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CT_

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Posts posted by CT_

    Club member perk idea: small science grants to nerms

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/8/2021 at 5:11 PM, Zenzo said:

    This is an interesting and well though out idea, but I don't think that it will work for the club. The main reason is that because there is a fee for the club, if a select few members were to be granted money (even for an experiment), it would be considered to be like a lottery, and would be illegal in most areas. If Aquarium Co-Op were to do something like this, it would have to be open to everyone, and we could not accept payment,

    Hmm I see.  I guess I understand why "lottery" has such an expansive definition but that's annoying.  it could still be funded by members if it was open to all right?  The main goal would be to encourage science and learn as a community (community in this sense being people that like fish and read things on the internet).

    • Like 1

    Club member perk idea: small science grants to nerms

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by CT_

    I think it would be great to encourage more "every day" science in the world.  Aquariums are great "science experiments" to quote Cory.

     

    I thought it would be cool if the club could give out science grants for members to run experiments.  Something like 50-500$ for supplies to run experiments and present results on the forum (new section) or maybe in the learn or club tab on the ACO main site.

     

    The way I see it working is club members can submit short proposals in a forum section that outline:

    What are you testing? Either a hypothesis or an attempt to characterize something relevant to the aquarium hobby.

    How do you plan on testing?

    How will you interpret the results?

    What do you need to perform your science experiment?

    Then members can comment in the forum thread and suggest changes improvement, but its up to the original submitter to update their main post if they want to.

    Once a month/quarter/year... some one or a committee (maybe just @Cory and or @Zenzo, maybe a group of members) picks some number of "top proposals", and members can vote on which one/ones they want to see get funded.  Or maybe its just done by the committee. 

    As the experiments are done, the experimenter can keep a journal/log in the forum and then when complete they can make a post/article/video about it for the community's consumption. 

     

    Some examples of science projects might be things like all of @Irene's Alum dip videos, where she tests does alum kill snails w/o killing plants, and compares them to better known methods, and also characterizes the minimum required alum dip time.

     

    A proposal may be as simple as:

    What are you testing?  Does wonder shell dechlorinate or make chlorine somehow tolerable to aquatic life. 

    How do you plan on testing?  Scuds are sensitive to chlorine.  I plan on culturing scuds, and separating them into 4 groups all using remineralized RO DI or distilled water and 50 scuds/bucket. 

    1.  bucket of scuds
    2.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and wonder shell
    3.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and commercial dechlorinator
    4.  bucket of scuds with chlorine and no treatment. 

    I'll wait until bucket 4 dies out or 3 days.  If 3 days comes and nothing in 4 dies I'll increase chlorine and start over.  The experiment is over after a week.

    How will you interpret the results?  If 1 doesn't live or if 4 does live to the end I can't interpret the results; these are my negative and positive controls.  If 2 has a similar number of survivors to 3 I'll conclude that wonder shell does detoxify or remove chlorine.

    What do you need to perform your science experiment?

    • 20-50 gallons of DI water: 20$
    • 4 buckets: 20$
    • remineralizer: 10$
    • scud food (yeast):5$
    • scud starter culture: 10$
    • basic chlorine bleach: 5$

     

    I assume ACO would have to be careful about taxation, but my googling (I AM NOT A LAWYER OR CPA) says you might be able to give them as gifts, or as grants from a non-profit org if helps educate the recipient or community and or a report is generated afterwards.

    • Like 1

    Shrimp Population Control

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/7/2021 at 12:42 PM, JettsPapa said:

    I've never worried about controlling shrimp populations.  Their bioload is very small, and hundreds can fit in a 10 gallon tank without being crowded.

    When I had 10 shrimp they had almost 0 effect on my tank.  one day i had 100 and any algae they could eat was totally gone.  My otos also started to hide more.  Maybe its a coincidence but my theory is that my otos dig around less because there's nothing to find.  They're still fat because I throw something in for them 2-3x a week but they're more hide-y.

     

     

    • Like 1

    Is this crypt parva?

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    Is this a crypt parva?  It was sold as cryptocoryne sp.  but looked like parva so I picked it up as an impulse buy.  Looking at other photos of parva I've noticed they're usually sold green not striped in the middle like this.  Is this a different variety?  maybe nutrient deficiency (I have them a root tab and they get easy green 2x/week)?  I've had this for about 2 weeks and have had 0 melt and its looked exactly the same since I got it.

     

    PXL_20210707_182857708.jpg.75a50c804d098e02511e71f6042f0dfa.jpg

    • Like 1

    Keep raccoons out of my pond

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    In my childhood home this was a constant problem for us.  The only things that I know work are electric fences and trapping and relocating them VERY far away.  If you trap them you'll have to be ready though because new ones will eventually move in.  We relocated MANY raccoons during my childhood.

     

    There are other methods of discouragement that I've heard of too, such as a soaked marshmallow or tanglefoot which get their hands dirty and they hate that.  There's also the tabasco-filled egg trick.  I'm not sure how effective those are though.

    • Like 1

    Need some advice (not for my personal fish)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I know very little about all of those fish but it sounds like she didn't skimp on starter fish. 

     

    Maybe casually share stories of your failures, people can more receptive to that (though they can also ignore the lessons too). 

     

    Since she's testing that's a good sign.  Maybe have a secret rescue plan ready if something goes sideways, though you probably don't want to end up adopting that many fish if things go really bad and she gives up.   She has nitrates and no nitrite so it sounds like the bacteria just need to grow out to keep up with the new load.  I'd see if you can get her to do half feedings for a week or two.

     

    On the plus side if things work out it sounds like she'll have a beautiful tank.

    • Thanks 1

    what do you do with old fish food?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So I have a fair amount of old fish food.  When I first started in January I bought what the guy at the store gave me for my guppies, which turned out to be XL pellets, which didn't work because they were too big.  Then I "accidentally" got the 7oz can of tetra flake on line because it was only a dollar more than the 1oz can.  I didn't know 7oz was MASSIVE for 3 guppies at the time.

     

    Today my tub fry get crushed tetra flake because i have a ton.  My 6 quarantine white clouds + cull shrimp get tetra flake.  And my main tank, cardinals + 3 guppies + a billion shrimp and 4-6 otos get hikari micro pellets and hikari mini wafers + misc (veggies, repashy, custom mix, bacter ae).

     

    So now I have 6mo pellets, flakes, and even the 0.77oz bag of pellets is going to get old before I run out. 

     

    Clearly the long term solution is to get 10 more tanks, but for now are there creative uses for old food?  I know some people think it lasts forever, I'm not sure one way or the other but the cheap side of me wants to use it some how and the organized side of me wants to get rid of the old stuff to make room for new foods to try that the experimental & "lets buy all the things" side of me wants to get.

     

    ... maybe I just need a good psychologist so all the voices can get along.😜

     

    What's your dream aquarium product that doesn’t exist?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/4/2021 at 3:39 PM, CoelacanthChild said:

    Is there an app, or a filter that can count the number of fish if I take a picture or aim my phone camera at a fishtank? When ordering a lot of fish online and getting a shipment, it's very cumbersome to try and count all the little fish. But with a few pictures and an app, I'm sure a computer could do it easily.

    You may be in luck.

     

    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/countthings-from-photos/id1196810823

    • Thanks 1

    Lowering ph in a planted 5gal tank

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/3/2021 at 10:49 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

    Seachem acid buffer works by depleting KH. Lower KH means lower pH. Leaves and wood and tannins have very little effect on KH short term.

    CO2, bicarbonate, and carbonate ratios are kinetically tied to pH.  Any way you lower pH you'll lower carbonates too. :/

    1280px-Carbonate_system_of_seawater.svg.

     

    I've heard Cory say he doesn't think things like leaves change ph much.  I've only used catapa once though (with no change), so I don't have personal experience to draw from.

    I think if you really want to adjusting your pH down is okay as long as you go slow and careful with lots of testing.  You'll also have to either do small water changes or preadjust it in a very consistent way.  It definitely does go against the "easy fish keeping" paradigm though.

     

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    Bucephalandra "Green Wavy" light requirements

    in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers

    Posted

    On 7/3/2021 at 10:27 PM, Odd Duck said:

    They tolerate higher light but since they are slow growing, higher light can trigger some algae growth.  If you’re not having algae issues, you may be just fine.  If you’re having *any* algae issues, higher light on a Buce (or on any slow grower) isn’t the best idea.

    My val and the edges of my anubias nana petite are growing staghorn right now.  😞

     

    Bottled Bacteria

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/3/2021 at 5:42 PM, NanoNano said:

     

    Helpful graphic, but when I look up pictures of nitrifying bacteria,  the majority seem to be rod or blob shaped bacteria without flagella (I get that there's multiple types of nitrifying bacteria and there *is* at least one type with flagella).  My layman's brain keeps having problems understanding why the bacteria wouldn't colonize all over the interior of the bottles and (like chickens crossing a road) only go free swimming to get to the other side (of the bottle).  Are we throwing away the vast majority of the beneficial bacteria we're buying if we simply dump the liquid from the bottle into the tank?

    Yeah they're hard to see in a microscope since flagella are thinner than the diffraction limit.

    Conditions influence what genes are expressed.  Lots of nutrients and they're better of free swmming rather than stuck in a biofilm. 

     

    I'm guessing they'll grow planktonic in a shaker flask or mixed batch reactor in nutrient rich media.  If you stress them fast enough in that state they won't have the generations needed to make a biofilm.  They might flock and sink, but I assume that's why the bottle says to shake.

     

      Remember that it takes a lot of energy to make a biofilm so if they're dormant they can't really do that.

     

     

    • Like 2

    netting out pond fish

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Oh that's smart.  My lilies came bundled in straw with directions saying just drop them in.  So far so good but I'm worried they'll burn out and need more nutrients soon.  @ARMYVETWhat substrate can I use that won't ammonia poison my fish? . Are there extra strong pond safe root tabs for this kind of application?

    • Like 1

    Bottled Bacteria

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/3/2021 at 12:10 PM, CalmedByFish said:

    @CT_

     

    Dumbing it down, does bacteria stay alive in a bottle a little like brine shrimp eggs stay alive in a can? In both cases, the living thing doesn't *appear* to have what's needed for survival, but they can reanimate. Yeah?

    Yeah that's a pretty good analogy.  Technically I'd say brine cysts are more like sporulated  microbes because they have a durable shell.  So dormant microbes are a bit more fragile but yeah pretty close.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
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