Good morning!!!!

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Since they won't be display tanks for the most part, I'll just use sponge filters (I like Azoo sponge filters)... which are cheap ($5 to $10 apiece) provide a place for beneficial bacteria - which handle the ammonia cycle - to grow.

Some of the beneficial bacteria consume ammonia - a highly toxic fish waste/decay product - and convert it to nitrite, which is still pretty toxic, but much less so than ammonia.

Still other beneficial bacteria consume the nitrite and convert it to nitrate ... which is way less toxic than the other two.

The nitrate gets handled either by doing partial water changes, or by setting up a specialized filter whose design and media allow anaerobic bacteria to grow. Anaerobic bacteria will actually consume the nitrate. Plants in the tank will also help, as they consume nitrate as well ... since it's a fertilizer.

Part of the reason for moving things into a single room and setting up racks is to make it easier to properly maintain the tanks. All the racks will have drain pipes (1" to 2") mounted on them that are plumbed into a sanitary drain that runs to our septic ... so that I can do water changes without having to lug buckets of drained water. If I get real frisky, I might eventually drill the tanks, install bulkhead fittings, and hard plumb each tank into the drain lines at some point. Then it's just a matter of opening the valve on a tank to drain it.

The replenishment water supply will be fed from hose bib that has a Honeywell water tempering valve plumbed into it, which will mix hot and cold water to within a few degrees of whatever temperature it's set to.


We're on a well ... so no really chlorine to deal with ... other than when I use chlorine bleach to clean/disinfect something.

In those cases, I use a product called De Chlor (in a little green bottle) ... just takes a few drops to neutralize chlorine or chloramine.


Nope ... algae is either fish food itself, or a place where fish food (aufuchs*) grows and lives. Most of the fish I keep graze on and pick at it continually.

(Aufwuchs (German "surface growth" or "overgrowth") is the collection of small animals and plants that adhere to open surfaces in aquatic environments, such as parts of rooted plants.)

Many (probably most) of the fish I'll likely raise (African Rift Lake cichlids) are omnivores ... and for many, their primary diet in the wild is the aufuchs. Their digestive tracts/intestines have evolved over time to be quite long, to aid in digesting the high amount of plant material that they eat. Feeding them a diet with too much animal protein will actually cause an often deadly disease - called Malawi Bloat - as their gut/intestines pack up and clog.

So (for non-display tanks) I just let algae grow for the most part ... until it gets to the point it's hard to see into the tank through the front glass, then I'll clean it off with a Mag Float ... so I can keep an eye on things. I have two tanks that are currently in that state, where it's actually getting tough to see into the tank through the front glass due to all the algae. The fish don't seem to mind however.


Isolated for the most part, although the 100G Long will be a display tank and will have a 55G tank below it in the cabinet as a sump filter that it's plumbed into.


The only kind of dead fish I like to see is one I'm going to eat.


LOL ... no doubt.

Probably partially explains why I keep getting rebuffed, every time I suggest to the wife that she could watch a movie on Netflix on her cellphone.

Thank you for the info rs. Looking forward to hearing about your endeavors as you are able to get to them. Will you still keep a tank upstairs for display?

Warm up down here yesterday. It reached 70F, but a little rain and a front overnight has us back down to seasonal temps this AM. 49F.

I hope all of you have a great day.

 

[PJSprog]

34°F and light fog this morning, going up to 43° today. We successfully avoided any ice yesterday. Temps got a bit warmer than expected, and I hear the ice stayed well north of us. I'm OK with that. We ended up with about 1/2" of rain.

Playing in my studio Saturday night, and noticed a problem with my 6-string bass guitar. The volume knob was having no affect on the output. Checked for loose wires or bad solder joints, but found none. After I closed it back up, there was no output at all. So, I spent Sunday morning driving it to the builder for repairs. He was out of town yesterday, so I dropped it off with his wife. I was quite looking forward to recording some new bass tracks this weekend. Guess it's next weekend now.

 

[Looking4new]

Well an update on the Jeep. The freight hauler that was supposed to bring the parts 'guaranteed delivery', didn't. No parts so here I sit waiting for parts. The good thing is I still have the Jeep and it is still driveable. I just have to keep a close eye on the oil.

Re; daughter in law, no news is good news. These things do not get 'fixed' over night.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 45˚ sunny, may get to the upper 50s. Kyle this weekend is heavy trash Saturday for the county. Good time to clean out the tractor shed and garage. I know as soon as I throw out that item I've been hanging on for 10 years I'll need it but I don't want to be like Drew's neighbor.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 49F @ 8:00AM. Rain likely. High 51F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.

Shortly after midnight the cord free telephone handset and iPhone in the headboard beeped; another power outage. A few minutes after that the phone rang. It was ADT calling to tell me the power was off. I reminded the courteous attendant that there were instructions in my file not to call me unless there was an alarm signal confirmed by a broken door/window contact and interior motion, but apparently that wasn’t enough to prevent another midnight rousting. :mur: Now there are more instructions in there that will hopefully make it clearer. Don’t know what they hope to accomplish with such phone calls. If I’m here, I either know about the outage, or I’m blissfully enjoying a night’s rest. I don’t bother setting the alarm when I’m here, so the phone call is nothing less than an irritation. And if I’m away, there’s not much I can do to restore the power.:shocked: Anyway, the power is still out, the repair ETA slipping from 5:30AM this morning to 3:00 this afternoon. The outage size has shrunk from 240 to 5, and is due to a faulty power pole component. At least it’s not a drunk slamming into another pole, something that happens all too frequently around here.

Hope those out traveling today take care and avoid the worst of the bad weather.

Managed to piece together the main linkage for the steering damper yesterday, and am waiting on some photos of a mystery bracket. A mechanic at a large eastern BMW dealership chimed in that he’s working on one of these bikes now, and would be happy to take photos when he gets back on Tuesday. Most motorcycle shops close on Sunday and Monday so employees can still work five day weeks. So today, if I can see well enough out in the garage, I’ll start installing the new 12 volt alternator and ignition trigger. And if not, I can catch up on some reading, or maybe head into town for groceries.

Hope everyone’s week gets off to a good start!

 

[sodamo]

63°F and .22 inches rain

Need to start and major cleanup and reorganize my work areas. Get unneeded junk to the transfer point but more importantly tools back where they belong.

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good morning! 45˚ sunny, may get to the upper 50s. Kyle this weekend is heavy trash Saturday for the county. Good time to clean out the tractor shed and garage. I know as soon as I throw out that item I've been hanging on for 10 years I'll need it but I don't want to be like Drew's neighbor.

Good info Don, will look into it. The inside of my barn looks like Drew's neighbor, but not to me. A 15" South Bend lathe, table saw, band saw, Yanmar 28Vdc battery tender generator, Dayton 7x12 metal saw, riding mower, Yamaha GT 80 project mini bike, Yamaha 180 Riva Scooter project bike, 2 tool boxes, freezer, water fountain, wood top bench, wire rack shelves, miller roughneck welder project...To some, it might be a candy store.

Too many projects...

RNG (and others stuck inside during the cold), here's a link to the upcoming Bonham's historic motorcycle auction coming up. Enjoy! Which one would you like to ride?

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24509/#/aa0=1&MR0_length=100&w0=list&aj0=lot_number_asc&m0=0

 

[toppop52]

Wow, it’s 36°! :cool2:

 

[rswyan]

34F and cloudy at 12:30, had an inch or so of snow overnight. They're currently calling for a 40% chance of a frozen mix.

Planning on doing some fish tank maintenance today.

Will see if I can talk The Woman into allowing me to pull the dishwasher out to fix it. Was a no-go yesterday ...

 

[jerrybob]

Heat Wave!!! 16 going to 38.

Jerrybob, sounds like you have our spring weather out there...hummingbirds and kayaks...sounds nice.

Eric, seems like most of our places are named after places/royalty in Great Britain...Norfolk, Suffolk, Southampton, Richmond, Middlesex, Sussex, Gloucester, Princess Anne, King William, Charlotte, Buckingham, etc. or Indians: Pungo, Mattaponi, Pamunkey, Powhatan, Nottoway, Rappahannock, etc.

The stories told of how many places were named includes pure flattery to royalty, or a view of the landscape that reminded the founders of home...such as Richmond's view of the James River reminded them of a similar named place on a rise above the Thames. We don't have a Shropshire, Virginia, but we've had folks here with Shropshire as a last name.

Spring and Winter temps aren't much different here.......rain varies each year. Today......42F right now.....will get to low 50's. Gonna cut down more trees today......no rain.......blue skies.