Aka, Jane’s freshwater tank that’s been limping along, occasionally inaccessible except for feeding and addition of water, for about 2 years. I decided to lend a hand. And ordered a new pump/filter system (Sicce Shark, 800) to replace the 2 double Penguin filters, which haven’t been keeping up with it.
So…I start siphoning, and I think we may have bred a new lifeform in the bottom of that tank, a redtopped, up to inch deep beige spongy layer that comes off in pieces. Yes, I used gloves. I think what we had going down there wss an anoxic layer, or close to it. We had mystery fish loss that just should not have happened. I feel badly having discovered just how bad it was.
The fix—siphon out the bad, and haul some of it out by hand, clean the extant plants (numerous) and take a 50 gallon tank down to 10, carrying the old out to be dumped, the new in buckets to be carefully poured in while not kicking up the sandbed, and getting that new pump running as soon as possible. It was a bear to figure out the pump (nearly killed my hands and one finger is still in bandages) but indeed, it is working well. The water is clear. I’m also ordering a new heater: old heaters are dangerous, seriously. (Eheim is the brand of choice, btw). Pump/filter from Italy, heater from Germany—tank from US—it’s a real international hobby: you have to go international to compete with new equipment.) Anyway, I hauled water and hauled water, and wore myself out, but it sure looks a lot better than it did. I took a scissors to some of the worst leaves, to encourage new growth. I found several plants I didn’t know we had under that gunk. Still alive.
Anyway, we are now ok in the freshwater tank. Next comes fixing the autotopoff in the marine tank, so I don’t have to run downstairs daily and toss in a gallon of fresh water (it evaporates that much daily, but salt doesn’t evaporate.) This has been another postponed fix, with the basement under reconstruction and the sump area (where water is dealt with) unreachable a lot of the time. The autotopoff failed, throwing the salinity wonky, but not enough to affect the fish. Datum for the “I didn’t need to know that file”—fish can tolerate a rapid salinity drop from 1.024 (normal ocean) to 1.019 without crisis; but a rise from 1.019 to 1.024 could kill them by kidney failure, unless done at a rate of .002 per 15 minute interval. You learn a lot of weird stuff keeping a marine tank. And when the fresh water delivery system fails (it did) and evaporation goes on, that salinity can get to Dead Sea in a matter of days. Salt doesn’t evaporate. Water does. So that device that puts fresh water in whenever the float sinks past a certain amount is real, real imporant. And this one has been out for a month. Got a new brand replacement. Now I have to figure how to set it up.
Our 10 gallon & 4 goldfish tank is very, very boring in comparison, but we are fond of it. We’ve had the fish, slowly growing, for probably 5 or more years and deliberately chose goldfish (10 cent “feeder” fish at that) for the fact that their tank needs are very simple, no heater necessary although we do have a filter, unlike the goldfish tank when I was a kid. We replace the plants as the leaves get too ragged or brown. The big “furniture” in the tank is a model of the Roman Colosseum, which the fish love to swim in and out of or just hang out in for some quiet time. A while ago at PetCo or some chain store we also found —in the fish tank accoutrements section—a cult statue of Aphrodite holding a small version of herself on a pedestal in her hand (we recognized it from a similar original at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Aphrodite exhibit) and snagged it for our fish tank too.
C.J. Not a far jump from world building in fiction to world building in your own private ocean/lake. AKA lessons in ecology. Wish you’d favor your salads with a photo of the legendary salt water tank posted to this venue.
@CJ — Any idea what the beige, red-topped matted stuff was? Red algae? Bacteria from the red-brown-purple branch of bacteria? (There are one or two names that I’ve since forgotten besides the cyanobacteria and the chlorophyll-based bacteria. Or am I confusing those with algae types?) Curious that it would thrive, isn’t it?
Also, that salinity up/down threshold, I wonder, does our land-based biology, descended from vertebrates branched off near fishes, also have that issue with internal bloodstream / intracellular salinity or pH levels? I don’t know nearly enough about biology to guess, but it was the question that came to mind, reading this.
Aphrodite — It seems like Raesean’s tank needs a shell as a base and back for the statue; I’m reminded of the old painting or tiling.
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BCS, please 10 lines max. I’m afraid that much of the drop-off in CJ… and others posting has been the lengthiness of your own posts.
At least it’s on topic (contrary to these posts) and at the time of writing, just 10 lines on my screen.
I tried to go back in and edit to remove after the divider line, but was past the edit time limit.
CJ, please just remove my post. Even with only commenting on your post, it shows as over 10 lines. I’m too wordy even when I’m on-topic, and anything personal just gets to people, even the well-meaning folks. Even if I’d put the post about the kitten in its own post, it would be too long. So I’ll forego any personal stuff. I’m trying, but my enthusiasm to share gets the better of me. My apologies to all for doing so. I keep going over, and I will just keep on-topic or lurk, rather than go over and bother folks.
I have a 55 gal freshwater tank with 5 Tinfoil Barbs and one Pleco. Both types of fish are extremely hardy. I work constantly to maintain the tank. But once last year the heater malfunctioned and raised the water temp so high that the Tinfoil Barbs died. They looked like they were cooked!
I had to special order a new school to replace them. I find the motion of the swimming fish to be calming, almost therapeutic.
https://www.dropbox.com/t/igUPyFnUB0sPgbYj
My brother used to keep freshwater fishes; for a while ‘filter feeder’ was an insult around the house. He how has 1 tank with an Oscar, and several cats. Kitty TV! I believe the fish’s name is ‘Oscar the Grouch’.
With a gigantic natural saltwater tank 1/2 mi. from the house (as well as cats), I’ve never felt the urge to raise fish. The closest I got was rescuing a small humuhumunukunukapua’a from a draining tide pool where it had gotten stranded when the tide went out.
HI all :humuhumunukunukapua huh. say that five times fast. But I looked it up and found it to be a pretty fish so I am glad you rescued it.
The only fish I really go for is salmon – baked.
Everyone stay safe and sane.
Jonathan up here in cool New Hampshire
The humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa [ˈhumuˈhumuˈnukuˈnukuˈwaːpuˈwɐʔə] was in the lyrics of a (still) popular song when I was a kid, “My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaiʻi”, besides being Hawai’i’s state fish, or perhaps because of the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWlvYpJ5pRo
I was in Kealakekua several years ago during the cruise stopover in Kona, but neither got to the Grass Shack (gift shop), nor to the Bay, where Captain Cook was killed and a memorial sits.
It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. That and Spike Jones’ Hawaiian War Chant. I think I was on a theme back then.
“Hawaiian War Chant” is an American popular song whose original melody and lyrics were written in the 1860s by Prince Leleiohoku. The original title of the song was Kāua I Ka Huahuaʻi or “We Two in the Spray.” It was not written as a chant, and the Hawaiian lyrics describe a clandestine meeting between two lovers, not a battle. …—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_War_Chant
A whole tiki craze started in the 1930s(!) and was strong through the ’60s: Tiki bars, which seemed to have a little comeback here and there; Tiki hotels; of course, Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room, still operational and possibly one of the most efficient attractions in DL. An uncle owned a mansion for a while with a tiki rec room. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki_culture