I actually collect rainwater for that tank and mix it with some RO from the store. I also add just a dash of tap to put a tiny bit of mineral content back into the water column. To be 100% honest, though, I have no idea what my pH is - I mostly judge by the health of the flora and fauna. I've got visible fungal colonies starting to replace the nitrifying bacteria as the pH drops so I think I'm on the right track?

One thing that I think made the process a lot easier was the way I setup the tank. I let plants dissolve in a bucket of rainwater with some small snails and rotifers to speed things up. Once I have a thick layer of mulm, I go ahead and use that as the bottom layer of my substrate.

The idea there is that the decaying organics will provide a semi-permanent layer of humic acid to serve as a buffer. I mostly came up with this process through trial and error, but I was inspired by Alex from The Secret History Living In Your Aquarium on YouTube. He has a whole series on blackwater that I would highly recommend. He lacks the polish of the bigger fish streamers but his content is super easy to listen to in the background and extremely well researched.

There has never been an IT department but I guess at one point she was young and computer literate.

I haven't tried killies yet! My wife is planning on getting some once she upgrades tanks. She keeps some spotted dwarf rainbowfish in her dedicated shrimp breeder and their numbers are doing well.

Here's my full list of reasons you might mention someone's race in that context:

1. It's a story about something specific to that person's cultural background.
2. Including a not-so-subtly coded message about how you feel about that race.

My current therapist encourages me to trip shrooms and explore Hegel because that is what works for me. If you find a good one then they will quickly realize the traditional line of advice isn't what you're looking for. That said, I've also seen my share of awful therapists so I understand your hesitancy.

I will add it to my list! I've only recently started to get past some travel anxiety and I'm itching to see some cool nature stuff.

Which parks would you recommend visiting? Ideally one with water features!

No such post as a bad post. Just throw some shit at the wall and hit reply.

I'm heading down to a new fish spot I discovered yesterday while out for a hike. I'm bringing some dip nets, a seine, a GoPro and an observation tank this time to see what I find. Lots of green sunfish and bluegill that were visible from the shore, but I'm after some of the riverine darters that aren't in the shallower creeks around here.

Darters play an integral role in the food chain and a lot of local species are woefully understudied. I'm planning to collect a few such specimens for a biotope tank to see if I can learn anything about their spawning habits. My local fish club is tied to a nearby university and features some pretty big names in ichthyology among its members (brag), so I'm hopeful that I can make some useful contributions to some conservation work that they're engaged in.

Also, hear them out when they start talking about unhinged conspiracy theories. It costs you nothing, makes your driver happy and gives you a funny story to share with your friends.

My last Uber driver told me we'd reaches the apex of human technology three times already but we lost it all due to human arrogance. My friend who was riding with me thanked me for handling the small talk and of course I took the praise, but I actually loved every second of that conversation. At least the topic is more interesting than the weather or what someone does for work.

I actually think this is really important praxis. If you make media of any sort, your primary goal should be to make people question their underlying assumptions about capitalism. We should be making more games that lead people to Marxist conclusions.