Skip to main content

Aquarium set up

I got a "river tank" from my brother and sister-in-law when they moved to NY. I love it! (Thank you thank you thank you!) It's the most beautiful fish tank I've seen, with fish swimming up waterfalls and plants helping filter the water, and lots of other neat features.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to set it up yet. I'm not sure exactly what happens to me when I look at all the pieces, but my heart rate goes up, I start sweating and forgetting what I just read... You'd think I could handle something like this, seeing as I got my PhD in mathematics, but there are pumps and enzymes and stress coats, and 10 easy steps to set it up... It shouldn't be so hard. Not only that, but I have had a black thumb and therefore don't have any of the houseplants I need to take cuttings from.

Probably my hesitation stems from unhealthy perfectionism and I should just jump right in! On the other hand, I don't want it to die a horrible messy death and require me to clean up a big mess because I failed to read the directions for the aquarium hood. Hmm.

As usual, the internet comes to the rescue:
http://www.rivertank.com
This shows a much bigger one than I have, but it gives you the idea. When I get mine set up, I'll post some pictures =)

Wish me luck!
Labels:

Comments

David Christian said…
The nice thing about the tank is: if you let it go south, you can fix it in about an hour of emptying the water and then putting clean water in.

The big thing to watch out for is when the fish die (which hopefully won't happen for a while). It's easy to let yourself not get new fish, which then saps your motivation to pay attention to it.
June 27, 2007 at 9:30 PM
mathmom said…
Hi David!

I think that my kids will be keenly aware of any death in the tank. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing =) but I hope they'll insist on having some more fish put in.
June 28, 2007 at 10:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Cardan
Post a Comment
Read more

Southern butter mints---vegan edition

After the last post, we started to be able to see what the fuss was about.  The ones made with twice the butter were the best candy I have ever tasted.  Ever.  So then we started experimenting.  How long do you pull it?  Longer than you think.  And then pull a minute or two after that.  Suddenly every single batch was creaming, pretty much right after we would cut them. I tried adding less than double butter and I think they taste much better (more delicate, according to one taste tester). The latest experiment we did involved using Earth Balance instead of butter.  It cooked pretty much the same as usual, although I was distracted right at the moment I had to pull it off the stove so it cooked maybe a bit longer than usual.  Amanda and I each pulled a quarter, while Luke pulled the bigger half.  Luke's really wasn't turning very fast---perhaps because it was too hot when he took it off the marble.  Mine was turning faster than Amanda's so we traded for a while.  Aman
Post a Comment
Read more

Southern Butter Mints part 1

Some friends of ours have a granddaughter getting married (and she's a friend of ours as well) and so I agreed to help out with the shower.  Apparently this is to be a "southern" shower, full of tradition and elegance, but not too far over the top. Among things that are needed for a shower are punch with great grandma's punch bowl, sandwiches with cream cheese and green pepper jelly, and southern pulled butter mints.  "Ah, nobody can make those anymore.  We used to know someone, but the tradition needs to be passed down."  Like a fool, I said that I'd be happy to give it a try.  I suffer greatly from "I got a PhD in math, how hard could X be?" where X is something like gardening, or quilting, or cleaning, etc.  It's always harder than I think it will be. "We'll call Mrs. X who makes these, maybe she'll pass down the method.  I hope you don't hate me!"  I was actually planning on doing research online, watching a fe
Post a Comment
Read more