#reference text

[no-delight]

The camera: a multi purpose room in a patrician home. Usually occupied by the owner of the home and his wife when they wished to conceive a child. Also a room to which persons important to the homeowner might come so that they might be shown interesting or rare items displayed in the room.

[382eco-blog]

Project Reference Text Discussion: Anne-Katrin Spiess

CO2 NUETRAL BICYCLE JOURNEYS: GREEN HORIZONS, SUBLIME CLIMATE & DEMO ECO M.O

Spiess began this project in 2007 with the intention of negating her carbon footprint when traveling, her intention to journey across the northeast of the U.S. without using any sort of energy derived from the burning of gas. She intended to rely solely on the power she could generate using a bicycle. Her idea was not to shame people for driving, or even using public transport or car pooling, and neither was it to push the bike as a means of clean transport, but rather to utilize her own body as a power factory (which just so happens to emit much less CO2 than a car). She was inspired by an exhibition flyer for “Green Horizons” held at Bates College in Maine. The artist researched the relative output of emissions if she were to undertake the journey by car (as most people would without a second thought).  In order to travel to said exhibition, Spiess decided to travel by bicycle. Thus began the first journey, “Journey to the Green Horizons.” From here the entire effort was split into three separate parts, or ‘journeys’.

Upon completing her first, Spiess installed the bike she used at the exhibition. The subsequent two played off the experiences of the first; Speiss collected photographs and data along the way in order to form a thesis upon her completion. She cited the experience having a “ripple effect” upon her actions and lifestyle.

What I take from this is that she analyzed aspects of her consumptive output and decided to completely neutralize them in terms of transportation, which considering the distances traveled, is quite an undertaking. Many artists and athletes have done similar, taking to biking, walking, or jogging their way across the country. What I find interesting about Spiess’s project is that she did it with the intention of actually getting somewhere rather than just raising awareness. Furthermore, after she started her second journey, she began cataloging different forms of data in order to form a thesis. I like this idea: to observe data and then create something from it, in the context of green living, however, this often means taking something away. And yet, Spiess still had the actual bike she used to travel as an art installation. With my own work, I want to observe my actions and form some conclusion, then use that to either create or catalog my subtraction –– the end result will be ‘art’ at which to look, but the process will have lessened my carbon footprint.

[thebrackishtank]

For whatever reason, tumblr is not letting me respond to a conversation I was having regarding freshwater and marine beneficial bacteria with toastabitat (link). This is an EXTREMELY interesting topic and it’s nice to get a chance to discuss! So I’m going to elaborate a little more here.

My (somewhat limited, admittedly) knowledge of the subject is based mostly on a study performed by Tim Hovanec, the guy behind Dr. Tim’s products oddly enough. He did a study in 1996 which showed that Nitrosomonas europaea is the nitrifying bacteria most prevalent in marine systems (showing up in 14 out of 14 samples). On the other hand, this same bacteria is all but completely absent in freshwater systems (only showing in 2 out of 38 samples). It went on to discuss the presence of other oxidizing bacteria, Nitrosospira and Nitrosolobus spp., finding that Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira were almost never found in the same system. Given the fact that Nitrosomonas is not the prevalent oxidizing bacteria in freshwater systems, this suggests that freshwater and marine systems have VERY different sets of beneficial bacteria.

Even more interesting, Nitrobacter spp. were not found in any sample, fresh or salt water! The idea that Nitrobacter is found in aquariums is based on a terrestrial soil assay performed in the 1950′s and may not be as accurate as originally thought.

The study can be found here, if you are interested in reading. But beyond freshwater versus marine, I really only have anecdotal evidence to support brackish having separate bacteria from either of these. From what I’ve seen, going from 1.000 to 1.003 or 1.005 immediately, which is brackish, does not disrupt the nitrogen cycle. But going from 1.000 to 1.010 does. Likewise, going from 1.025 to 1.018, which is also brackish, is fine but going from 1.025 to 1.012 or less kills off marine bacteria in live rock. So there’s no blanket statement for whether brackish is more marine or more freshwater because it really does depend on the specific gravity in question.

[thebrackishtank]

Which, in your opinion, is easiest to take care of? Fresh water, brackish, or salt water?

An interesting question! I can’t speak from personal experience on Marine tanks (never had one), but given the labor involved and the sensitivity of Marine fish, I’m pretty sure I can discount that.

In Freshwater’s favor, assuming you buy fish that thrive in the water conditions that come out of your tap, it has the least upkeep of the three. You don’t have to add anything to the water besides dechlorinator, you have more choices for plant life (which feed on fish waste products), and for those times that fish get sick there are a wide variety of medications to choose from.

On the other hand, Brackish tanks are immensely stable in terms of pH and hardness, and the fish can handle swings in water parameters (including salinity) better than Fresh or salt water. If keeping Mollies or Spiny Eels (often they are gambles in freshwater) you’ll find them bulletproof in Brackish tanks. It also inhibits freshwater ailments like Ick, Velvet, and certain fungi.

I’ve had my shares of problems with either (short lived, thankfully) but I have to give the nod to Freshwater. It’s only slightly easier, but it’s still easier.

That said, don’t let it intimidate you! Once you have a good handle on Freshwater, Brackish fish keeping really is just about as straightforward.

[thebrackishtank]

Can you make a step by step guide on converting freshwater to brackish?

Sure thing, I added it to my drafts and will get on that in the next few days. But I can provide a little answer right now for your specific situation (the Guppies). Really, all you’ll need for them is about 1.002 or 1.003 and that will leave you with the ability to use a wide assortment of salt-tolerant plants.

Interestingly enough, you can basically convert your tank immediately to 1.002 without losing any of your beneficial bacteria. Because of this, you have two options. First, you can mix the appropriate amount of Marine Salt mix in a separate container (you’d need about 2 teaspoons per gallon to get to 1.002, so for your 20 gallon tank this would be 40 teaspoons or a bit over 13 tablespoons) with some dechlorinated water. Let’s say about a gallon. Once the salt has fully dissolved, you can just add a little water now and then to the main tank over the course of the day until all the salty water is in. Shouldn’t stress the Gups, the bacteria, or salt-tolerant plants.

Option 2, since there’s no particular rush, is just to do your regular water changes, but the water you switch in would be brackish water (with the 2 teaspoons Marine Salt per gallon) and over a few changes would get the tank to where you need to be.

You can use whichever method you are most comfortable with. From there, you can modify the Specific Gravity up about .001 per week without losing any bacteria, if you wish to go higher. If you’re doing brackish, though, you’ll want to invest in a hydrometer. This will give you an exact measurement of the Specific Gravity (whereas the 2 tsp/gal is more of an educated guess). A cheap one will cost about 10 bucks and should be “good enough” for brackish keeping.

Let me know if you have any specific concerns, or things you’d like covered in the article!

[thebrackishtank]

Javafern here! When I started I was told that hardness doesn't matter by my lfs and by forums so thank you for your help! I'm totally new to everything besides cycling and making tanks look pretty, so can you help me grasp what hardness and brackish means?

Oh! Of course. For home aquariums, the two measures of hardness you are likely to come across are General Hardness (dH or dGH - measures calcium and magnesium in the water) and Carbonate Hardness (KH or dKH - measures calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate). What hardness does is 1) keeps fish used to a certain hardness healthy (Guppies need hard water as in the wild, Neon Tetras need soft water) and 2) buffers the pH. High hardness keeps the pH higher and more stable, lower hardness will allow the pH to go lower and it may swing a little. I have a long post about hardness which might help you too (link).

Brackish water is the middle grounds between freshwater (pure water has a Specific Gravity of 1.000) and Saltwater (a Specific Gravity of 1.025), Specific Gravity being the measure of how dense the aquarium water is compared to freshwater (in this case, being a measure of salinity). Many of the fish and invertebrates found in fish stores can do well in this type of water, and there are some advantages of even doing 10% strength sea water (link), including raising the hardness of the water, keeping the pH stable, and fighting certain freshwater illnesses. The article I referenced has some more information on that point.

You can make brackish water by adding Marine Salt Mix to the aquarium… the same kind used for saltwater tanks but not as much of it as a saltwater tank would need. If you’re interested in learning more, I have written a LOT on this subject. I have an article on brackish basics here (link), and I have links for the various brackish fish (link) and other reference articles on my tumblr page, just use the links to the right to navigate.

Phew, I know that’s a LOT of information to digest, but if you have specific questions, please feel free to let me know!

[thebrackishtank]

I have a 125 gallon brackish tank and I was wondering if you knew of any predatory brackish water fish that can thrive in high-end brackish conditions (SG: 1.016)

Sure do! Depends on how predatory you are looking for, there are a few that are predatory but generally non-aggressive (Volitans Lionfish, the Striped Sleeper Goby, Scats, Bullrouts, Tete Sea Catfish) and some which are predatory AND aggressive (Pike Livebearers, Target Fish). There are also some Moray Eels which will do well in this salinity and the Pufferfish which can be predatory and easy going or nearly psychotic (GSPs, Stars and Stripes Puffers, Immaculate Puffers). Two of the Archerfish (the Largescale and Banded) are also apparently able to withstand up to fully Marine conditions.

Phew, hopefully that helps! Let me know if you need any advice regarding compatibility.

[wilsonlibunc]

Fun research in the Southern Folklife Collection today. This is what work is like every day. If you’d like to join us for some research in The “Pop” Scrapbook, please visit Wilson Library and request ML400 .P67 1966