Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #392

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #392
From: Edziu Iskra <edziu at gate_cybernex.net>
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 10:42:14 -0500 (EST)
In-Reply-To: <199612180521.AAA12015 at looney_actwin.com>
> From: "Mr. Schwartz" <ss3643 at mail_gte.net>
> Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 21:08:33 -0800
> Subject: Glass Shrimp
> 
> I have had glass shrimp in the past.  They are interesting to watch, and
> as mentioned, excellent at cleaning up tank refuse.  I believe that I
> once researched them a little, and found that the genus was
> Palaemonetes.  If anyone knows, is this correct?  BTW, they should only
> be used in heavily planted tanks with very small or herbivorousl fish. I
> would also like to know more about these creatures, like how to  breed
> them, and what Ph, temp., food, etc. they require. Thanks very much.

Crustaceans, as a rule, are difficult to breed (especially marine.)  Given
the right conditions, they may breed, but it's night impossible to rear
out the young, because they start with a free-swimming microscopic stage.
In this stage, they tend to be filtered out (especially if you have
overflows or surface skimming.)  When they get bigger (as in, big enough
to find if you look for them), they tend to be eaten.  Freshwater
crustaceans may have slightly different life cycles, and might be a little
easier, but I don't really know about them.

I once designed a marine tank (never got assembled) based on undergravel
filtration leading to the sump.  That is, instead of lift tubes
coming up from the gravel bed, I cordoned off part of the tank with a
panel, so that water flowed down through the gravel bed, across the bottom
of the tank, and into the cordoned area.  Water is pumped out of that
holding area into the filtration units, from where it's returned to the
tank.  Since most free-swimming buggies stay off the bottom, this would
allow the microfauna to survive unfiltered.  They would have a chance of
growing, although most would probably be eaten by filter feeders.  Then
again, it would be a decent way of keeping live food for filter feeders.

Just a theory.

			Edziu


> From: JOlson8590 at aol_com
> Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 00:20:52 -0500
> Subject: Grounding electrodes
> 
> This subject is getting quite interesting.  Really, it is, and I am enjoying
[clip]
> As for the rest, I am not convinced by proper scientific evidence.  Lots of
> anecdotal evidence, but the really good numbers stuff still has not shown up.
>  No double-blind experiments, no control groups, no Null Hyphothesis.  I
> cannot prove you are wrong, but you have as yet failed to _prove_ the
> _claimed_ benefits of the grounding probe.  Sorry, it just does not make
> sense to me.

It doesn't make sense to you?

[clip]

> his/her hapless body. Now, if we remember just how tiny the electrical
> impulses are, that the fish's brain is sending down the nerves to stimulate
> the muscles of the fish so it can swim, we can see that our current may be
> quite a nuisance for the fish.  A year or so ago, there was an article in one
> of the big fish magazines in which this photographer was "shocking" the fish
> so they would display their fins and be quite effectively frozen into
> position for the photo.   It does not take much current to really mess up a
> fish.  

Well, then, wouldn't it make sense that the fish could suffer ill effects
from electrical currents?


> Hey, we believe fantastic claims regarding foods.  We believe some very
> esoteric stuff regarding intake and use of trace elements.  Guess it is
> logical that many of us believe in grounding probes.  I just don't happen to
> be one of those believers - except, as I have stated more than once on this
> List, I do believe they sure do a great job of tripping a GFI.  :-)  

It doesn't seem that fantastic or esoteric to me.  However, I think a
poorly installed grounding probe could be worse for the fish than none at
all.  If, for example, the tank is charged from a short somewhere, and the
tank is not grounded, then the fish don't receive any current.  The ill
effects are only experienced when something (like you) shorts the tank.
On the other hand, if a ground is attached to the tank such that the short
runs through the water/fish, they're getting actual current, which, as you
noted, is something to which they are very sensitive.

I should think the better way to go would be to ground your electrical
devices such that they can't short into your tank.  Or, if you're on a
GFI, then any ground will guarantee that the smallest short trips the GFI.

Ah, well.  I shouldn't ramble.

					-- Edziu