The Coke Fiend

There is a coke fiend working somewhere in the airport. This person has access to my floor. How do I know this? Deductive reasoning.

Tuesday I left 6 cans of soda in my little fridge. Wednesday was my day off. Thursday I went to the office to drop off my little aquarium, 6 gallons of bottled water, 16 pounds of aquarium substrate (a fancy word for gravel) formulated just for plants, and some other assorted stuff.

FOUR cans of soda were gone. I know that the administrative secretary for my boss took one soda because she told me. And she left 50 or 75 cents on my desk. This was just fine, I do not mind if someone takes a soda. And tells me about it later. The leaving 50 cents is not really required, but it is a nice gesture. But the other THREE were just gone.

Obvious signs of a coke fiend running loose.

So today I went out and bought a luggage strap that LOCKS. I put that strap around the little fridge, pulled it tight, and locked it up. That ought to send a message to someone. Don't F with my cold sodas!

I filled the aquarium yesterday - on my day off. I did not want to spend time on the clock messing with the thing. Today the water was still a bit cloudy, the silt from the gravel is very fine and the filter is having a hard time removing it. I should not be too shocked, the filter cartridge is really not that great. So I got this stuff that should cause the particles to clump together, allowing the filter to do its thing.

I also kicked on the heater and set the thermostat. The tempature of the water is (or was when I left) holding at 79 degrees F. This is pretty much where I want it. My strategy of using bottled water is paying off, as all tests indicate rather soft water and a PH of 6.8 - 7.0. Miami tap water is hard as a brick and has a higher PH. So things are looking good so far.

The tank is still empty, except for some bacteria I put in. I also added some fish food so that it can break down and form some toxic ammonia - which the bacteria will then convert to the less toxic nitrite. Once this happens, other bacteria will turn the nitrite (NO2 by the way) into the pretty much harmless unless the concentration is very high nitrate (NO3).

Get it? Thats ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2) to nitrate (NO3). Nitrate should be used by the plants, and turned into harmless nitrogen gas which will then escape from the water surface. There are also anerobic bacteria (those are bacteria that hate oxygen) that can turn NO3 onto nitrogen gas - but I do not think my substrate will be thick enough for that. No matter, the plants will do what they need to do.

Photos of the empty tank tomorrow, and as an added bonus photos of the empty tank with some plants in it IF I can get my lazy ass up in time to hit the fish store before work. Work starts at 11:30 AM. Place your bets.