 Happy Saturday. Lots of fishy stuff to try to get done. Long list almost don't know where to start. So... Gotta get busy, see ya!
|
|
|
Post by billyk on Jul 17, 2016 7:13:36 GMT -5
7/17/16 Hey! Well the kids car broke down and we had to help deal with it. Had the grand babies for most of the morning. A visit is always welcome and always fun but we always get nothing done! I did manage to get the danios into a 10 gal that I bought just for this.
Nano is doing well. The cory babies are getting big, need to work on a home for them. Both snails are out of the tank. I am sad about that but obla de obla da. I am thinking that they were really under the spawning imperative and just had to get up to a place where they could lay eggs and there was no place like that available to them. Not to mention the fact they like to escape. The one we saved looks messy but alive and has crawled into the filter. I am debating, if it will not live I need to get rid of it.
Going to start another tank blog to track my other tanks and the adventures that are bound to follow.
|
|