Adding Salt to a Freshwater Aquarium

(Last post of the year!  Happy New Year!!!! I hope 2009 brings health, happiness, and security (in many forms) to everyone.)

The other day I was researching how much salt to add to our main freshwater aquarium containing an adult Black Ghost Knife fish (1/2 teaspoon/gallon or a little less for an adult) and remembered a common mistake people new to the hobby tend to make. (Yay! Something to post!)

Common Mistakes (in no order):

• Using the wrong salt
• Adding salt to the tank the wrong way (directly to a filter or dumping in directly all at once)
• Adding too much salt after a water change

What is creeping and crawling on the sides of your tank?!

I recently had to fight a gross (to me)  problem with one of my tanks. It was a fairly new set up so it was in the final stages of cycling. I only had one cichlid (Green Terror) in this freshwater tank at the time. Over time I would notice the glass of the aquarium getting cloudy. It started with odd, puffy stuff growing on the sides and then….worms. When I looked very close at what was on the side of the glass, I noticed white lines moving. Lots of them.  Some of these worms would float in the water column, though I doubt that was where they wanted to be. They covered everything. Over time they would get a little bigger. At first I thought of nematodes but the fish seemed like it was not being bothered by them and treatment for them did nothing. Also, unlike nematodes, their movement was very controlled and fairly slow. No side-to-side thrashing, even in the water column. I could just make out a head wider than the body on some of the bigger ones. Planaria. (Maybe some nematodes as well.)

Mint Tea: Grow Your Own

Last update: Oct. 30, 2008. Pictures added.

Do you love mint tea or mint in your tea? You can grow and dry your own very easily. You can then have ready, good quality leaves for a nice hot cup or add some leaves to other tea that you are steeping for a hint of mint. This is also good for people who wish to be sure their tea is organic or pesticide free.

Juggling and Some

This blog is mostly links dedicated to juggling. It is especially heavy on how to juggle for both beginner and experienced. I also have information on making your own props. To go with some links I added files and photos so this will not just become another links page. This page is constantly in progress so do check back often. I have most of this together at another place already, I just need the time to move it here. Most links can be found through searches but I hope to save you from having to plow through the less useful ones.

 

 

Build a Strong, Inexpensive Aquarium Stand

Welcome!!

Update in progress: September, 2009. A reader sent pictures of her stand. I cannot get them to load but I am workig on it. Check back.

Most recent update: January 4,  2009: A few ideas on how to cover the front has been added after the building instructions if you do not want an open stand.

Fish keeping can get to be an expensive hobby. I recently, at the time of this posting, had to upgrade to a 55 gallon aquarium on a very limited budget so I needed an inexpensive stand. For my smaller tanks, I managed to use furniture on hand but this was not possible for a large, heavy tank.

I looked at stands for sale at pet shops and was horrified by the quality of the stands for the price that was asked. They did not look like they would last long. After checking out reviews online, it turns out many of them do not if they should get wet.  If you are like me, I tend to get sloppy during water changes no matter how hard I try to keep the water where I think it should be. Also, any doors and other accessories tended to come apart with regular use.

I decided to look into building my own.

Note: I do respond to comments on old posts.

How to Raise Meal Worms

Update May 15, 2009: I added a quick note on raising a smaller amount of worms at the very end as well as a precaution against moths and mites.

Meal worms are handy for feeding a variety of animals. I feed meal worms to my fish and to wild birds at outside bird feeders. Other people use them to feed pet reptiles, skunks, sugar gliders, and so on. If you use very many, it can get expensive buying them from a pet shop or wild bird store. Raising them is an easy option not only for less expensive worms, but also to ensure healthy, gut-loaded worms for your pets. Some people also like to eat them (not me-no way!) since they are a healthy protein source.

This picture shows a very full container of medium sized worms.  The bran is about to be refreshed. The clumping of worms is where there are pieces of carrot.

There are a variety of ways to raise meal worms that you may read. There is almost no “right” way to do it. You just need to find what works for you.

In this blog I will attempt to explain a method that has worked for me for nearly a year.