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Daniel

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Everything posted by Daniel

  1. Daniel
    Only 1 tank, the Dirt tank had stray seeds come in (as expected). The most noticeable one so far is this plant which has grown from a small bulb.
  2. Daniel
    Echo dot. The lives of literally millions of baby brine shrimp have been spared a horrible death by suffocation* by just saying "Alexa, remind me in 5 minutes to put the airline tube back in the shrimp".
  3. Daniel
    Is native to western Australia and is found as described - 'Aquatic or semi-aquatic herb, 0.3-0.6 m high. Fl. pink/pink-purple, May to Oct. Wet muddy soils, sandy clay, sand. River beds, often in fast-flowing water, billabongs, swamps.' I like the word billabong - my goal this week is to use it correctly in a post on this forum.
  4. Daniel
    @s1_ I must say your photos are stunningly awesome!
  5. Daniel
    Apparently so according the internets
  6. Daniel
    Active in a good way?
  7. Daniel
    I am having the same experience as @Roko had in his 25 gallon in this 40 gallon. No filter but lots of algae and rangy plants. Maybe this is a very rough rule of thumb? Heavy bioload - canister or something like @gardenman suggests above Normal bioload - sponge filter or HOB Light bioload - filter is optional
  8. Daniel
    I know this seems counter-intuitive but you also can run an aquarium without any filter. This aquarium has always operated without a filter. Here is a photo from 2008 when it was a planted tank. Here it is this year as a hardscape.
  9. Daniel
    In my experience almost all heaters and thermometers are off a few degrees in either direction. The whole concept of temperature has always been a tricky thing for me to get my mind around. I know temperature is what a thermometer measures.... But for those times I felt like I needed a reliable baseline to calibrate from I use a NIST traceable thermometer like this one made by Traceable (clever name): Also your own hands are awfully good thermometers. The differences between 75°F and 80°F and 85°F are as clear as night and day.
  10. Daniel
    I have had the same experience with shy fish. Most recently I had little pygmy sunfish in their own species tank where they were ne'er to been seen. But as soon as I moved the pygmy sunfish to a community aquarium, suddenly they were out and about frolicking and showing off in the central open area of the aquarium.
  11. Daniel
    I have the attention span of a flea. I have tried writing things in the journal but I am totally inconsistent. But I do like to take pictures so that has become my new form of keeping records. Those graphs above are derived from a time series of test results like this: I put notes on the photos and then later can make graphs of the data. The way I figure it, a picture is worth at least a couple dozen words. Also the process of making a time series and a graph forces me to pay attention and observe and record details. Eventually when I collate and organize the data I begin to see patterns that were not evident to me in real time. Memory is fluid and rife with bias and is a poor substitute for data collected systematically. And later when the fog in my head begins to clear and I learn something I get a dopamine rush! As Democritus once said, 'I would rather discover one true cause than gain the kingdom of Persia'.
  12. Daniel
    You get questions like, 'Can I put my guppy in a quarantine tank with no filter'? I think you can. Here is an aquarium with swordtails, guppies, shrimp, sparkling gouramis and I not sure what else. I have never had a filter or an airstone (or a heater) in this aquarium. My only complaint is recently the water has begun to clear a little bit. Which is a shame as it was my go to green water tank for quite a while.
  13. Daniel
    That is so cool!
  14. Daniel
    I haven't had one of these. Has anyone else tried this?
  15. Daniel
    @Fonske your photos are among the very best on the forum. I always look forward to a post from you that has photos!
  16. Daniel
    Betta are just like Mendel's peas. There are many recessive genes. Two smooth purple peas could have white wrinkled offspring. Same with bettas.
  17. Daniel
    Pike cichilds
  18. Daniel
    She says plants many plants prefer ammonium over nitrates, preferentially feeding off of ammonium and only switching to nitrates when the ammonium is depleted. But not all plants, there are some plants that are nitrate first feeders. Plants use ammonium to synthesize proteins and when plants have to compete with nitrifying bacteria for ammonium plants have to expend additional energy to convert the nitrate created by the bacteria back to ammonium before they can use the nitrates.
  19. Daniel
    I don't know what the charts mean? Maybe later I will understand them. I thought nitrites were more toxic than they seem to be? Basically all three tanks have the same fish, plants, lights, etc. The main difference is the substrate. The is more data to come however, one tank is clearer, one tank has more plant growth, etc.
  20. Daniel
    Here is where the term originated, thanks to @StephenP2003
  21. Daniel
    @Ken Dyer what are your plans for the 10s? Looks like an experiment waiting to happen. 🙂
  22. Daniel
    It is a fish nerd. @Cory was a bit tongue tied for moment in a recent live stream and accidentally invented a new word. If you are a member of this forum, you are a nerm.🙂
  23. Daniel
    The third chart is Nerm which has about 2 inches of Caribsea Super Naturals Peace River substrate, which either really big sand or somewhat small gravel depending on how you look at it. What is different about this tank is that it gets fertilizer in the form of Easy Green and Roots Tabs. Eventually it will get some Easy Iron also. It appears to be almost finished cycling but then again you never know what those bacteria are up to. I have added Easy Green recently so it will be fun to watch the nitrates go up when I do. The photographic log of these measurements can be found in this blog entry:
  24. Daniel
    This second chart is Dirt which has about 1 inch of coal slag (Black Diamond Blasting Sand) over a couple of inches of organic garden soil from my asparagus bed. The nitrites have stayed high but I suspect they will drop soon. My assumption is that the organic soil contains quite a bit of nitrogen in one form or the other. Despite the nitrite levels, you wouldn't know it by the fish. This aquarium also has several guppies and 3 angelfish. Even with the high nitrites, these fish are frisky and healthy. I don't know what to think about the nitrite levels other than the fish and plants are happy. We will see. The photographic log of these measurements can be found in this blog entry:
  25. Daniel
    Basically forever. I have 14 aquariums, the 3 in the Dirted Tank project have sponge filters, 2 others only have airstones. The other 9 have neither filters or airstones. But they all have plants which does make a difference. I sometimes go 3 months without a water change in the filterless airstoneless aquariums.
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