CSI : Milton Keynes

The science behind successful fishkeeping.
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I was rummaging in my museum for something the other day and came across a bunch of wood in a sealed plastic bag.

Not a good photo …

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The last time I moved wood out of an aquarium was about eighteen months ago when, following a leak, the contents of Hoy (RIP) were transferred en masse to a spare tank. I don't recognise any of these pieces from Hoy - and in any case wouldn't have had any need to store them separately. So I'm thinking that these pieces must have been evicted from a tank at some point before the Great Flood of Hoy. Anyway, suffice to say that they've been in the bag for a period probably better calculated in years rather than months. I don't think it can be more than three years though. Whichever tank they came from it would have been a soft/acidic environment.

The seal on the bag must be very good because the contents are still wet, and processes seem still to be going on in there. Another pic which might have indicated that had it been any good …

Image

So before I reuse it (I haven't yet opened the bag) I thought I might have a bit of a play with it. I have a default plan but I thought I'd ask if anyone would like to suggest something else which might interest them (and which might be a better plan).

Here's what's in my mind :

1) Open the bag just enough to get a thin implement in there to take a surface scrape from one of the pieces. Mix the scraping with water and have a close look to see what, if any, microcritters might be in it.
2) Boil some water (to rid it of most/all dissolved oxygen) and let it cool in a sealed container.
3) When cool, add ammonia and nitrite and then (again without opening the bag more than is necessary) fill the bag with it before re-sealing. Test periodically thereafter to see what, again if anything, happens to the ammoniacs.

Anyone think of anything more useful/interesting I could do with it?
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mikeyw64
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what you need is something like this that can be sealed up so you can work on it in a sterile environment ;o)




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Oh and you need to become a Goth (if you aren't already)
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Looks and sounds interesting and entertaining. :)
Is there much algae that's survived/grown?
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piker
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There cant be much oxygen left if the bag is sealed,be interesting to test the effect on the bacteria.
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@ Cap'n : what a strange contraption - a device made for the personal pleasure of Daleks, perhaps?

@P : there was none evident when the bag was initially extracted from the museum. But during the week that it's been on the dining room table, while it and I contemplated what we were going to do, zillions of little greenish nodules have appeared - on the surface of the coconut shell in particular. At the moment I'm not certain what they are.

@p : I'm hoping that most of the oxygen will have been used up, though if the greenish nodules are in fact algae they will be presumably adding some now. If ammamox does happen it'll be much less obvious than if the bag were full of (say) filter media, but I don't know whether I'd be able to measure it until I try!
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plankton
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Then it was in the dark before the table?
There must have been algae spores present then.......?
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Yes it was (in the dark).

If it is algae, then again - yes, I guess!
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