Fantasy Football: Day 6

As per usual, It is a little difficult for me to keep up with the blog on weekends, especially holiday weekends spent with the in-laws. I was able however to get setup on Fantasy Football prior to my leagues draft.

By the way, I am aware that I am jumping the gun as per usuall with my hobbies. The problem is that the football season has already started and I had few oportunities to actually join a league with people I know.

I joined a Fantasy Football league on Yahoo! which I like considering the easy to use interface, easy access to scores and reports and decent mobile access. Now I just need to figure out how to play Fantasy Football and I should be all set.

I pulled together all of my cunning to come up with the creative yet topical team name of "The Flying Pigskins."

Like most hobbies, Fantasy Football cannot be truely completed in a month and therefore I will do my best to cram in as much Fantasy Football as humanly possible.

(PHOTO'S)

Flying Pigskin's Roster



Fishkeeping: Day 31

Today marks the last day of Augusts hobby, Fishkeeping. The last 30 days have been a scramble.

I finally got my bio-wheel filter in and all setup. It's twice as big, and twice as loud, but it takes up 0% of the tank room that the corner filter took. I got the bio-wheel spinning and put the floss filter media from the old filter and put it in the new one. The idea is that the filter has a lot of beneficial bacteria on it and will help stage the bio-wheel.

My favorite part of the new filter besides the room for the fish is that I can finally fill the tank all the way up. No more unsightly water line and now there is even more room for the fish. I just wish Bender was around to enjoy it.

I checked the tank levels like normal, and almost everything checked out normal, except for the Nitrates. For the last 30 days, the Nitrates have been at Zero, but today it actually red above that. Then I noticed that the Ammonia levels were only at 1.0, when they are normally at 2.0. After 30 days, is my tank finally cycling?

Well the big question is whether or not I keep the tank after this month. On one side I have already had 1 fish die, and it has been a complete pain in the butt doing full water changes every day. On the other side, there is the enjoyment I get from feeding them, and DC putting his finger in the tank and laughing as they nibble on his finger.

I think I will wait for the conclusion to unveil my plans for fishkeeping...

(PHOTO'S)

The New Bio-Filter

Bio-Filter in action

The fish have a lot more room and no more water line!

Fishkeeping: Day 30

Well after a month it looks like everything has finally caught up to me. Yesterday, Benders long fight ended when I found him lifeless at the bottom of the tank.

I actually tried poking him to see if he was just to weak to swim. I also brought him to the surface in the net and checked to see if hiss gills were moving, but it was too late. I quickly took him out of the tank and brought him to the porcelain goddess to meet his final resting place.

Murphy's Law intervened in the form of a 2 year old taking a bath asking me "what are you doing dad?", to which I responded, "throwing away some trash". I didn't even have the heart to tell him what had happened. Of course, Bender was his favorite fish, which probably had something to do with being the most fun to say.

The following 2 hours consisted of a large water change and a lot of contemplation. I really wanted to give up the hobby right then and there, but my wife intervened and noted how much enjoyment the kids have gotten out of the fish.

It would figure that at the end of the month something like this would happen.

With another trip scheduled for this weekend, I fear that the. Rest of the fish may share the same fate.

I am not exactly sure what happened to Bender, whether it was constipation or a swimming bladder problem, but I a almost positive that he died from not eating anything in 3 days. I attempted to segregate him this morning to eat with no success. It may have been too late...

Fishkeeping: Day 28

Once again, no nitrites and Nitrites.

I ordered a Bio-Wheel power filter to replace my old corner filter which should help.

Bender appears to be a bit more mobile, but he still isn't eating.

My wife has named the rest of the fish, but I haven't had a time to do profiles and post them.

Last but not least, with 3 days left in the month, my time to make the decision about keeping the tank is approaching very quickly.

Fishkeeping: Day 25

The days are starting to run together with the frequent water changes. I'm almost out of proper pH 7.0, and with the impending hurricane this weekend, I need to go out and grab some soon.

Todays amazing aquarium comes from the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Holding over 261,000 gallons of water, it is one of the largest aquariums in the world. Not bad for one of the largest hotels in the world either.


Source: Wikipedia

Fishkeeping: Day 24

Another day, another large water change. Yet again I was skunked by 0.0 Nitrite and Nitrate levels so I really had no other option. It seems like the ammonia levels rise about 1 - 1.5 mg/l per day with 11 fish in a 20 gallon tank.

It is getting way to late in the month to change my strategy, but if I continue with the tank, I will probably pick up a bottle of Seachem Prime.

Other than that, today's sweet lookin' aquarium comes from an interior decorating website. Living in an apartment, Its always hard to find a good spot to put an aquarium, especially a large one such as this. Functionally, I bet its a pain doing water changes and cleaning, not to mention constantly freaking out the fish anytime someone puts something on the table, or kicks the side whilst playing canasta, but aesthetically it is off the chain.


Source: InteriorArcade

Fishkeeping: Day 23

For the last several days I have gotten into the routine of getting home from work, checking tank levels (Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates) and then doing a large water change.

Each day I come home hoping that I start seeing Nitrites and Nitrates starting to rise above 0.0 mg/l, but am quickly disappointed. At least the fish are happy. They are eating well and seem very invigorated and social in the tank.

My family is really pulling for me to keep the tank, but knowing that I would be the sole caretaker of the tank (for good reasons) makes me a little hesitant. I'm not sure if I can keep up with another hobby, and this site.

I have also decided that their really isn't a overwhelming reason to keep posting pictures of the tank unless something changes, so I have decided to post pictures of Fish Tanks from around the interweb. Today's tank comes from Fish Tank Warehouse.com where they have a lovely toilet fish tank. I'm not exactly sure how sanitary this would be (for the fish), but it is definitely a cool concept.

Fishkeeping: Day 21

The family was out in Delaware most of the day. Once we got back I tested the water and once again the Ammonia was high and the Nitrites and Nitrates did not change so I did a water change.

I'm starting to get rather tired of all the water changes, not to mention I have almost blown through a $9 bottle of pH 7.0 in a week.

Fishkeeping: Day 20

I bought the Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies book from Amazon for a penny (plus $5 shipping) last week, and I finally got it in the mail. It is by the same author as the other Aquarium book I got from the library, but it is a good bit newer in edition.

The tank is pretty much the same as it was yesterday, high ammonia that requires a partial water change. It seems that my neighbors gravel that they gave me did not help cycle the tank at all....

Fishkeeping: Day 19

I have been looking for the Nitrites and Ammonia to go up which indicates that the tank is starting to cycle. I haven't checked the pH in a couple days. Here are the days numbers:

• Ammonia: 2.0 mg/l
• Nitrite: 0.0 mg/l
• Nitrate: 0.0 mg/l

I started doing a larger partial water change. Instead of doing 50% of the water, I'm doing as much as possible without asphyxiating the fish. It takes more of the ammonia out so I don't have to do water changes as often.

Fishkeeping: Day 18 (Video)

Ammonia was very high again last night so I did 2 water changes to get it back down to normal levels. Other than that I observed the fish a little bit. I noticed that with the exception of the molly's the Danio's, Rainbowfish's, and Tetra seem to be picking on the smallest Danio.

I took this video of the Danio being chased:

Fishkeeping: Day 17

My morning started out with a 50% PWC and a feed. Once again the Mollies looked like they never had a chance to get any food, so I came back about 10 minutes later and put another pinch of food in the tank.

The Ammonia was high in the afternoon, so I did 2 more water changes before I went to bed. I am getting rather tired of all the water changes, but I only have myself to for putting so many fish in a tank that isn't cycled.

Before I went to bed, I noticed some of the fish resting on the bottom of the tank. I have no idea if this is normal behavior, so I will have to keep checking to make sure they are OK.

I also put some more Ammo-Lock in the tank, but after some reading, I'm finding out that it can inhibit the food source for the beneficial bacteria and cause it to take longer to cycle.

(PHOTO'S)

Are they resting?

More Resting

Phillip J. Fry looks a bit blue

Fishkeeping: Day 16

I woke up in the morning and filled up the 10g cooler with tap water and then put in the water conditioner, pH 7.0, and aquarium salt and let it sit for the day.

Every Tuesday, my wife volunteers at the local hospital, so I get to watch DC and Ellie. During this time, I didn't get a lot of time to work on the hobbies.

I did however see that our old TV cart that we got rid of 2 years ago was parked out in front of our building. I hadn't really posted it, but I have been going on craigslist.org and freecycle.org for the past 2 weeks looking for a cheap stand for my tank. I felt that this was a sign from above and immediately trucked it upstairs.

After Barbara came home and the kiddies went to sleep, I check the ammonia levels and was shocked. The Ammonia levels had jumped up to almost 4.0 mg/l. I immediately did 2 x 50% water changes and retested the ammonia. It had dropped to 1.0 mg/l which was still high, but I didn't have the energy to perform another one. Instead I filled up the 10g cooler water and set it up to be changed again in the morning.

I then snapped a couple photo's including some of the Black Mollies which I wasn't able to show yesterday.

(PHOTO'S)

Black Molly's

Ammonia levels before and after
the 2 water changes

With Flash

Without Flash

Bender blending in

The Happy Family

Fishkeeping: Day 15, Part 2 - Welcome to the new Fish!

On day 15, I made a secret trip to a secret place to do some secret mischievous Fishkeeping things. Things like buying more fish!

I went to my local fish store (LFS) and picked up 3 Pearl Danio's and 5 Black molly's. I wanted to get some Zebra Danio's, but I did a good scan of the tank and found a dead one floating, and decided it was not worth the risk. One the other hand the black molly's had spawned. If they were comfortable enough to spawn, I felt like they would be a good bet.

Once I got them home, I did a quick water change because I knew the numbers were going to be high, and I didn't want the new fish to be traumatized.

I put the bag from the fish store in the tank to gradually change the water temperature and get the fish used to it. After about 15 - 20 minutes, I netted them out of the bag and put them in my tank. Last but not least I dropped some stress coat and ammo lock in the tank to make them feel better.

(PHOTO'S)

Water levels before putting fish in tank

Getting the fish used to water temp

Without Flash

With Flash

Pearl Danio's

Pearl Danio's

Bender

Pearl Danio

Fishkeeping: Day 15

 I checked the tank levels last night and got the following:

• Ammonia: 1.0
• Nitrite: 0.0
• Nitrate: 0.0

I did a 50% water change and gave them some food. Afterwards I went off on a secret trip to a secret place to do some secret mischievous Fishkeeping things that I will be sure to inform everyone about as soon as I can.

Fishkeeping: Day 14

I'm back from New York and now I'm ready to kick this hobby in full gear.When I walked in the door, the first thing I did was check the fish. My neighbor had been feeding them, so I knew they were alive, but I was not prepared for what I saw. The Danio's had literally changed colors. Instead of being the iridescent white color, they were a iridescent blue.

The books I had read basically said that the fishes color were related to the quality of the water they were in, and their diet so I went ahead and checked the numbers.

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: 2.0 mg/l
• Nitrites: 0.0 mg/l
• Nitrates: 5.0 mg/l

After checking the last numbers, I was disappointed to see that the biological filter was no closer to being seeded. Additionally, the Ammonia was really high. The AquariumAdvice.com members stated that Ammonia should not be above .5 or it could be detrimental to the fish. I went ahead and filled up my 10 gallon cooler with tap water and treated it.

I then siphoned 9 gallons of water out of the tank, and put 9 gallons of new water back in and checked the numbers again:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: 1.0
• Nitrites: 0.0
• Nitrates: < 5

The Ammonia was still high, so I buckled down and did one more water change. After the second change, the numbers were:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: .5
• Nitrites: 0
• Nitrates: 0

Those numbers made me feel much better, but I could tell that the fish were a little traumatized from all the water flowing in and out. I decided to call it a night and gave Leela, Fry and Bender a pinch of food and called it a night.

(PHOTO'S)

Tank during first water change

Fry looking colorful in the ammonia rich water

Fishkeeping: Day 11

Once again DC helped me feed the fish when I got home from work. I could tell that DC didn't mess with them, because they were a lot more active and less skittish. I am really starting to enjoy watching the fish eat, its like a little dance that they are doing for me. After the feeding I started thinking that with the trip to New York tomorrow and knowing that the ammonia was not going to go down, it would be best if i did a partial water change tonight.

I started out by taking a 10 gallon wide cooler and filling it up with 6 gallons of water. I then added tap water conditioner, pH 7.0, and aquarium salt. I then put the cooler near the tank and walked away.

After the kids were asleep, I went ahead and took the current levels of the tank:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: 1.0 mg/l
• Nitrite: 0.0 mg/l
• Nitrate: 5.0 mg/l

Then just to be safe, I got the pH level of the new water which was 7.0.

I used my neighbors siphon to fill up my new 3 gallon bucket. I dumped the bucket at repeated. Doing the math, there was 6 gallons taken out of the tank, and I had a cooler with 6 gallons of replacement water. All I had to do was put the water from the cooler in the tank and boom goes the dynamite, my first PWC was completed.

As a final step, I grabbed the water levels one more time:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: < 1.0 mg/l
• Nitrite: 0.0 mg/l
• Nitrate: 5.0 mg/l

6 gallons of water out of a 20 gallon tank is approximatly 30% of the total water volume in the tank, so numbers should have gone down 30% and I don't think it did. After some serious thinking, I went to AquariumAdvice.com and looked up information on API water testing kit expiration date. It said the last 4 digits of the batch number on each bottle represents the date it was made, and it should be good for 3 years after that date. the bottles dated from 2009, so I didn't think the testing chemicals were bad yet.

I really didn't have anymore time, so I turned the light off and said goodnight to Leela, Fry, and Bender.

(PHOTO's)



Draining the Tank

Filling the cooler with 6 gallons of water

chemicals for replacement water

Leela, Fry, and Bender

Levels after PWC

Levels prior to PWC

pH of replacement water

Tank after PWC



Fishkeeping: Day 10

I knew my son was still terrorizing the fish because when I came home the fish were hiding in the corner behind the filter and the plants were all pulled up. after a stern talking too about how the fish are already scared enough and that a Cracken arm swinging into the tank really doesn't help things, I had him help me feed Leela, Fry and Bender.

I got DC to help me feed the fish and then check the pH which was at 7.2. DC put in 2 scoops of pH 7.0 and we decided to give the fish some space so they could eat.

After the kiddies went to bed, I took the rest of the chemical levels:

• Ammonia = 1.0 mg/l


• Nitrite = 0.0 mg/l


• Nitrate = 5.0 mg/l

The Ammonia levels are starting to get high, so I decided to reach out to Aquarium Advice for some help. The general response to do some partial water changes and try and get some seeded media from my neighbor. Seeded media is anything that already contains the beneficial bacteria needed for biological filtration.

I didn't have time, but tomorrow I plan to start doing some water changes. With the trip to New York looming, I need to do as much as possible, because I can't expect my neighbor to do water changes while we are all gone.

(PHOTO'S)

Staged shot of the tank

The Tank - Day 10

The Tank and chemical testers

Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate tests for Day 10

DC after helping to put the pH 7.0 in the Tank