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Daniel

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Blog Entries posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    Today we picked out 4 nice koi with the help of owner Joe Granato at Star Ridge Aquatics in Carthage, NC .

    Two of the koi were long-finned, and two were the traditional Japanese type koi. The traditional koi were my favorites because the colors were more intense. Once released one of the koi just wouldn't swim with the other three fish, so we named him 'Derpy'.
    We also picked out a dozen edge plants including, pickerelweed, dwarf cattails, Sagittaria, Myriophyllum, various rushes, and hardy lilies.

    And notice the green water? I also added an additional batch of wild caught daphnia. I hope the exponential growth of the daphnia can catch up with the exponential growth of the green water.
    Finally, I added a few corys cats and guppies. I will add more later when I have had a chance to see how these initial introductions fare. The pH measured at 6.93 and the upper layer of the water in the pond read 84 °F although it was much cooler 4 feet below the surface. Not surprisingly the koi preferred to stay lower in the water column most of time.
  2. Daniel

    Honey I Dirted the Tank
    Today I started tracking the water chemistry and other parameters of the three 40 gallon aquariums in the project.
    The first aquarium I tested was the EcoEcomplete aquarium. According to my API test kit, this was the water chemistry.

    According to a Tetra Strip this was the water chemistry.

     
    According to my Felix Smart Controller's freshwater Seneye, the pH was similar.
     


  3. Daniel
    Moving the 1930s aquarium was a beast because it was just me. The tank is almost 50 gallons and made of steel, extra thick glass and a piece of bottom slate almost an inch thick. Don't mind all the honey bees, I had just gotten back from feeding the bees in an out apiary and my local hives had just found the sugar water.
     
  4. Daniel
    The fish I have ordered for the summer pond have started to arrive. First up are guppies from Twin Cities Guppies. Twin Cities had a few Endler's in stock (and by a few, I mean only 1 trio). They shipped on Monday and they arrived on Wednesday no worse the wear for having been shipped.
    These should go into the pond in the next few days (maybe today ☺️).

    Two Endler's may have worked on Noah's Ark, but I think I will need many more to get the guppy population kick started. I just wanted to see what these looked like.
    Arriving Saturday from Aqua Huna will be panda corys, Sterbai corys, and some cherry shrimp. I don't expect any of the fish to survive our Zone 7 winter, but I do expect the cherry shrimp to overwinter as they have overwintered for me for years in a much smaller pond. Probably should have ordered a few Paleatus corys also as these will tolerate it a little colder, but maybe I'll get them on the next order.
    Tomorrow, my neighbor Faisal and I will take a field trip to Star Ridge Aquatics in Carthage, NC to meet with Joe Granato and get a tour of his place. We hope to pick up some plants and ideas from Joe.
  5. Daniel
    I am beginning to realize it is not the exact method I use to keep records in my fishroom that matters. What is important is the discipline to record the things that I do. Since I had the idea to begin keeping records yesterday, I have made up new batches of brine shrimp and white worms. I have done water changes. My order of plants from the Aquarium Co-Op arrived and those went into my aquariums. I even did a water quality test on my baby discus tank. But the only thing that has been documented so far are the water quality test results. And that went into my good old fashioned notebook.

    Consistency will be the key to this, and I don't have it yet.
  6. Daniel
    Today I asked the forum for ideas on keeping records in the fishroom. @Lynze and @Irene, both like Excel spreadsheets. @Ryan S. and @Jon G have had a good experience with the Aquarium Note app (looks like it is Android only). @DaveSamsell and @Exit31 prefer good old paper (paper wins when it come to sketches and illustrations).
    But what caught my attention was @Bill Smith and his suggestion about Trello, a free project management app. It lets you make lists and keep track of your upcoming tasks and your completed tasks. @Bill Smith's implementation of Trello looks impressive.
    I might end up trying paper, Excel and Trello just to see which one works out the best for me in the long run. I am on IOS so I am unable to try Aquarium Note.
    So, later this afternoon I will run some water quality tests and enter the information into a notebook, a spreadsheet and Trello. Let's see which one I can keep up with the longest.
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