I re-tested and the tank is now at a good 7.0 pH, so I decided to move everyone in. All 33 inhabitants are now testing out the new crib. The current roster is: (1) Snail (*Unknown species) (2) Dalmation Molly (1) Lg White Molly (2) Sm White Molly (5) Neon Tetra (1) Lemon Tetra (2) Lg Plecostomus (5) Cory Catfish (1) Lg Red-Tailed Shark (5) Serpae Tetra (7) Orange Tiger Barb (1) Indigo Betta I also planted the 2 Sword plants and the 5 Money Wort plants.
Category: Aquarium
The Final Tank
I've been sick since Tuesday night, and finally started feeling good enough yesterday afternoon to go out and get some fresh air. My wandering found me at Pet Smart where I decided to finally make the leap: I bought a new freshwater tank. I picked up a Top Fin 37-gallon Starter Kit which came with: The tank (30.25" L x 12.5" W x 22.75" H) Hood with a 20-watt, 30" fluorescent bulb Glass canopy Adjustable 200-watt heater Strip thermometer Top Fin Power Filter 40 with cartridge Sample fish food, water treatment pack I also bought: Black stand with doors (4) new Money Wort plants (4) Neon Tetras Glass thermometer Blue background Extra carbon pellets After getting home, I drained the 20-gallon temporary tank that was on the kitchen counter and relocated the fish into a plastic tote, then did the same with the 10-gallon tank and put those fish in...
New Residents
Arn swung by tonight and brought me a whole bunch of fish, a ton of fake plants, a pump, and some scenery. I finally took the 20 gallon tank out of the back of the truck (it's been in there for about a month), cleaned it out and filled it with water and threw some fake plants. Even though this is just a temporary setup, I still treated and pH balanced the water. I'll tear this and the 10g tank apart next weekend and then everyone will live happily in the same tank. Tomorrow I'm heading up to Alex and Nel's to watch the kids for them for the weekend while they go off to St. Augustine to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. I'm so happy to be able to do this - I've even lined up a little surprise for them. I should be at their house around 3:00pm,...
Pancakes, Pucks, and pH
Friday night I had dinner with a former co-worker at Hooters. We caught up on a ton of things for a few hours and I generally enjoyed myself. Saturday, Alex and the kids met with me for breakfast at Tampa North, who was having a pancake breakfast to support the Civil Air Patrol chapter that is based out of the airport. I took the kids down to the flight line to see the planes and we all went over to see a helicopter that came. Generally, I think it was a great turnout, as several pilots flew in for the event. Alex invited me over to watch the Lightning game that night (the first of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bruins), so I ended up hanging out all day in the Luts/Wesley Chapel area. I flew, went shopping, and had some great pork chops at Primebar. Around 7:00pm, I...
Hammers, Soup, and Bits
I took Friday night off to grab some dinner at Chipotle and go see Thor with Arn. We decided to not see it in 3D, as I've heard it's not worth the extra money. All-in-all, I thought it was a pretty awesome movie. Definitely portrayed Thor's power well. And was a lot of fun to watch this franchise come to life. Asguard was beautiful. Best part: The sound that the Destroyer made was incredible and really projected how menacing of a device it is. Saturday I went with Arn to Auburndale to go pick up a large saltwater tank he wanted to get. I helped him take it apart, load it in the truck, and unload it at his place. We then grabbed a bite to eat at Holy Hog BBQ. After running a few errands on Saturday, I ended up coming home to work on Allie's project and spent...
Feeling… Eh.
So, lately I've been noticing that I have very little energy. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I've been working non-stop for weeks, haven't been eating right, and my workouts aren't long enough. The workload will taper off very soon, as I'll finish Allie's project in the next few nights. As for eating, well, I need to do better on that (not today though - I just ordered some hot wings). And I intensified my workout tonight to see if that helps. I also stopped off at CVS to pick up some multi-vitamins with lots of B12 and B6 in them. I get home, walk in the door and look at the fish tank and see the two Moneywort plants I bought floating on the surface. What the fuck. These plecostomus' have to go this weekend. I went to Target for a couple...
Lost Another One
Was able to get a bunch of sleep last night for the first time in quite a while. Feel a lot sharper mentally today, although the coffee I have will no doubt help that along. Last night I tested the fish tank and found the pH to be around 7.6, which is high. This may explain the recent die-offs I've been having, including another victim this morning - an orange tetra. This guy had been sick for a bit, I believe, as he had some weird molting going on. This weekend, I'm getting rid of the plecos and getting some new algae eaters along with a kit to bring the pH down to a more acidic level (6.8 or so). I played through some Uncharted: Drake's Fortune last night since I didn't have any work to do. With the PlayStation Network being hacked recently, I also spent some time changing...
Success
I went out and ran some errands today and got a few new things for the fish tank. I'm still using the 10gal tank, but I wanted to add some toys. I got a 25lb. bag of lighter-colored gravel (mostly for the new tank), two Sword plants, two Moneywort plants, some plant food, a freshwater testing kit, and some new 15-watt accent light bulbs for the ballast. I added some of the gravel in to thicken the bed so the plants had rooting area. Then, I added the plants in. The fish seem to be interested and genuinely like the additions. I'll let everything settle until tomorrow then will test the water. Also, got the slow-cooker. Currently am soaking 3lbs. or beans and will be making a soup tomorrow morning.
Fish Tanks and Slow Cookers
On Thursday, I got a new fish tank from Arn, who picked it up in a deal on Craig's List. It's still sitting in the back of my truck, but I plan on getting it up into the apartment this weekend and cleaning it out. There's some brightly-colored gravel and a large fake rock reef that came with it along with a lighting fixture. I believe it's a 20 gallon tank. Hopefully it's still small enough to fit on he existing stand. I've also decided to pick up a crock pot this weekend. I want to start slow-cooking things; it'd be nice to put food in it in the morning and come home from work with dinner already made (dinner for multiple days even). I'm going to start out with some soups, to learn the heat settings and understand fully what to expect out of the cooker. This won't be...
Blub, blub.
A couple of week ago Arnold picked up a complete freshwater fish tank for me. I got it home, scrubbed it down and cleaned it real good, put new gravel in it, clean water, and changed out the filters. Currently, I have two large plecos (they're going away soon to be replaced with snails), two neon tetras, one lemon tetra, five orange tetras, and some blue fish - I'm not sure what it is yet.
