tunagirll

Of course we do

Using the rule of thirds and the fibonacci spiral will help you with layouts, also look to make triangles and 'lead' the eye over the scape. I find if I have a clear image in my head, it works well, but if I'm a bit wishy washy, it takes a long time and plenty of fiddling to get it looking all right. Good luck. Great tank!

The fix for high population is better living conditions - often in third world countries they have extremely large families in order to allow for the large amount of children that subsequently die to malnutrition and disease. Those children help support the family. By providing better conditions, clean water, vaccinations and medical help, the mortality rate in children goes down, which leads to a lower number of children being born. You only need to look at Australian families for evidence of this at work; the average Australian family will have something like 1.7 children, not enough to even replace themselves.

Ebola is horrendous but it makes the news because it's such a deadly and unusual virus. What you won't hear about is the 300,000 deaths every year due to malaria.

Archimedes is in his new home

Picked him up yesterday and the Aquotix staff as always charmed me with many warnings to make sure I look after him and don't overfeed etc etc so with promises of photos once he's settled in I was out the door with our new family member.

He settled in almost immediately and already with a day gone past, he's starting to colour up (was on hold in a darker tank). He seems very happy with his new digs and is spending his time patrolling the tank, doing somersaults and attacking various items of offence (mainly the floating plants). He's also already begging for food every time I come past; I can tell it's going to be a nightmare resisting the urge to give him a pellet every time he makes sad faces.

Sorry Tunagirl, I've already taken that roll on this forum lol

I reject your reality and substitute it with my own

Maybe it's retaliation for the plane America shot down some time back in Iran.

I'm over the hill so neither North or South - I am simply...... awesome

East is where it's at - everyone knows that.

In the one or two *cough* times I've been past Aquotix to pick up gear for my one or two *cough* tanks, I kept cruising past this fella and ultimately I just couldn't resist making him the latest member of the family

So I picked up a nice secondhand 3x2x2 and set it up. Since the original Archimedes was Greek and I couldn't put live plants in, I went with a Grecian theme for the tank - well for as long as he leaves it looking like that!

So here is the tank in place, cleaned and water tested etc. It's in the office, so Archie will keep me company while I study my geology It's been sitting there a few weeks, since I had to focus on getting my mum's community tank up and running properly - discus (enough said).

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The all important background - found a fab picture of some old Grecian ruins that looked like it would fit in with an aquarium look nicely. I've posterised it, printed and cut and pasted it onto cardboard for a mockup. If it comes up great, then I'll have it printed as a proper poster at Snap. You can posterise any image, there are plenty of freeware apps that will do it for you if your printer doesn't have a poster mode. It just needs to be a high enough quality that it prints out looking okay.

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Mockup done, trimmed and taped onto the back. Looks promising!

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Appropriated mum's cache of lovely flat white rocks - plagioclase with a little biotite here and there. geology finding practical use Mixed some white/cream gravel with a few handfuls of natural to give it some texture and a lived-in look.

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Add lots of fake plants. A few 6" combos in the front, and I found some little plants that matched the flowering plants in the background to help make a 'transition' from image to tank. Last but not least, a mat of fake grass, cut into various shapes and sections and wedged into nooks and crannies.

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A quick stop to connect the very large filter and fittings. The heater is on the side of the tank so the background isn't obscured.

Time to fill up!

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The next morning

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The tank reeked since I didn't clean the hoses while it sat there a couple of days, so hopefully tomorrow it will clear up, otherwise I'll have to clean them and go again! Put in a few floating plants to help break up the light so it's not too bright in the tank between the new light and the white gravel. Put in about 2ppm ammonia to check that the (cycled) filter is still okay after a few days sitting. With any luck it will be showing fully cycled in the new day and I'll be ready to bring Archimedes home

You're asking the wrong person what I think about a deliberate withholding of cures for diseases. After all, we have vaccines that save millions of people, and science has already started to kick some goals for HIV. Just think where we might be today if we didn't have wars, famine, inequality. We lose Einsteins and Woods every day that could hold the cure. We just shot 100 out of the sky. Humans are the ultimate self destructive species.

So where's the conspiracy theory that Russia shot the plane down to help stop a cure for AIDS?

Yep they will fill out slowly over time. Just remember you have to feed your plants like you do your fish - they want trace elements, macro fertilisers, and carbon to grow. It's a balancing act between all those and the light - just remember less is more!

yay auction

I did the calculation and that 80 grams does seem correct.