Toxic Ten

[DogFish]

DAY 21



Noticed a few gas bubbles during the 30% weekly water change. Also some dirt to the surface with MTS burrowing? I don't see that on other tanks of mine.

Got a few new plants from Gordon, added 2 Anubus and a huge bulb, may be a Lotus? I pulled out most of the Hornwort & 1/3 of the Watter Lettuce leaving mostly the baby plants.

All 5 shrimp still look active & healthy. Pond snails very healthy, Ramshorn looking good.Growth on all plants with Murdannia 'Red' being the only one with slow growth compare to when it was in my other tank.

[plecostomouse]

Coffee Grounds - Contain about 4% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus, and 3% potassium. You can also dilute your coffee grounds with water. This makes an excellent liquid fertilizer that's completely organic.

could you tell me more about using coffee grounds as liquid fertilizer?
maybe a link?

thanks and good luck

[diwu13]

Glad your tank is working out well for the inverts so far. Gonna be funny if the MTS burrows when you're nearby, gas bubble pops at top of water, dog crap smell escapes.

When do you think you'll have to add more nutrients into the soil? Will you just wait for plant growth to begin to slow or would you have an estimate time period.

[dbosman@msu.edu]

Originally Posted by OverStocked

Having spread my fair share of manure onto more than my fair share of fields, I assure you that supply and labor are not a problem. Feedlots around the US are dying to find ways to get rid of their manure. The labor involves driving in circles and is part of the life of farming.

The problem with feedlot manure is it's more like septage than manure.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by diwu13

...When do you think you'll have to add more nutrients into the soil? Will you just wait for plant growth to begin to slow or would you have an estimate time period.

I honestly can not answer that. There are people with "dirt" tanks un & running for years on this site without many/if any additions to the substrate in their tanks. In hide site there are a few other ingredients that I would have included had I wanted to insure a long service life out of the YDDP. That will be for a future tank.

The 1st part of this experiment is to show that not only can a tank be set-up with high organic content in the soil, it can run well enough that even inverts like shrimp came live in it...almost immediately.

The 2nd part will be how well the plants grow and well the shrimp do over time.

I don't know that I will keep this tank set up over 1 yr. at this time. I will be moving any other cherry shrimp I find in my submerged grow-out tank into this one soon.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by plecostomouse

Coffee Grounds - Contain about 4% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus, and 3% potassium. You can also dilute your coffee grounds with water. This makes an excellent liquid fertilizer that's completely organic.

could you tell me more about using coffee grounds as liquid fertilizer?
maybe a link?

thanks and good luck

The basic idea is to delute them in water 1/2pound to 5gl. then water plants with that. The idea of diluting and caffeine & acid left from brewing. I agree with the rinse but I don't belief it's needed with all plants.

Our family has been dumping coffee grounds around rose bushes for three generations.

If you might like my other journal, "Coffee Bowl"

[plecostomouse]

Originally Posted by DogFish

The basic idea is to delete them in water 1/2pound to 5gl. then water plants with that. The idea is diluting and caffeine & acid left from brewing. I agree with the rinse but I don't belief it's needed with all plants.

Our family has been dumping coffee grounds around rose bushes for three generations.

If you might like my other journal, "Coffee Bowl"

oh my mistake i thought you meant fertiliser for an aquarium.
my mum puts coffee around garden plants too :P

[Erik N]

[QUOTE=DogFish;1612450]DAY 21
Noticed a few gas bubbles /QUOTE]


Those would be called farts.
We have six dogs here. Think of the size tank I could have!

[DogFish]

Funny thing about that dog poop, it isn't all the same.

I feed my dogs RAW food, Meaty Bones (bones with meat on them), Fish, Chicken, whole eggs & shells too, Veggies like sweet potato, spinach, carrots, beets, Fruit like apples, pineapple, berries etc. Theyt get a little goat milk & plain yogurt one a week.

The 1st thing you notice when you take them off Kibble, the poop doesn't stink like it used to. Sure it smells but not all that bad. After a meat & bone day I see almost white poop that is like powder if you touch it with a shovel.

2nd thing you notice and more important, there isn't as much, because they are digesting the food not just passing it down the pipe.

Commercial dog food is full of Soybeans, Corn & Wheat. That's all great to fatten a Hog for market...NOT so good for dogs.

I do add Irish Oats 1-2Xs a wk too as a fiber.

The big favorite I feed once a week is Green Tripe, I suggest you find that frozen. It's the only food I ever feed my dogs that smelled worse join in them than commingh out. It is great for their health.

And anything other than the meat & bones needs to be ground up like baby food so the dogs can fully digest it. Dogs have a shorter intestine unlike hooved animals.

If you want to learn more Google B.A.R.F. (Bones and Raw Food.)

[OverStocked]

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardand...e-dog-cat.html

Can pet manure be sterilized chemically to make it safe?
There are chemical sterilants such as methyl bromide and others that could be used, but the cost and bother is probably not worth the value of the manure. Also, the average homeowner probably is not equipped to handle chemical sterilants. CONCLUSIONS
The health hazards associated with cat and dog manure are greater than the potential benefit from its fertilizer value. Cat and dog manure should be disposed of by flushing down the toilet, burying deep in the soil (six inches or more) or by placement in tight plastic bags for garbage collection.

Be careful with this. It isn't a joke and the appropriate measures should be taken.

Since you're putting this in the substrate then putting your arms in the water(presumably) afterwards, it is a good way to introduce contaminants back to you and your family. I spoke to Emmett Schulte and UW and he confirmed this with me. The dog feces in water will still be dangerous and requires 5 or more days composting over 165 degrees to render it "safe".

[matty26]

I was going to ask if you did a barf diet! Then I finished your post ha ha. My grandpas son had that with his dog ( no not uncle, divorces blah blah...) He had a really expensive dog and when he bought it, that was in the contract for it, that he had to feed her a barf diet.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by matty26

I was going to ask if you did a barf diet! Then I finished your post ha ha. My grandpas son had that with his dog ( no not uncle, divorces blah blah...) He had a really expensive dog and when he bought it, that was in the contract for it, that he had to feed her a barf diet.

I got started feeding BARF with a dog that had cancer as you just can't feed for that properly with anyone's kibble. I feel we "cheated" death out of the trwo years for him. (11yrs)

About that time my other dog (13yrs) got diabetes. The BARF made her life easier too.

After those two passed I took in an Alaskan Malamute I found dumped in a forrest preserve. He had renal failure. My vet gave him a month, he lived 18mos.

After that I raised my Rotty now, 7 on BARF and my Catahoula 3yrs., The Rotty looks like a 3 y.o. and acts like a puppy. It's alway starts with the food, and holist/organic is always the best. Both are ch.title dogs, my other hobby, the "Dog" part of DogFish

No difference in our tanks, organic will always be better in the long run than processed chemicals. I'm sure people that make money pushing chemicals feel threatened by threads like this.

[mistergreen]

Be very careful with this tank. It can go anaerobic pretty easily.

Also never touch the substrate or move plants around. NH3 release from the substrate will be bad.

[DogFish]

DAY 31

I believe I have baby shrimp? I don't believe any of the original Shrimp were berried, so I have to think the eggs came in on the plants?

Today, I've added:
>1 mystery crypt baby, Walker-Lutea??
>4 pc of Hygrophila Pinnatifida
>1 stem of Eichhornia Diverifolia
>! stem of red Ludwigia
>I've split in in half and planted the top.
>I added a larger pc of cholla w/ Taiwan moss, Trident Java and a pc of Guppy Grass.
>i added two pc of Downoi leaf that had a few roots on them that I found cleaning out the "Downoi farm" tank.
>all the Hornwort was pulled.
>Two more adult shrimp from another tank added them.

I culled out maybe 3 dozen pond snail. I crush them on the glass leaving them in for the shrimp to feed on.

The lotus has shot up as leaf. All the Green Gecko have at least one new leaf, both Anubus have new leaves.

I did start running ferts last Monday after the water change.

New Growth on the Anubus Nana


Staurogyne 'Bihar' 3Xs origanal ht.


Murdannia 'Red' more than double, split and replanted

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by mistergreen

Also never touch the substrate or move plants around. NH3 release from the substrate will be bad.

I've been adding plants as I go.

I should have posted this on Day 21. When I saw the gas bubble, I took a chop stick and made about a dozen hole to check for more trapped gas. I got 2-3 more bubbles. I had one bubble today when I planted the crypt.

There are 6 or so MTS (snails) in the tank, I see them in the am when I turn on the lights and seldom see then after mid-morning. So, I believe they will help contain anaerobic activity in the substrate.