Re: [APD] Filling aquarium

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

--- Steve Pushak <teban at powersonic_bc.ca> wrote:
> I don't like the idea of slowly filling a tank over a
> long period of
> time. I'm afraid it will overflow if not watched
> carefully & I'm not
> willing to expend an hour intently concentrating on a
> filling tank. I
> like to do it in about 10 minutes while I'm multi-tasking
> some other
> husbandry tasks.

Karen's demo sold me 100% of the way to fill a tank without
clouding the water. She was filling a tank into which she
had just put fresh Flourite. Her method is in the archives,
but basically it's lay the flourite in dry, put a layer of
lightly rinsed flourite on top, then fill slowly. How many
of us have filled f flourite tank with reallywell rinsed
flourite on top fo the substrate onlyto get cloudy water? 
90% of the success in is the fill rate. Fill a tank in ten
minutes with Flourite in it and you'll have awfuoly cloudy
water even after hours of rinsing. I suspect dirt tanks are
equally problematic if not worse. Spend a few minutes
rinsing just the top layer, take your time filling, and the
water can be as clear to the eye as the sound of a
well-tuned bell is to the ear.

One doesn't have to *concentrate* on the filling the whole
time (unless it's a really small tank ;-)  )  One need only
pay enough attention to see when the tank is getting close
to full, then a bit more attention is called for. Karen was
giving a public presentation while the tank was filling,
answering questions from the audience . . . meanwhile I as
flashing a camera like crazy, which also must have been
distracting.

If you're absent-minded, filling a tank can be risky no
matter how much you mean to concentrate. For those folks,
one can get sensors that sound an alarm when the water gets
up to a preset level. Also, for those of us that might be
especially absent-minded and not even notice an alarm, it's
not too hard to put a water level actuated shut off valve
on the end of the hose to prevent overfilling -- but I
never met a person for whom that is necessary.


Scott H.

=====
-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Cryptocorynes seem cryptic? Worried about meltdowns? Can't tell a C. wendtii from C. undulata? See 'Crypt'master Jan D. Bastmeijer, host of The Crypt Pages website, at The 5th AGA Annual Convention. Details/Registration at www.aquatic-gardeners.org & www.gwapa.org


	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends.  Fun.  Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/ 
_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants