[Prev][Next][Index]

This and that

I don't like to post when I'm not caught up on reading messages and during
and after our recent move I got behind, so the following is a hodge-podge
collection.

1)  Dismantling a UGF:
for the person wanting to dismantle the UGF in the 100g--I seem to recall
in a discussion some time ago about UGH that someone had success with using
a UGF plate with small submersible heaters in the uplift tubes.  Wasn't
this supposed to create a slight current similar to UGH cable heating?  Of
course, I'm way over my head here, but I thought I'd raise this.

2)  Grounding Probes:
the recent discussion of grounding probe materials raised the following
question in my mind.  I was thinking of setting up an alarm to warn me that
my RO product water collection tank is full.  I could buy a float switch,
but why not just set it up so that when water touches two metal contacts a
circuit is completed and a little piezzo buzzes?  If I bought a piece of
cheap flatware would that be a safe probe for water used for aquatic
plants, fish, and humans?  Unfortunately I just can't find that pair of
platinum-plated electrodes I had years ago.

3)  Plant ID:
thanks in large part to all the help I get here, I'm achieving increasing
success with aquatic plants.  I do not, however, know the name of my most
successful plant.  Can someone help me with an ID?  Description:  I vaguely
recall it was sold as "Moneywort."  It is a stem plant with rather circular
leaves.  At regular intervals the leaves emerge from the stem in pairs
opposite each other.  Each pair alternates direction--that is to say if one
pair of leaves emerges east and west from the stem, the pairs above and
below emerge north and south.  The plant roots itself quite well, and
sometimes roots protrude from the places where the leaves are attached.
What is it?

4)  Selling plants:
Since these and other plants are doing so well I am going to have to get
rid of some (I can't find my fish).  For the stem plants I take to the
retailer, how many stems is appropriate for a bunch.  Do you folk buy
weights for each bunch you sell or is that the retailer's job?  If not, how
do you bunch them?  How long should the stalks be?  I find that just a
couple inches will turn into a couple of feet in a matter of weeks.

5)  Java Fern problem, sort of
My Java Fern does smashingly--in one sense.  Attached to the little plant I
bought a long time ago are many, many little plants, spanning several
generations.  Can anyone speculate as to why the main plant doesn't grow
much and why it and its descendants keep producing more offspring?  It
looks more like a shrub than a rosette plant.

6)  Trace element problem?
Along with my successes have come some failures.  Notably I have not had
good luck with swords, H. Poly., or something someone gave me they called
Needle Ludwigia.  Although the swords have lived for a year like this,
they, like the ludwigia and the hygro always look pale and leaves tend to
dissolve as they age.  The ludwigia and hygro have just about had it.  I
can't seem to get the easy ones to grow!  Plants I gather are tougher to
grow (e.g. anubias nana, corkscrew val, etc. do very well).  I know the
tank is not optimal for plants, but am I right in thinking my Flourish is
not doing the job?  Could it be that it's gone bad (some sort of powder
settles out of it).

Well, sorry I went on so long.

Thanks in advance--the APD is truly both a delightful community and a great
educational institution.

Dirk 

In Eastern Iowa where if I reported the weather conditions they would have
changed by the time I hit send anyway.