Judy L

I'm getting a CO2 system for my freshwater planted tank and can't figure out the difference between a regulator sold for home brewing and a regulator sold in aquarium stores other than the fact that the latter cost three times as much as the former. I know that some are equipped to use a solenoid but I'm not interested in that as I only need a slight bump in CO2 and I will leave it on 24/7 with an airpump kicking on when the lights go off to increase O2 at night.

I also noticed that the aquarium regulators that only cost twice as much as beer keg regulators (versus the ones that cost three times as much) don't even include a safety relief valve in case of pressure build up in the line which isn't unheard of if the diffuser gets clogged with algae.

I've had my 20 gal. freshwater planted aquarium for about five years and have had the same fish in it for the whole time (I made sure it was VERY well established before I added fish). Anyway, I started with one male Swordtail, three female Swordtails and an oto cat. The male Sword and the cat are still going strong but the last of the females passed away last week. I actually want to phase out my freshwater and move to saltwater (I have a new custom 50 gal tank but only have room for one setup) but my male Sword seems really lonely. I hate to just leave him all by himself until he dies but I don't want to get two or three more young females for him as they will probably live another three to five years and then I'll have to get a companion for the last one and on and on in an endless cycle. Also, my friend no longer has his Koi to whom I was feeding the inevitable Swordtale fry (mean, I know, but I don't have room for 50 Swords in my tank). Is there anything I can do to help my Sword, maybe another fish that won't live so long that he can't mate with but will make him feel less lonely? The cat doesn't help as he spends his day hanging on the walls of the tank in search of algae.

Today, Saturday, there is another circular rainbow surrounding the sun here in NE CT. We also had a circular rainbow on Tuesday (I got a nic pic of that one). The sky was clear on Tuesday, today we've got "hazy" clouds and it's pretty humid. Are circular rainbows fairly common or is this twice in one week occurrence pretty strange?

I have something wierd going on in my 20g freshwater planted. 1st, parameters:

ph: 7

kh: 8

gh: 14

ammonia, nitrites: 0

nitrates: <10

50% water change weekly

My swordtail, newest purchase, was quarentined for 4 weeks. Seemed fine so into the tank. A couple of weeks later I noticed he had white stringy feces and I moved him back to quarentine and treated for internal parasites. He appeared to get better (active, normal feces) so back into the tank. Now most of my white clouds have become very listless, hanging at the top of the tank, not eating. I can't see any abnormal feces but these fish are wicked small. They have been this way for about 2 days now. My 2 otos, swordfish and 1 of the 7 white clouds remain very active.

Any ideas on what is going on with my white clouds would be appreciated.

I have set up a new planted tank and encountered a problem I've never seen before. The tank is 2 weeks old and has only plants, no fish yet. It is a 15 gallon with an Eheim Ecco 2330 canister filter, Hydor 200 watt in-line heater and a Hydor Nrg Green Co2 system, 2 24 watt T5 bulbs, 6700k. The substrate is 3" of Eco complete. Plants are Rotala Indica, Ludwigia Repens, Dwarf Hairgrass, Micro Chainsword and Dwarf Baby Tears. One piece of Mopani wood, presoaked for 3 months. Water is Arcadia bottled water, pH is 7.2, kH is 6.0, gH is 10. I dose with .8 ML Seachem Flourish twice a week. Phosphates are 0 ppm, nitrite is 0 ppm, nitrate is 5 ppm. The plants are growing well but the problem is ammonia. It's at 6 ppm! I have absolutely no idea where this ammonia is coming from since nothing I've added to the tank should be producing any. Before adding to the tank the water tests 0 ppm for ammonia. Any ideas where this ammonia is coming from?

I tried calling Yamaha and they were useless.

The manual says:

"Connect the ground lead of the machine to the ground terminal and connect the end to the ground electrode buried in the ground".

The machine currently has a green/yellow wire (ground and neutral, I think) connected to the engine and the other end bolted to the frame. This is the wire they are speaking of in the manual as there are no others. The problem is the ground terminal, which is behind the control box. They make it sound like I should have the G/Y wire and my ground electrode connected to the ground (earth) terminal. However, this terminal is a good seven inches away and if I unbolt the G/Y wire from the frame it will not reach; same if I remove from the engine. I'm not sure what the hell I'm supposed to do to ground this properly. Should I just leave the G/Y wire as is and run my ground electrode wire to the ground (earth) terminal behind the control box? It is a Yamaha EF2600, brand new right out of the box.

I have an emergency generator for my 55 gallon planted aquarium but I don't have one for my 10 gallon betta tank that is located at the opposite end of the house. During a power outage (and we have them on and off all winter) should I put Felix (my betta) in a bag and float him in the main tank so he doesn't get cold? The two tanks are kept at about the same temperature.

The northeast ice storm yesterday left hundreds of thousands without power, and it will take days to restore power to everyone, this at a time when temperatures are going to be in the single digits at night. Given the importance of electricity for basic needs such as heat and medical devices, should the federal government start a new Rural Electrification Project that would place electrical lines underground, starting in the north where winter storms place much hardship on those living there?

I volunteer at an animal shelter where 2 Goldfish have been taken into emergency custody. Their tank is FILTHY! It's so bad that you can barely even see the fish through the haze of filth (there are 2, one all orange approx. 3", another mostly white w/ orange around gills, about 2"). They are in a 10 gallon tank, VERY small gravel substrate. There is a power filter but the bag is overgrown with filth and there's no biological media. Today I removed approx. 60% of the water (you wouldn't believe the waste that was sucked up) and replaced with fresh water (treated w/ StartRight) at the same temp. I also added a new charcoal filter bag to the filter. Tomorrow I will be adding a sponge filter for biological filtration and additional aeration. I would really like to clean the entire tank and replace the small gravel w/ larger gravel but there is no place for them to go while the tank cycles. Any ideas on how I can get this tank up to snuff without hurting the fish? At home I have only tropical fish so I am not familiar w/ the care of goldfish. PS: I didn't have my testing kit w/ me today so I couldn't test Ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia.

I have my new betta in a 5 gallon tank with heater which maintains 78 degrees and Whisper 10 filtration system and 15 watt light. Yesterday when I first introduced him to the tank he seemed fine. He swam around, ate a pellet of food, and explored his plants. At night I turned of his light, leaving only the living room lights on and he went to sleep hiding at the bottom in the plants. When I went to bed I turned off all lights and sometime during the night he moved to the bottom corner, out of the plants. Today he hasnt' done anything except hang out along the edge of the tank at the top. He didn't eat, no swimming. He looks healthy and vibrant but seems very unhappy. I am going to swap out the Whisper 10 for a sponge filter so there will be less current but I'm not sure what else to do. Any help is appreciated!

I need a longer cable to put more distance between my Cidco phone and my Plantronics binaural wireless headset to reduce interference. The thing is, I can't figure out what kind of cable to get. The cable I need to replace plugs into the handset of the phone so it's a 4P4C modular connector but the wiring is different than standard handset cable (which doesn't work; I've tried that). Instead of black-red-green-yellow the wires are red-black-green-white. I can't seem to find any modular cables with this type of wiring, only the standard BRGY. Any ideas?

If I have a circulation pump that outputs 60 GPM, will each line carry 30 GPM if I have a wye fitting on the output side which splits to two 1-1/2" lines? What if I the wye splits to one 1-1/2" and to one 2"? What I am attempting to do is have one line with less pressure than the other.

The great debate as to wether mans eager consumption of fossil fuels contributes to, or indeed is the cause of, global warming seems to me a useless one. Does it really matter? None of the fossil fuels are an infinate resource, and the majority of what's left of the crude oil is to be found in areas of the world not exactly known for stability. Shouldn't we be making every effort to lesson our dependence on them as soon as possible, regardless of global warming?

The movie "Trading Places" starts with a Mozart piece. I'm sure that it's the overture from "Le Nozze di Figaro", while my brother insists it's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". Can anyone resolve this for us? Thanx!

Instead of wasting billions in Iraq, first on destroying then on rebuilding, shouldn't we be improving our own infrastructure, such as placing power lines underground in rural areas so they are not so badly affected by summer and winter storms? Fifteen years in Boston and I have never once lost power, thanks to underground power lines.

A recent wind storm sent a branch smack through one of the panels on the roof of my new metal storage shed, making a hole about 8" long by 6" wide. Any ideas on what I can do to repair it would be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking forward to spending another $700.00 to replace the entire thing.

Islamic fundamentalists are like cockroaches, an infestation to be eliminated. The phrase "War on Terror" elevates the fundamentalist to the role of soldier or warrior, which they are not simply because warriors and soldiers do not hide themselves among the civilian population, especially not among children. Wouldn't a better phrase be "Extermination of Terrorists"?

I have a cat who will run out of the house one day in the spring. All through summer she won't let me near her and will only eat when I'm well away from the food bowl; if I try to come near she'll run off. Then, come fall when the leaves start to change and the nights cool off, she'll be at the front door. I let her in and there she'll stay all winter, sleeping on my lap or on my bed, not moving except to eat, drink or use the litter box, nudging me frequently to be pet and cuddled. Come spring it's off again, avoiding me like the plague.

Has anyone else ever known a cat like this?

If you think the Pentagon, and this Administration, really takes our soldiers in Iraq seriously, take a guess as to how many Medals of Honor have been awarded since the "war" began.

Hint: A soldier was 122 times more likely to be awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam and 232 times more likely in World War II.

For the last few years I've been perfecting my pumpkin carving skills and this year I'm finally ready to adapt Frazetta's "The Death Dealer". However, I'm going to need a really good set of tools to create such a detailed piece. Can anyone recommend an online site where I can get professional tools? The cheap ones I've used in the past just aren't going to cut it, if you'll excuse the pun!