Category Archives: Guest Post

Starting an Organic Garden

Guest Post:

Contrary to popular opinion, pesticides and man-made fertilizers are not necessary to create an attractive and productive garden. Commercialized gardening chemicals can be dangerous, especially if you are growing food in your garden. Organic gardening is much healthier both for the plants and for the gardener who is working with them.

The first thing to do is pick an area that gets at least half a day’s worth of sunshine. It will also need to have good access to water and be able to drain well, or you could raise your garden bed a few inches from the ground.

To prevent weeds you will first need to dig and pull out any ones that are remaining, rake out the debris after you are done to ensure that the area is completely clear, you can wait a little while to see if any weeds sprout again. Afterward you should add natural compost to the soil along with greensand. The sand will help supply your soil with phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen.

Dig up some of bed soil and mix it with the fertilizer, if the ground is clay you should add additional sand to it. Leave the soil for about a month so the nutrients can be properly distributed. During the meantime you can find organic mulch to place over the soil, ground bark or coconut husks work great for this.

You should also create a compost pile in the back of your garden. Any extra leaves, natural food waste, and anything organic can be placed in this pile. This will make for an excellent fertilizer with all the necessary nutrients. You will need to be careful when placing some foods on the compost pile as they may smell or attract rodents, some natural kitchen waste will be fine. Another great source of organic fertilizer is grass trimming from when you are finished mowing the lawn, they break down fairly quickly and are easy to handle.

Home Turned Green: resources for indoor gardens and outdoor gardens.

Diverse food for aquarium fish

In a previous post I touched lightly on the importance of giving aquarium fish live food. Live food provides a more natural and a more balanced diet than a commercially prepared fish food. The prepared foods should only be considered as a basic diet, not the total diet.

A typical way of feeding aquarium fish is to sprinkle a quantity of dry food into the aquarium. As the food slowly drifts to the bottom the fish try to get a share. If the fish are unable to eat all of the food, it settles into the aquarium gravel. Bottom feeders and smaller fishes will eat some of the settled food but if it is allowed to stay in the tank it will rot and foul even a large fish tank. Live food not only gives the fish more of the nutriments they need, it permits the fish to feed in a more natural manor.

Below I have listed some of the more common live foods that can be used in an aquarium. My list is by no means complete. It is intended as an introduction only. You can purchase these foods, or even collect them yourself if you wish.

BLOODWORMS & GLASS WORMS – are not worms but the larval form of a fly. Both larvae make an excellent food for mature fish but should not be in a tank with small fry; the larvae are capable of catching and killing the fry.

TUBIFEX WORMS – is probably the most used worm in an aquarium as most dealers stock tubifex worms year around. They can however be found in bodies of water that is rich in organic and vegetable wastes.

MICROWORMS – is a small worm that was discovered to be easily cultivated and made an excellent food for small fish. Other worms that make good fish food include the Grindal worm, White worm and the common earthworm. It is better to not make a steady diet of any one thing. Larger worms should be fed in smaller easier to swallow pieces. To avoid a mushy mess while cutting up the worms use a quick-freeze method. Quickly freeze the worms. When you want to do a feeding, take out the amount of worms needed and cut them with a razor to the desired size.

OTHER – The common housefly is also an excellent food for the fish tank Aquarium. Be aware that only the swatted flies are acceptable as fish food. Flies that have been killed with insecticides are poisonous to the fish that eats them.

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Crustaceans and larvae as fish food

by Rita

We are all concerned about our food. We extend that concern to our pets. Most of us want our cats and dogs to be healthy, so don’t forget your fish are also living creatures and need to have healthy diets as well. In a natural environment fish can swim around finding areas rich in natural foods. In an aquarium fish rely on the aquarist to provide the essential foods.

An easy and probably the most common way to provide food for your fish is a commercial preparation. The food is packaged in a neat container that can be sprinkled into the fish tank aquarium a couple of times a day. Too often an aquarists will feel that the prepared food is enough. Granted the prepared food is easy and does provide many of the needed nutriments, but live food, and the proper foods for the breed of fish, will result in a healthier fish population. Healthy fish are less prone to diseases and are essential if you expect to have breeding fishes.

Here is a short list of crustaceans and larvae commonly used by fish owners.

INFORSORIA – a group of protozoan animalcules that depend upon decaying organic matter for their sustenance. By breaking down some vegetable matter in water, a culture of infusorians can be started. When the water becomes cloudy the culture is ready to be fed to the fry. There are tablets of powdered infusorians and pressed vegetable matter that break down rapidly in water.

BRINE SHRIMP- newly hatched brine shrimp. About 1950 it was discovered that the eggs of Brine Shrimp could be gathered then dried or frozen. The dried eggs can be reconstituted and hatched later. The frozen shrimp do not hatch but are an excellent food for fry and bottom feeders.

DAPHNIA and BOSMINA– small crustaceans, sometimes called water fleas, found in partly stagnant waters where there is an abundance of decaying vegetable matter. When conditions are right, swarms of them can be found near the banks. Care needs to be taken when gathering them. Collecting too many at one time may cause their death.

MOSQUITO LARVAE – just what it sounds like, larvae of the mosquito. Larvae and egg rafts can be found in and on almost any still water source. There is the risk of having some of the larvae maturing into an adult mosquito.

There are many other crustacean and larval foods available to aquarists. In future posts I will cover more larvae, worms and other foods.

Learn about Moissanite

Moissanite is an interesting gemstone that is starting to become very popular. Although it was only really introduced commercially in the last 10 years, it has been known for over 100 years. First discovered in a meteorite crater in 1893, it was not found anywhere outside of extraterrestrial origins until the 50s, and even then only tiny fragments were found in other mines.

Fortunately, moissanite is relatively easy to produce commercially. It is made by combining coal byproducts with sand and glass, and heated to over 2000 degrees. This method is used to produce large quantities of a rough form, also called carborundum. This is mainly used as an industrial abrasive.

To produce moissanite jewelry, a better quality of stone is required – however the basic process is similar. Vaporized SiC is heated and allowed to cool in a chamber containing seed crystals. This process produces very good gem quality stones in around 6 hours, and the process is much more reliable and consistent than that of producing other synthetic gems, such as lab diamonds.

Moissanite is a beautiful gemstone, but it isn’t necessarily an ideal substitute for a real diamond. Although it is nearly as hard as a diamond, it is much more brilliant and colorful. This means that it can be easily identified, particularly next to a real diamond. However that is not to say that it isn’t an amazing gem in its own right. many buyers seek out moissanite deliberately for just that reason – its fire and sparkle make it an appealing stone, that is well suited to a range of jewelry applications. Some jewelers report that younger buyers favor this stone because of its flashy, ‘blingy’ character – but at the same time, it can be used in elegant dress earrings paired with white gold.

Although moissanite is much cheaper than a diamond, it is still considerably more than it’s closest rival, cubic zirconia. But as a gem that is relatively less common, it might be worth exploring if you are in the market for something a little bit different.

Aquarium background

In the “good old days” most aquaria were constructed differently than they are today.  To build a watertight glass sided container it was necessary to have strips of material, usually metal, at the edges and the corners.  The glass was held in place with glue or caulk.  Sometimes as the tank aged the caulk would turn dark, crack and ooze out onto the glass.  The sealant would eventually dry out and leak.  Fortunately for the fish, the leaks would be a slow process and an aquarist would have warnings before it was necessary to replace the tank.

Today fish tanks are built with strong epoxy glues eliminating the need for the corner strips.  The unencumbered look is well liked by most aquarium owners but it does present the aquarist with a problem.  In the past the unsightly tangle of tubes and cords that are associated with a working aquarium could be partially hidden by the side strips.  In order to add interest and help hide unsightly tubing an aquarium background is often used.

Hiding tubes and cords is not the only reason to use aquarium backgrounds.   Background scenes can add color or set a theme for the tank.  The right background can add depth to an aquarium.  A mood or theme can be established by using the appropriate background.

Usually a background comes as a sheet of printed-paper the size to fit your aquarium.  The sheet is then attached to the tank either by a peel and stick or by an edge adhesive. There are also contoured sheets of plastic that can be fitted to the inside of the tank.  The contoured sheets provide interest and can help eliminate the need for other aquarium ornaments.  Occasionally a skilled craftsman will make an insert that can be placed in the tank.   If you choose to build a background for your aquarium, keep in mind that the materials you use should be safe for aquarium use (see a post about the importance of basic water quality).

Buying a background sheet can be relatively inexpensive. They can be ordered from fish supply houses or picked up at a local pet store.  If so desired, moods and themes can be changed often. Be imaginative. Why not let a child draw a picture and glue it to the aquarium?  Another way to personalize the scene could be done by clipping pictures of family members and gluing them onto the background. Imagine the fun of having Uncle Fred waving to you from behind a bolder.  The possibilities are endless.

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