'Cleveland' Rocks!

[Parka]

Parka , Self Reporting in the Evening. Good Evening!

1. Gravel Pour. As Project Commander, it is MY responsibility to see that each and every task and step is followed through so that the next task can be tackled and so on, until my beautiful acrobatic Swimmers are Splish Splashing about, enjoying the Fresh Waters of the Cleveland, including new attractions to be delighted by all, far and near! The Gravel Pour has begun and this evening I put 18 loads in. One load is maybe 25 or 30 pounds, one of those pots in the picture.

I wanted to keep going but it was getting sketchy, not dangerous but I climbed up the wrong ladder, the taller one, and I was on top rung, It was too tall for the Cleveland and I sorta almost 'fell' inside the tank! The weight of the pot of gravel plus my own lard, it got tilted like teeter, my body did, I SCRAPED the FRASS and some skin off my wrist trying to right my clumsiness!

2. Pictures for the Hard of Hearing! Good Night Friendly Monster People!

 

[Sassafras]

Nice progress! Be careful, not that your tank isn't adequately proportioned to be a "glass coffin", but you don't want to become its inhabitant.

 

[Parka]

coffin

Who, Me? I ain't been coffin, I bin sneezin on account that I caught me a case of Short Bovid, it is a Beef Borne illness! And I'm still goonna go for a ride today too and THEN as Task Master + Project Commander, things WILL get accomplished, with exciting pictures!

Good Morning!

 

[Parka]

Well, this evening I will underwhelm with news that the Gravel Pour has been completed, 18 more of those pots that I used for a total of 36 loads. I'm going to fill one more up tomorrow just to weigh it. And then I will be able to get a fairly accurate estimate of how many pounds of gravel is in there. My guess is 20 to 25 pounds per pot.

About that Short Bovid, I had some bad Beef Bouillon, don't eat the Brown Bouillon!
And after those 18 more loads, it was getting late anyway, I spent the best part of the day out on my bike and so after hauling pea gravel in tiny buckets, that was all I got done, tomorrow I have the entire day dedicated to the Cleveland.

I also have Chicago drained almost half way, that makes it much more manageable to work on it, because ya must lean inside a bit to reach stuff, and if ya lean in when the tank is full, so yeah, a partial drain makes the work a little easier. Now tomorrow, I should have a fun picture show tomorrow evening!

 

[Parka]

Good Morning!

I dint post last night on account I was up late and I got all tired! I got the picture show ready for your visual entertainment! But the exciting part is that in just a couple more hours, I will have a Brand New picture show because I also dropped a pair of baited hoop nets in the Majestic Chicago so's I can relocate my Pretty Swimmers in the Posh Cleveland.

Now, about the decor in Cleveland, My Neolithic Roots are Showing! My Inner Junkie absolutely LOVES it! My Inner Junkie worships Paganism! Cleveland ROCKS, Stonehenge Style,

Also during the War of 1812 with battles taking place on the choppy waters of Lake Erie, The Tree Trunk Tavern was the staging point for the American forces. Brittain took a Beating on Lake Erie! And the Tavern still stands today, affectionately known locally as the 'Trunk'. HOORAY for the Trunk!


This is Akron. i gotta move Akron!

 

[Parka]

Mkay, I got about a lil more than half my swimmers caught in the first load and once released in Cleveland, most of them went straight Under the Tavern, before they ventured out (as pictured!) to explore the undeveloped area of Cleveland. It's my understanding that the new occupants are interested in raising funds for an amusement park!

1. I have a 12 watt circulation pump at each end of Cleveland for a mild to moderate water movement. Water movement is very important and I am going to build a clever secondary filter, with a 10' length of gutter with house plants and some sort of a flow out waterfall thing too. And before the water gets to the gutter, I want to pump it up above the gutter so I can also have a trickle tower shower, I got plans! I just gotta figure it all out and create!

I wonder how long until crystal clear water? I wonder if I will get an algae bloom first? When I set Akron up, I got a HUGE algae bloom, so much so fast that I was completely not expecting so I just kept removing the algae and after a while it was no longer a problem.

About that algae bloom in Akron, It was of Biblical Proportions, the Bloom was... That is, ahem, if ya got one them tiny ass Bibles that fit in a shirt pocket...

 

[Sassafras]

If I might ask, who was Pearl? Someone special, I'm sure.

 

[Parka]

If I might ask, who was Pearl? Someone special, I'm sure.

Pearl was from the first batch of Goldfish that I got after I built the Akron and she was just a feeder goldfish but she had a jumbo tail and she was all milky white.

And I only planned to use a few goldfish to get the tank cycled and I was hoping for cold water predator fish but I fell hard for the Goldies.



Anyway, here is a pic from exactly one year ago after I put my Swimmers in Chicago from Akron. I still have 1 Koi and 3 three Goldish to trap in Chicago.


And now today, after two days it hasn't cleared at all.




I kinda like how the Goldfish and cars look together. Anyway, Pearl got stuck in a decoration, it was a copy of the Eiffel Tower and I had an air stone at the base and the bubbles trapped Poor Pearl in the belfry where she was unseen and her injuries were too severe to survive. I actually made the Pearl Headstone as a Halloween decoration for Akron but it has become a permanent part of my Goldfish tank.


And this last pic is another look at Akron and that Pictus catfish is all the way against the back of the tank so it doesn't look so big, however, this one in particular is the largest of my group of ... FIVE of those shifty swimmers! I bet it is close to six inches and I never see it come out and two other Pictus seem to keep this big one company while the other two cats seem to squabble and argue with the other three, it's pretty cool. I plan to eventually get at least 3 more Pictus cats. For the longest time I was never sure if I had 2 or 3 of the Pictus, because they would never all come out together. But recently I have been counting 5 individual cats, out of a total of 6 that were purchased.

I have a pair of those standard plecos and they were tiny babies two years ago, maybe an inch long, and they grew super fast.

 

[Parka]

Parka Self Reporting.

1. Vandalism. The water in the 'Cleveland' hasn't even cleared yet and the largest Neolithic Replica was Vandalized into a pile of ruins by, Vandals, of course!
2. These are the suspected Vandals, Lemonade and Bumbles!




3. During the repair of the Replica of the World Heritage Site, The Stonehenge, it has also bean decided to remove the rather unsightly black plastic pipe tunnel. My swimmers don't seem at all interested in it and it is UGLY anyway. I have another one going the other direction and it is much more hidden underneath the trunk.

4. Filtering. I love plants anyway and I want to learn about how other folks tie it all together, and I have no plans to use a sump below, I still am very interested in what is going on in those separate chambers, Especially when I saw a picture of a shrimp living in the filter... I want to do something above the tank and I came up with a plan that I have never seen or done myself.

My plan is to use a 10' length of gutter as the main 'chamber' lined with houseplants. Before the water goes in the gutter, the plan includes a trickle shower over a stack of lava rock and then where the water leaves the gutter, the plan includes some sort of a flow out tray with a deeper basin maybe, and certainly a short waterfall.

 

[Sassafras]

Looks like a first-class bacteria bloom going there, but it'll clear eventually. Can you get an eel of some type? I know the temperature would limit the choices, but would look cool living in that remaining undergravel tube. Hey, don't be too quick to cry vandalism, with a name like "Bumbles" it could have just been a clumsy accident.