HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tse@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Anthony Tse)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Dynamic Aquaria by W.H. Adey
Date: 5 Oct 92 21:46:09 GMT
Organization: Naval Research Labratory, Washington, DC

In article <1992Oct5.162942.12323@javelin.sim.es.com> krogers@javelin.sim.es.com writes:
>tse@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Anthony Tse) writes:
>He also has one major strike against his tanks in the Smithsonian: the
>cooling of the building is more or less defunct.  You could tell from
>his book (between the lines) he was really frustrated about it as his
>tanks were getting regularly stressed in a bad way.  No mention was
>made of using a seperate chilling unit.

	I believe they have just moved the tanks recently.  It's now right
near the main entrance next to the whale.  I don't know much about a
chiller, but you don't need a defunct building cooling system to screw
his tank up, he got so many mega watts of MH on top of the tank I am
sure that alone is going to heat things up.

>One other thing from his book is they (at least were) use 3700-4200K
>MH bulb @ 50-60% CRI.  This is not the best light to view things by...

	The tank look very yellow, I hope it's the MH and not the water.

>At any rate, Anthony, I'd like a (reasonably) detailed description of
>the Smithsonian tank some time.  What exactly bugged you about it so
>much?  I'll probably never get to the DC area so I'll not be able to
>see it myself.  In particular I'd be interested if the tank's in poor
>shape because of the algae scrubber and other basic ideas he has or if
>it's due to poor maintenance, the cooling problem, general lack of
>funds which plague such institutions, etc.  I guess I'd have to see
>several tanks set up along his lines for comparison to answer that
>question.

	There were a lot of hair algea, lots of dead corals, lots of half
dead corals, and not a single healthy or even half healthy coral.  As
a matter fact, the tank look more like a rock tank then anything else.
What I really don't understand is, what in the world did he do to the
water to promote such algea growth?  I don't think I'll have that much
algea (not counting the algea in his scrubber) even if I remove all my
turbo snails.  Maintenacne in the tank is next to impossible, you'll
have to take a dip in the tank to get to anything and it looks to me
like they haven't taken a dip in a long time.  Oh, no coralline algea
anywhere.  The tank really look more like a fish tank with piles of
rock then anything else.
	There's a 55g tank there also, I have no idea what kind of
filtration it uses, it looked much better, although the only corals
in there are mushrooms, a leather coral, and 3 clams (I hope those clams
survive) which all are pretty hard to kill.  It's has entire too much
macro-algea in it for my taste (I am with Steve on the coralline rock,
macro-algea is a pain, they kill corals if you don't keep them in
check).

-Anthony
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: cost of Dupla heating system
From: dresler@cabell.vcu.edu (Dan Resler)
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 17:25:54 GMT
Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University


Is it just me, or do others think that the Dupla heating cable
system is *way* over-priced? Why is it so expensive? Does anyone
know of a comparable product, or if one is currently being developed?

On a related topic, would using a low-temp heating *mat* under the
tank be better than using no substrate heating at all?
-- 
Dan Resler                             
Dept. of Mathematical Sciences        email: dresler@cabell.vcu.edu
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia, USA 23284-2014
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria
From: mar@athena.mit.edu (Mark A. Rosenstein)
Subject: Re: Electronic pH sensors/controllers
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 15:46:26 GMT

There are basically three parts to such a system: the sensing probe, the
meter/controller, and a reactor of some kind.

The probes are typically glass filled with a solution and a special membrane
on the end.  There's an electrode at the tip that picks up the electric
potential produced as the side effect of chemical reactions.  Different
kinds of probes (pH, redox, etc) are slightly different, but use this basic
theory.  I figure that it's probably worth buying a probe rather than building
one.  Good probes seem to run $40-$60.

The meter is a milli-volt meter that reads 0 to 1000 mV.  The trick here is
that it has a very high input impedance, like 10^12 ohms.  Redox is measured
directly in mV, pH has to be converted.  I forget if the conversion is a simple
multiplier or if it's an exponential scale, but it's something that's easy to
do.  The better meters also have temperature probes built in, and do an
automatic temperature compensation since many probes are temperature
sensitive.  The difference between a meter and a controller is that a controller
will throw a relay when the reading passes a certain point so that it can
control another piece of equipment.

The controller typically will run a pump, valve, ozone generator, or something
like that.  If you are controlling redox, you might have it add more ozone
to the skimmer when the level is too low.  If you are controlling pH, you might
arrange to turn on a CO2 reactor to lower the pH.  This really depends on what
you are trying to control.

I'm told that the little hand-held pH and redox meters are not all that accurate
and aren't really worth it.  And since the real meters are so expensive, I've
never gotten one.  I've thought about trying to build one, but haven't seen
plans for the electronics.  I know that working with that high an impedance,
even the length of connecting wires will matter and I'm not up to designing
that kind of circuit.
					-Mark
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: cliff@watson.ibm.com (cliff)
Subject: Life Span
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1992 21:25:21 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: A

Anyone have a table giving a rough idea of the life-span for 
different kinds of tropical fish?
Rumor has it that (generally speaking) the larger the fish, the longer
its lifespan.  Is this true?  Thanks.
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: oleg@netcom.com (Oleg Kiselev)
Subject: Re: Need Help Growing Brine Shrimp
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 08:28:15 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <39133@fibercom.COM> lab@fibercom.COM (Lance Beckner) writes:
>I am trying to grow Brine Shrimp to maturity (so my Bettas will have

Give it up.  It's pointless.  It's cheaper and easier to either buy them
live or frozen at a pet shop or to try culturing some fresh water critters,
like Daphnia.  You can use green water and yeast to feed them.  You can feed
the same things to the brine shrimp, but don't expect to get huge numbers of
them unless you provide plenty of space for them.  A 10 gal tank with a
sponge filter, for instance.

>Has anyone out there managed to successfully grow Brine Shrimp?

I have a 5 gal bucket 1/2 full of brine from a local salt marsh water
hole where I collected brine shrimp some months back (MattK, when was
that?).  As long as I remember to add some fresh water to keep the
brine from getting too thick, the bucket has a few dozen, may be a
hundred, brine shrimp swimming in it.  After the last time I let the
brine thicken and crust over,  I simply dumped some fresh water full of
unicellular algae, good old green water.  A week later the brine shrimp were
teeming in their modest numbers, not in any way enough to maintain more than
a few small fish.

>Is it that hard to do or am I just doing something wrong?  

It's not hard to do and the main thing you are doing wrong is using simple
salt.  Yes, it's good enough to hatch the eggs, but it lacks the necessary
chemicals to keep the shrimp alive.  Use a marine salt mix to get a better
water.  Feed the shrimp either OSI's APR or yeast or even simple green
water.

I like green water.  It's a wonderful thing.  Good food for the various
microcrustaceans, excellent first food for the newly hatche degg-layer fry.
What do you want to see your fish for anyway?  They probably don't want to
see you...

-- 
Oleg Kiselev at home			...use the header to find the path
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: ola@lesti.hut.fi (Ola Rinta-Koski)
Subject: Re: New tank suggestions
Organization: BREWTeX '92 -- International Boy Stout Organization
Date: 29 Sep 92 14:36:24

In article <907@ozz.oasis.icl.co.uk> srs@oasis.icl.co.uk (Steve Strong) writes:
>So, I'm thinking of getting a small (about 2 gallon) tank for my room
>when I arrive. Anyone want to offer suggestions as to what to put in
>it. I'm currently thinking about a reasonable amount of plants and some
>assorted tetras.

  Please post; I too am contemplating a 2G tank and would like any and
all suggestions as to what to put in it.

  Oh, and mine will be opaque on 3 sides, if that gives any additional
ideas. 
--
      Ola Rinta-Koski  ola@vipunen.hut.fi  OK 20 B 22, 02150 Espoo, Finland
    "Americans pay less for gear, electronic goods, CD's, clothes, etc.
     than the rest of us because it is their legal right as free citizens.
     It's somewhere in the Constitution."  -- Nick Rothwell

Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: jon@apollo.mcl.bdm.com (Jon Humphreys)
Subject: Re: New tank suggestions
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 17:02:37 GMT
Organization: BDM International, Inc.

In article <OLA.92Sep29143624@lesti.hut.fi>, ola@lesti.hut.fi (Ola Rinta-Koski) writes:
>In article <907@ozz.oasis.icl.co.uk> srs@oasis.icl.co.uk (Steve Strong) writes:
>>So, I'm thinking of getting a small (about 2 gallon) tank for my room
>>when I arrive. Anyone want to offer suggestions as to what to put in
>>it.

>  Please post; I too am contemplating a 2G tank and would like any and
>all suggestions as to what to put in it.
> 

I'm also very interested to hear what people have to say on this.  Please
do post a summary, if nothing else.
--
From: bj368@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mike E. Romano)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: Smog and Air Pumps
Date: 4 Oct 1992 09:12:31 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


  I have just started an aquarium and I live in an area where
there is a great deal of car traffic.

I understand that smog eventually affects the air pump.
But I am also curious:  can smog particulates from the
air bubbles dissolve into the aquarium water?
And if so, does the =relative= temperature between
the air bubble and the water have an effect, i.e.
increase or decrease the rate of smog absorption?
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks.  Mike Romano   U Cal  Berkeley
-- 
Capt. Kirk: let's head for that planet, third from the sun, it
            looks promising.... |-)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: dphantom@triton.unm.edu (darlene an  92sep02 lawry)
Subject: Re: [F]Angel fish question.
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 00:49:51 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <6861@transfer.stratus.com> scol@scottsdale.az.stratus.com (Scott Colbath) writes:
>
>Hi all,
>
>	This is my first post to this group and I am a new frashwater tropical  
>fish enthusiast. My 29 gallon tank is in it's third week with eight fish and on  
>it's way to cycling just fine. 
>
>	My concern/question is this. I have heard from the aquarium shop I  
>frequent that angel fish are very difficult to keep alive in a typical  
>community tank. I wanted a pair of angels, but don't want to be going through  
>them one after another. The person at the store went as far to say that they  
>always die on her in the store soon after arriving and that generally, I should  
(stuff deleted)
>--
>**********************************************************
>Scott Colbath
>Stratus Computer
>Phoenix, Az.  (602)852-3106
>Internet:scott_colbath@az.stratus.com
>**********************************************************

Welp, I've never had problems with Angel fish.  But they are very sensitive
to new tanks...don't even consider putting one in until it's well established.
Only thing I've had kill mine in recent years is too much current...switched
my under gravel from pump to power heads, and the poor guy got battered to
death.
From: mstephens.520@postman.gsfc.nasa.gov (mark stephens)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Filter related questions
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:42:19 GMT
Organization: nasa/gsfc

In article <1992Sep28.130827.108989@watson.ibm.com>, cliff@watson.ibm.com (cliff) writes:
> 
> I was setting up my Fluval 403 this weekend and had to start the flow of water
> by taking off the return pipe and putting my mouth on it and sucking in?
> Is there a better way to start the siphon action?  Seems like this method would be	
> a bit unsanitary after the tank gets established!

If you have quick disconnect valves, you only have to start the siphon (and
say "yech") once.  They are worth the (to my mind) high price.

> 
> Once I got the water flowing into the cannister, to my shock, water started
> spraying out the place where the top and bottom of the cannister meet.
> Obviously I did not have the "O-ring" seated properly. I finally got it right.
> Any tips to really know when the O-ring is seated properly?
> 
> 

Yep, happens all the time.  I seal off one end (again, using half the quick 
disconnect valves) and blow on the other end.  If no air comes out, I have a 
seal.  Kinda yechy though.

    mark
From: oleg@netcom.com (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Laterite -- Overdose?
Date: 4 Oct 92 04:48:39 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <BvKF97.Enp@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ffujita@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Frank Fujita) writes:
>some laterite, and didn't follow the directions on the label.  

Bad idea.  You should ahve at least asked the NET for advice on how to treat
your hornwort or how to add iron.

>It said >to push a piece into the gravel near the roots of the plant.  

Hornwort has no roots.  Laterite is not a good way to feed it iron.  Chelated
iron solution (like Ferroplant) would have been a better choice if your
plants need it.

>I thought
>, well, why not just put it under the filterplate of the RFUGF.  So, in
>less than 3 minutes my tank looks like mud.

That's why.  Laterite is a clay.  Clay is an aglomeration of minute
particles so small that they stick together and become impermiable to water.
If you stir it up in the water, you will get a murky mess and the tiny clay
particles will stay in solution for days.  Or weeks if you have any sort of
water flow.

>Is this dangerous to the fish? 

Probably not tremendously.  A number of killifish live in the murky mess
like that, which accounts for the bright colours of Nothobranchius family.
But other fish may not like it.

>Will the opacity go away shortly, or ever?

If there is no water movement -- it will clear up in days.

>Is there anything I should do other than daily 25% water changes?

You should probably do a 100% water change trying to get as much clay out as
possible.
-- 
Oleg Kiselev at home			...use the header to find the path
Xref: sparky rec.aquaria:7633 alt.aquaria:5120
From: steve@celia.UUCP (Steve Tyree)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria,alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: [M][R] Coral spawning report
Date: 28 Sep 92 17:54:36 GMT
Reply-To: celia!steve@usc.edu (Steve Tyree)
Organization: Rhythm & Hues, Inc., Hollywood

Reef Breeders should read last few paragraphs.

In article <Flatline.0lly@qube.OCUnix.On.Ca> Flatline@qube.OCUnix.On.Ca (Flatline) writes:
->From what I read elsewhere, the planulae are colonized by micro algae soon
->after or even before settling. It is the micro algae that provides the
->growth after settling. 
->I don't remember everything about your tray set-up, but I seem to be under
->the impression that the trays aren't as well lit as the main reef. If this
->is so
->(iff) then this could be the explaination as to why the settled planulae
->are dissapearing soon after settling. I would think that it would be
->usefull even to have the trays provided with even more light than the main
->reef, in order to give a boost to the micro-algae....

 The lighting should be adequate due to the distance from tray. Very close.
Also spectral lines are good. Its not metal halide lighting and not VHO
flourescent, but distance from bulb to tray bottom is around 7 inches.
Last weekend I copied a few articles dealing with planulae settling. Finally
found the American Scientist article from march/april of last year. Will do
some reading. My tank has started a 30 day moon cycle as of yesterday.
This is due to monthy planulae brooding coral which seem to do better on
a more natural cycle. Some planulae have settled and appear to be developing
slowly, others appear to not be metamorphising completely.
 Also, I am putting together a new article which will attempt to detail
environmental parameters and how they influence captive reef spawning. This
article is being written for the computer nets and should be finished in a
week or two. It contains 4 sections. 1 - Descriptions of environmental para-
meters and how they might influence spawning. 2 - Descriptions of coral spawn-
ing methods. 3 - Actual accounts of spawning reports that have appeared on
this net with special emphasis on parameter influences. 4 - A long reference
list and a glossary of terms.
 This article will be close to a scientific level. Its meant to bridge the
gap between reef breeders and marine biologist or scientist. Its primary
purpose will be as a reference for reef breeders. Section 1 and 4 are near
completion. I could use some help with section 3. If anyone has posted an
article on coral invertebrate spawning (coral, anenomes, crustaceans), if 
you could send me copies of your original message via email it would make
the task easier. You might want to arrange your data in a presentable format
and I could insert it as is into the article. Also, if anyone who has posted
spawning info and does not want their name mentioned in the article, send me 
email.

 Steve Tyree - Reef Breeder
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
From: kncarp@nicsn1.monsanto.com (Kevin N. Carpenter)
Subject: Re: cycling a tank with live rock
Organization: Monsanto Company
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:03:48 GMT

steve@celia.UUCP (Steve Tyree) writes:
: 
:  Thats a good plan. You might want to purchase very high quality live rock
: and build it up over a period of time. A recent article on Dutch tanks 
: mentioned that adding a couple of pieces of fresh live rock every 6 months
: or so has proven very benificial to reef inhabitants. Possibly introduces
: a greater diversity of organisms which will prevent specific species blooms.
: 

Steve - do you have any suggestions for sources of small quantities of very
high quality live rock?  Assuming the restraint is monetary (say ~$100US),
how much VHQLV can one buy?

--
Kevin Carpenter       Internet:  kncarp@nicsn1.monsanto.com
Monsanto Company      Fidonet:   1:100/215.0 (home)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
Opinions expressed are those of the author, not the company he works for. 
Xref: sparky rec.aquaria:7748 sci.aquaria:1405
From: steve@celia.UUCP (Steve Tyree)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria
Subject: [M][R] Possible Gorgonian sp. Spawning ?
Keywords: reef breeding octocorals soft gorgonian planula
Date: 2 Oct 92 20:43:53 GMT
Reply-To: celia!steve@usc.edu (Steve Tyree)
Organization: Rhythm & Hues, Inc., Hollywood


 An Gorgonian sp. coral exhibited some strange behavior last night
that could represent a method of spawning. The specimen has been
in my reef since sunday. It is unidentified but has bright orange
branches with bright orange polyps which extend out about 1 centimeter.
The coral had 2 receded areas and a couple of small barnicles and
worms on the branches when purchased. The receded areas were fully
recovered just 4 days after installation. The coral is feed baby 
brine twice a day. It has an incredible ability to snare fast moving
baby brine even in strong currents. The outer orange membrane is 
growing so fast that it is trying to overgrow the barnicles.
 Now to describe what could be a form of spawning. I found a refer-
ence to this spawning method in a Marine Biology scientific journal
article written in german. Thankfully the abstract and pictures were 
in english. The article is the following -

  Marine Biology 22:341-345 (1973)
     "Ecological significance of the Slime Secretion in the Planulae
      Larvae of the Hydroid Genus Eudendrium."

  A summation of the articles abstract follows.
   Polyps or planulae when spawning release slime ropes which flow in
   the water current. Planulae slide down the ropes or are part of the
   ropes creation. This apparently allows the planulae to settle close
   to the parent colony.
 
   "In the presence of water movements, larvae hatching simultaneously,
   tend to join a trail of slime; in stagnant water, the larvae move
   down the rope seperately."

 Its possible that my G. sp. released ropes like those described above.
The event was video taped for later reference purposes. Lots of the slime
ropes were collected and some planulae like objects were seen under a
microscope. Orange elipitcals about 200 microns long and circular orange
objects about the same size. This event was different from usual waste
ejection by this specimen. The possible planulae were put into a reef
tray. This specimen might also be a candidate for fragmentation prolif-
eration attempts due to its incredible growth rate.
 Some of the slime ropes were up to 4 inches in length. When the rope
was broken off the remaining section seemed to contract or be pulled 
back into the polyp a little. Has this behavior been documented or 
observed in Gorgonian type corals before ? Was it a spawn or waste
excretion ?

 Steve Tyree - Reef Breeder
From: scol@scottsdale.az.stratus.com (Scott Colbath)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: [F]Angel fish question.
Date: 29 Sep 92 20:28:14 GMT


Hi all,

	This is my first post to this group and I am a new frashwater tropical  
fish enthusiast. My 29 gallon tank is in it's third week with eight fish and on  
it's way to cycling just fine. 

	My concern/question is this. I have heard from the aquarium shop I  
frequent that angel fish are very difficult to keep alive in a typical  
community tank. I wanted a pair of angels, but don't want to be going through  
them one after another. The person at the store went as far to say that they  
always die on her in the store soon after arriving and that generally, I should  
buy them only after they have been in the store for about two weeks. This wait  
weeds out the strong from the weak (the weak ones are obviously dead and gone).

	I know that this store is a quality place. It has been around for ten  
years and the people who work there seem very knowledgeable. Could they have a  
bad breeder sending them bogus fish? All others species seem fine. Any input is  
appreciated.
--
**********************************************************
Scott Colbath
Stratus Computer
Phoenix, Az.  (602)852-3106
Internet:scott_colbath@az.stratus.com
**********************************************************
From: drake@Autodesk.COM (Dan Drake)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: Electronic PH Pens
Date: 30 Sep 92 23:07:06 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Autodesk Inc., Sausalito CA, USA

spanton@oswald.cs.odu.edu (William Spanton) writes:
> With prices continuing to drop, has anyone had any experience good or
> bad with "electronic ph pens?"
> 
> Many Thanks
> 
> Bob Spanton
My experience, a couple of years ago, was not good at all.  The thing
would take a long time to stabilize and sometimes didn't want to give a
stable reading at all.  Or I'd measure one solution, measure another,
return to the first, and get a significantly different reading.  A
simple colorimetric test with a LaMotte test kit sounds as if it should
be more work and less accurate than a pH meter, but I find the reverse
to be true.

BTW I didn't abuse the equipment; I had enough experience in real labs a
long time ago to understand that a pH meter is delicate equipment.

--
Dan Drake
drake@Autodesk.com