Thoughtophone

I read about DIY CO2 in a few places. It suggested radical improvements in plant growth. I decided I'd have a go. The fermentation bit is really easy. I suggest you buy your supplies, including disinfectant, from anywhere that supplies to home brewers. Use white wine yeast. Various articles call it Champaign yeast. I suspect calling it Champaign yeast is an excuse to charge you more, and in any case, you probably aren't allowed to call in Champaign unless that's where it came from, anyway. The property you want is tolerance to high acidity and alcohol levels, so it will last a long time. I've found 2 and a half cups of sugar and 2 cups of water will last for two weeks with half a teaspoon of yeast. I do the activation in warm water first. See this article . I inject the CO2 into the output hose using a t-piece: 12mm through, 4mm T. I find the most of the CO2 has dissolved by the time the water gets over the lip of the tank and back down again. I've also used pne...

My aquarium project has been progressing slowly, but finally I have some fish. I've actually had some shrimp along the way, too. Any way, straight to a couple of photos: These are Danio erythromicron : cross banded danios. They are very shy and move quicky. They are extremely difficult to photograph. I choose them because they like reasonably hard, alkaline water, and that's what I've got. They are also beautiful - the photos don't do them justice. I'm hoping they will be a little more relaxed in a few weeks. I've got a dozen of them for now. More than this is recommended, but I think I'll buy something different next. Perhaps something a little less up tight, and more visible. I've added some more plants, and used some taller, but more sparse planting in the middle ground to try and draw them out where I can see them. This does seem to work. I've also got some shrimp. They are cherry shrimp, but they are a little disappointing to be honest...