So, I was trying to replace the ceramic membrane of my external CO2 diffuser, twisted the stem wrong, and ruined the seal. Rather than futzing around with another external diffuser, I ordered an inline diffuser. Then I also had to upgrade the canister filter because the inline diffuser only fits on a 16/22mm hose (rather than 9/11mm one). The Eheim 2211 has a 16/22 hose on the intake but not on the outflow, but it's better to put the inline diffuser on the outflow rather than the intake because it'll put less stress on the impeller, and because this way the diffuser is only exposed to filtered water. 

Anyways. Installing the Eheim 2213 was a breeze because I got to keep the existing intake hardware (the 2213 uses 16/22 hosing on both the intake and outflow). However, having the double taps and the inline diffuser as close to the canister outflow as possible made it a bit of a tight squeeze in the cabinet.

The end results, on the other hand, have been amazing. One less piece of equipment in the fish tank, a far more even distribution of CO2, and likely better CO2 diffusion (though I can't confirm this visually, because I can't trust my drop checker to stay suctioned to the inside wall of the tank. But yeah. Amazing. I should've saved the money, trusted the process, and used an inline diffuser right off the bat.  

I started using the turkey baster to clean the aquarium and it is a game changer.

- I can use it to clean debris out of tight spaces without using the gravel vac
- Adjustable pressure levels: can be little gentle poofs or I can blow mulm all over the place depending on hard I squeeze the bulb
- No more woopsie-doodles with the 5mL parameter testing vials! 

Still flirting with the idea of stepping up to using pressurized CO2. It's a nontrivial investment (plus, do I just wedge the 5lb tank behind the TV speakers?) but I'd finally be able to grow AR mini and an entire carpet of marsilea crenata! 

I'm not sure if my aquarium can handle a plant like that, but I can stunt its growth by potting it and then aggressively pruning... right? It'll take the place of my ozelot sword, which has been melting since the day I got it. 

 

This whole time I thought I had a bum impeller or something in my canister filter, but what I really needed to do was to clean my manky DIY prefilter.  

I've been online shopping a lot. Mostly for silk tops and dresses, for the day they let us back into the office lol (which isn't happening until at least next year). But silk is really beautiful and breathable and I kind of love it :/

One of them is a McQueen dragonfly dress. I don't have a problem. 



And a silk DVF wrap

I might have a problem. There's been this big honkin gold ring that I've wanted since last year. I told myself that I'd buy it once I passed my ethics exam. Which I did. And I bought it. It feels weird to be walking around with a hunk of metal on my finger that costs more than my PC. I'll get used to it. 

Last night there was a power outage. My Aquaclear 30 HOB filter drained out during the outage, and it's not self priming. So it burned itself out running dry. I replaced it with an Eheim 2211. It's called the "cadillac of filters." But cadillacs aren't german-engineered, with instructions that don't tell you how to place TWO CRUCIAL VALVES on the assembly! I spent three hours setting that puppy up. On the plus side the Eheim is self-priming so my aquarium should be OK during power surges now. 



In other news I have mad writer's block. It is real bad. 

1. I was at a camp with Katy, Jasmine, Mandy, and Shivani. Shivani left early, the rest of us stole one the counselor's van and legged it. There were a lot of log bridges and I got mosquito bites. 
2. Touring a series of condos with a guy who owned a bunch of nice aquariums, but then the condo ran out of water 
3.  I fought a bear in the lobby of a swanky department store. A literal bear. 

-- 

One month before I go marinate on a beach
One week before the last author's note for OMwP is posted
Maybe a weekend before I get around to installing the Ultimate Skyrim modlist
Unknown amount of time before Angelfins restocks its fire red cherry shrimp 
Unknown amount of time before Cat #2 achieves his weight loss goal 

Meep morp, beep borp. 

Good:
- There are actually at least TWO ember tetra babies!
- Fixed wonky doors on aquarium cabinet
- Finished rewriting chapter 12
- Beat FTL on hard, using the Crystal B Cruiser

Bad:
- I'm unhappy enough with chapter 12 that I've sent it off for another round of betaing, which ruins my update schedule. 
- First failed to beat FTL on hard using the Lanius B Cruiser, a half dozen times
- Thought I bought extra chrome door knobby knobs from Ikea. I did. But I used them on the bookshelf, and I don't have another set of extras for the aquarium cabinet.

Ugly:
- Price of a junior chicken at McD's went up fifty cents, the price of 'making it a meal' is up 25 cents, and getting the weird fancy drink upgrade is now a dollar :(
- Still need to study for the PPE

I was rearranging rocks in my tank and I saw a BABY EMBER TETRA about 8mm long. I may have accidentally killed it when I was poking around the tank, but the presence of fry means the fish are happy! Tetras aren't like guppies or cichlids, they're egg-scatterers so it's generally harder to get them to breed. 

In other news I think my hygro has a potassium/magnesium deficiency :/  I've upped the tap in my tap/RO mix so hopefully it works out. Can't wait until the plants fill in so I can ditch the hornwort. Damn thing triples in size every week, and is constantly full of snails, and the tank looks SO MUCH BETTER without it. But I keep it around because it sucks the poop out and prevents me from overdosing ferts.

--

So a person I crushed on years ago is actually trans and bi, and back in the day they were ace and not trans. They look good. 

--

Having a lot of trouble with my next chapter because nothing happens, but I couldn't just LEAVE a bunch of temporary emotional loose ends lying around. Dang thing is 63k words long now. Wondering if it'll break 70k, because I haven't even touched the last chapter yet. 

--

The Good Place presses all my buttons. Timey-wimey Jeremy Bearimy shit, AU shenanigans (sorta), philosophy, and at last, an answer to why Chidi is so jacked. 

So I dreamed that I was riding the bus with you, and we were undercover agents of some type. I am afraid that one day I will stop dreaming about you, because it means that my mental image of family or self will finally have changed.

Then after that, I dreamed that I was in high school, but it was a blend of the CHPS/MGCI folks. The lockers were the ones near the back stairwell. I don't even remember which year that was supposed to be. Anyways, it was the week before prom, and people were all pairing up and I was (as I was IRL) dateless. So I asked Shivani - why was that? Was it because I was ugly? She said, of course not. But I didn't believe her. I mean, I'm fabulous now but back then I was not. It sucked. 

Got a new fish. He's shy. Still have an algae problem, but the golden coin anubias is putting out a new leaf right now, which is good. Hornwort's still growing like a weed though. I'm slowly moving the hygro to the back. Hoping the marsilea crenata fills out properly soon. Think I need to add some KH booster though (1 tsp baking soda/50L = +4dkH) because I'm seeing pinpricks in the hygro. Waiting for Angelfins to restock their AR mini. 

I dreamed I was walking southbound at a T-intersection (no south leg) on the west side of the road, to get lunch. I crossed the north leg of the intersection, and in the curbside westbound right-turn lane I saw a girl from sculpture class on a motorbike. She waved at me, but I missed it. 

Then I dreamed I was walking the same path again. This time I saw her and we had lunch together. I remember walking through a bazaar, with high translucent ceilings, until we sat on a park bench. Which is where I kissed her. And then I woke up and went to the aquarium store to get aquarium glue, which is the same as regular crazy glue, so that I could glue some plants to driftwood. 

Planted tank problems: I want to vacuum the gravel with my Python siphon, but my nitrates are 0 so I don't even really need to do a water change unless I want to.