Torrey

What about a desk with a lower edged, shallower tank? Allow the closeness (chair accessibility) and also more engagement (lower edges so he can lean over, not have to lift arms as high, sturdy edge to help support arms). In my younger days I would have offered a custom build with thicker glass walls, and slit a waterline tube to use to slide on the rim to act as a cushion. Having his own tank with some sturdy inhabitants may be enough of a challenge to the desire for autonomy, to push through/past any externally motivated inhibitors/limitations (working with some of the kids I have worked with, I have been incredibly disappointed to hear from the kids some of the limitations they internalized from well-meaning health care professionals. Reading your response shows you don't leave room for many of those externally inserted barriers). Cory's solution: boards on cinderblocks, can be incredibly effective at customizing "desk" height around the chair...as well as width to accommodate various wheel configurations. Have you looked at Pampered Chef? They don't talk about it much, but most of their line is ergonomically designed to ease use for mobility challenged cooks. I haven't looked lately, but they used to have a salt grinder that was a matter of squeezing the "neck" to grind the salt and deposit it. Could easily be filled with a pelleted food, and a single squeeze with both hands would feed the tank. Only put in a week's supply at a time, to ensure no oveerfeeding, as well as prevent degradation of food quality?

As someone who is sometimes contracted by responsible businesses to address accessibility, there has been a huge shift from when ADA and IDEA were initially passed in the US, and the degree of information available now. Decades of fish keeping, and only recently (like last 5 years) have significant conversations around accessibility in *any* aspects been getting traction... much less fish keeping. Thank you TikTok, for normalizing these conversations!!! Grew up with good friends who were color blind, reagents for chemistry class and aquarium tests are *not* accessible. If costs are prohibitive, still not accessible. In chemistry class (prior to ADA or IDEA being passed) my friend failed chemistry twice because the teacher didn't care about them being colorblind. They couldn't see the reagent color change? Should have taken a different class. (Teacher did NOT appreciate my reply of "can't think of a way to help a student? Maybe you should have taught another class, or better yet, not teach at all") So, we have come a *long* way, and we have a lot further to go. I help homeschool families (who seem to disproportionately represent ASD, ADHD, immune compromised, hearing, visual, mobility, dyslexic, dyscalulic, and other challenged & intentionally targeted communities) design science programs that build on strengths and offeer opportunities to develop strategies for overcoming obstacles. Glad to hear the test strips are making your life easier! Another option is taking a photograph and using the gray scale on the Google photo app. Eliminate all color, and the gray scale can help identify the reading. (Above, original version with full color) Showing how to slide the color, light, and pop to clarify the scale. Final product, where the scale can be measured and the reading just using the gray scale. I didn't ask if you were R/G or full colorblind, generally reading the grayscale doesn't seem to be impacted either way. Would be a cool experiment to see how many tricolor & polychromatic visualists find the grayscale easier to read, as well. For reference, the tissue paper is true white, that the strip is resting on. For people with chemical sensitivities (like myself), using a separate tub and phytoremediation for dechlorination is a little more time consuming, yet also offers a whole new aspect to the hobby (see Streetwise's Indoor Wetplants, or several of the Wabi Suba threads for ways of making phytoremediation beautiful). For chronically ill? Larger tanks with more stable water parameters need to be measured against pico and nano tanks which are easier to do water changes on. Which approach will best suit the individual? Which is the bottom line to fish keeping, isn't it? Kind of what makes it the grand equalizer as a hobby? Rich or poor, bipedal or not, polychromatic or monochromatic vision, HoH or hearing, we can all find accommodations and adjustments that allow us to more intuitively enjoy the hobby.

Your brain is doing what it has been trained to do, and a panic is 100% understandable. My experience has been people will (more likely than not) live up to my expectations. So my question would be: What do you *want* to happen? Focus on the positive outcomes, and what you actually have control over to make the positive outcomes more likely. Then do those things. @Guppysnail and Cory are both correct: How you navigate the "failures" will determine if it's a true failure, or if it's a learning opportunity that will help the club, improve future auctions, and offer you a growth opportunity. Failures are opportunities that were almost missed, they allow us to develop "muscles" we didn't have yet. How we choose to approach things (dread, optimism, inquisitive, adventurous) frames the narrative we write internally about what happened. I hope the auction is a lot of fun, you stay hydrated, and greater than 90% of the people who show up recognize that humor is contagious and allow humor to smooth over any rough edges due to this being a first event!

I second ModifiedLung with something in the tap water side. This Helps explain how tap water can end up with CO2 and why it would be a problem... or at least a concern. Also, do you know why they softening the water? Most water softeners use salts, which will not be healthy for plants or fish..... and will add to the complexity of you identifying the problem.

I have sprinkled straight osmacote in the bottom, *under* 1" (front) to 3" (back) or *more* substrate. It also requires (as FishFolk said) a lot of plants. I will put osmocote in my bare bottom plant tubs, for speeding up propagation of cuttings under bright shop lights, no problems. Just drop an airstone in there, and wathc the roots grow like crazy. I also make my own osmocote root tabe, to put under heavy feeders when I either can't afford/ am waiting for delivery of new EG Root tabs. 00 gel caps will fill with the exact right amount for a square foot of tank to be well fertilized, as long as I remember to squeeze the air out first so it doesn't float when the Malaysian trumpet snails decide to practice their (re)landscaping skills and excavate the gel cap (they also escavate the osmocote from time to time. I found mixing it in bentanite clay protects the tank better than airfilled 00 gel caps....) The nitrites and nitrates from the osmocote are sufficient to give fish gill burns, which is why I prefer the EG tabs. However, I buy in bulk😅 Therefore, I probably wouldn't run out of osmocote for at least 2 more years if I hadn't found ACO, and at my current rate of use (osmocote as a stopgap) I probably have a 10 year supply left.😂

Ursula just won Patient Spouse™ back over!

I intentionally keep everything alive, after decades of doing H2O2 baths or bleach baths to clean what I salvaged. I discovered last year that the damselfly nymphs didn't eat anywhere near as many of my fry as they ate of other problematic bugs in the house, so the trade off was worth it for me. Not everyone feels the same, however. Azolla & duckweed hide more nymphs than frogbit, and frogbit is easier to rinse clean under a garden hose.

My folks had to sadly sell their vacation spot at Emerald Isle when both were laid off 3 years before full retirement... I haven't been out to the "new" aquarium yet, our 2020 trip to NC got.... delayed.

A few *proven* approaches: If it's mild, and you have inhabitants that will eat it, just monitor. If you can't stand it, remove manually and see if anything needs to be dialed in by only changing one thing every couple of weeks/monitoring If there's a lot of it, remove as much as possible manually, turn off all filtration so the water gets "still", and carefully "paint" what you coudln't remove with H2O2. If you haven't seen my explanation before, fill a 5 cc infant medicine syringe with H2O2. *Slowly* depress the plunger with the tip on the offending algae. apply only a mL per clump of algae, using the syringe as a "paintbrush" to saturate the plant and nothing else with H2O2. Use your other hand to ensure no fish come and try to eat out of the syringe. After 15 to 20 minutes, turn back on the filtration. If you don't see a change in color/texture in the algae 48 hours later, you can repeat the process. The H2O2 interacts with the iron in the cell walls of the algae, rendering them unstable... Obviously, you don't want to do this on the same day you dose the tanks with any iron containing ferts.😅 My endlers will generally eat the blackbeard algae after it's been dosed twice like this.

I learned a cool trick from @Guppysnail for using propagation methods to salvage stem plants. Did you see my Scapes from Scraps video? That entire batch of Rosaeafolia would have been tossed, it was in such bad shape. Instead, I rinsed it, separated out any remotely healthy/salvageable looking pieces, cut the stems to a pair of leaves each, and floated in a tiny sterilite bin directly under a bright shop light (on the timer, still). I changed water every day, and dosed ferts for a gallon instead of for a quart, until I saw fresh roots. Then I cut back water changes and fresh ferts to every other day, and then every third day. New leaf growth meant they were ready for the Scapes from Scraps tank. If you have any signs of life, I would try taking some trimmings and see if you can jump start some new growth. If you are home, I would allow the tank some natural light when the lights are on, as you will see appreciation from your plants and your fish will develop stronger coloration. That's just me, though. Mileage may vary, lol

@Guppysnail have you been following @JimmyGimbal's plant journeys? Plants really are better than therapy, lol. I'm sorry about your CPD incident 😢 I know that hurt. Your plants and your redo, in turning the fish room into a jungle room? Exquisite!

Bacopa caroliniana is literally the slowest growing plant for months... and even once it gets happy, it's still slower than molasses. On the plus side, it really isn't picky, and brighter lights just seem to increase the chance of algae growing on it. Mine grows best under the canopy, lol. I get about 2" of growth/month in the Patient Spouse's™ tank. The rest of the tanks are slower growth. Fabulous plant haul! I am having more success with stem plants now that I am not initially putting stems in the ground (thank you @Guppysnail). Let them establish some roots first, and they seem to grow faster. Scarlet temple has shown the biggest difference with the new regimen. Plus, more roots in the water column = faster depletion of nitrates from the tank. Your new pleco is adorable!

"Who are they?" "They are someone's sister, someone's mother. Someone's father, someone's son." You did an outstanding job, and welcome to the Nerms!

Is it bad that I just did a total fan scream on: 1. Actually recognizing a plant for a change (brain functioning a bit better, thanks to new doc actually listening to me) 2. I have developed a hard core autistic special interest on Pogostemon, now that I successfully have more than one variety growing for me.

Tonight's been a playlist night, while doing tank maintenance.... and now weeding through emails and procrastinating in the Forum🥰 And now I am listening to this for about ~4 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeFMTDnYWAw

I don't know if the North Carolina Museum of Natural History has a live stream of their "fish tank" (it's a full replica of a natural habitat, and helping with the original build as a student volunteer in the early '80s really influenced my approach to trying to find a balance), but I suspect you would really enjoy visiting if you ever get out there. Predator plants living in a bog recreation with turtles, frogs and fish... it's an amazing place!

A lot of people miss that, I should have verified that with you a while back. My apologies. If you read the little booklet of directions, it includes to "vigorously shake test bottle number 2 for at least 30 seconds". I typically ask my spouse to start shaking it when I start adding reagents to the test tubes, and am confident it is well shaken (but not stirred) by the time I need to add Nitrate Reagent #2 to the test tubes. Part of why I like the test srtips so much! Lifespan for the buffer is also influenced by the tap water parameters. Just because it no longer buffers (and that would be more of Roy's wheelhouse) doesn't mean it *has* to be replaced. Unless you have fish in there that can't tolerate neutral pH, it shouldn't be a problem. Plants will adjust, and so will most fish.

Pearling on the windelov Close-ups of snails, along with the pearling A red ramshorn waving "Hi!" mid-picture Houdini cleaning the glass under the watchful eye of one of Whale's large-eyed fry

I love the blurred foreground, and the little stand of hairgrass in sharp focus. Very nice perspective shot!

Having lived at a higher altitude than Cory in Washington state, my one concern about leaving water in over the winter in Iceland, is the durability of the container. We never had problems with our stock tanks pressure cracking... but a few other tubs developed ice expansion cracks the winter we spent 2 weeks with a high of -22 C. Water expands instead of contracting when it becomes a solid, and Rubbermaid stock tanks are built with expansion capabilities... metal and plastic ones are not☹️ I second Cory: Shrimp and fish both develop more beautiful colors with natural sunlight!

@Cbass, for being gone for a week your tank looks great! I see new plant growth, and obviously the shrimp are happy with the changes to be so beautifully berried. I would test my tap water, and see if pH of the tap has gone up? I'm trying to remember which substrate you used? Active substrates tend to need to be replaced, and if the substrate was buffering your pH you may be seeing the end of the substrate's buffering ability. Since my tanks range from 8.4 down to 6.8 pH (and it takes a literal ton of botanicals, and minimal water changes + a lot of work to balance the tank to get below 7.8 pH) I have found Seattle_Aquarist information on dosing epsom salts and the correct iron supplement for absorption at higher pH to be the most helpful to my plant journey. I don't have all the science or graphs that Seattle_Aquarist & Mmiller share, but this printout helped identify why I still have to use SeaChem in my high pH tanks. As for the algae, I would leave some for the shrimp and nerites to supplement their diet. I learned from my sister (the Forestry Department grad) to pick an aquarium wall or a rock, and encourage algae to grow there, to help provide a good home not just for the algae, but also for all the microorganisms that are part of a healthy tank to live, and to assist with filtering.

@Jawjagrrl I can help with the magnolia pods: Boil in a crockpot, pressure cooker or InstaPot. They will then sink for you, and you can freeze the tannin tea to use as needed. I went back and followed your explanation while looking at the image again, I follow. If you haven't looked at the interview with Josh Sim on the Green Aqua YouTube channel, I would recommend checking him out before changing your 3 upright trees. He comes from an artist perspective as well, and I suspect you will find the "missing secret" in one of his videos.

I asked a couple of different folx for recommendations on how to handle this. If you bank with Navy Federal, their recommendation is take all your documentation tot eh bank and have all charges reversed or take it to small claims if you are with another bank that doesn't reverse charges as easily.

I'm going to have to show the spouse tomorrow!

Well crud. I love my J-star. Up until an update last year I still had a manual focus option on the camera (why my photo quality has deteriorated), and I love having a 128 GB SD card in my phone that I can trade out with the larger SD card in my GoPro... Really getting tired of the programmed obsolescence combined with higher prices....