Streetwise

If you don’t trust a phone underwater, you could setup a test rimmed tank with no substrate, and with the right stand, place the phone underneath. Fill with appropriate test water.

“Don’t forget the towel!” 😆

I am going to revive this thread with a couple of silly coincidental observations. Any Weir wrote The Martian, and the protagonist is Mark Watney, which rhymes with Botany, at least with my accent. His novel Project Hail Mary features Ryland Grace, which rhymes with space. His Artemis novel has Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara, which probably has moon-related wordplay. Those books have also been optioned for film! I have enjoyed a lot of science fiction since my last post. The Expanse came to a great TV finish. If they revive it, the following books are all after a time jump of many years. The authors have even told readers to not pester Amazon about it. They can let the cast age-up, and then continue years from now. When I need motivation for my planted tanks, I watch The Martian!

I wasn’t sure who I was quoting, so I didn’t add quotation details! I want to learn about strange plants.

That is a good question that I have been thinking about since this thread: I have a feeling that all live plants come to the Co-Op in pots.

Would you mind creating a thread to discuss strange and interesting plants, both aquatic and terrestrial? I think it would be really cool.

Garden soil might involve food waste. I got my topsoil from a local compost bar, where they had topsoil with a lot of wood waste, and potting soil with more volatile food waste. They got bought out by a local waste management/recycling company when Vermont mandated food recycling, so I need to find a new source.

Finding out how expensive shrimp have gotten.

I squeezed out my sponges into the tanks a few hours ago. I think some detritus got absorbed, but most ended back on the pre-filter for another round of digestion and snacks.

This is my favorite HOB.

@JettsPapa, my screenshot shows that blue dividing label indicating the unread replies. Sometimes I still have to scroll down before I see it. This might be why you end up scrolling some posts which you have already read.

@Hobbit, I read a recent random Reddit post where someone saved shrimp eggs postmortem.

@JettsPapa, I use the forum the same way. It shows me threads with unread posts, and when I click a thread, it takes me to the oldest post which I have not read.

My cat Valcour is a former stray who I adopted though my window. He only trusts moving water. He drinks out of my utility tanks, and I grow out plants in his water bowl, which he does use.

This is epic!

@eatyourpeas, I love that recipe.

@xXInkedPhoenixX, I think that soil should work. I was warned about young compost with food scraps.

I have spent years on FidoNet, Usenet, and various forums, as well as a period on FB (done), and lurking on Reddit. I came from another planted tank forum, which had been bought up by some pet forum group to sell ads. The moderators had limited ability to deal with spam or drama, and there wasn’t the unifying mission statement. Image quality was terrible if you didn’t buy a subscription. Here, Cory had a vision to create a space without any of that drama. He, and now Zenzo, have nothing to prove. They picked moderators with similar values around kindness and community. Obviously, the forum drives some brand loyalty, but only in a positive way. I was happy to find a place where I could talk about organic soil tanks without being told that either the concept was wrong, or that I was doing it wrong compared to someone else. No one here gets shamed for sharing mistakes, problems, and setbacks. We encourage it! I hope that everyone feels welcomed and supported with their aquarium journeys on this forum.

If you are getting upside-down photos, make sure your phone camera lenses are always on the high side of the phone for each orientation. Would you like me to move this thread to journals?

You can do whatever you want! It all sounds fun. The major forum holiday is Bastille Day, July 14th, when the forum went public.

Two threads for stocking the same theoretical tank.

Merged threads AGAIN! @Stephen Zawacki, this is your last warning for duplicate threads. Stop.

I haven’t yet kept Pea Puffers, but I did keep a marine Porcupine Puffer. It was a water pup, and thrived with interaction. I fed it freeze-dried shrimp by hand, and I could pet it. I was gifted a marine tank when I was living in Boulder, since I was the only friend who knew aquariums. I think I kept every fish from Finding Nemo, except for Willem Defoe. (Edit: no whales or marine sharks!)