RKM-NET Module Signature

 Just in case you were wondering how my tank is doing...

What we can learn from "sexy" fish

[Image source petslobby.com]

Guppies are one of my favorite freshwater fish. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they can actually teach us a lot. According to an article on msnbc.com, single guys can learn a little from our small, freshwater friends. Female guppies who are not in the mood to mate will blend into a crowd of "sexy" guppies (guppies that are willing to mate).  The male will then choose another guppy, which will allow the female to relax.

If you've ever kept guppies, you'll know that sexual dimorphism is present as males are more colorful and have "prettier" tales than female guppies. The unfortunate part is that people tend to buy a handful of males and a couple females and trouble brews. It's recommended to always have a ratio of at least 2:1 female to male guppies. The more females you have per male, the better. The males will literally mate the females to death... Poor guppies.

Read the full article, Sexy guppies shed light on human singles scene MSNBC.com.

Weekend Update

 

"Go Big Money, Go!"

I had a busy weekend, but I made some time for the aquarium. I mounted all my electrical components to the wall to keep them a little farther away from the tank (to hopefully prevent them from getting wet). I cut a piece of plywood about 24" x 15", painted the board to match the color of my wall, and mounted my Reef Keeper modules (except the head unit) and my aquarium's uncontrolled power bar to the board.

I reconnected my Reef Keeper Lite and was pleasantly surprised to see that even after a week, the internal memory had kept all of my programming. A couple updates to some timers and a new float switch added to this display tank as overflow protection (if the float on the display aquarium is turned on, my return pump will turn off), and we were back in business.The RKM-Net module connected to the system and my network with absolutely no trouble. I just plugged it back in and I was able to start viewing stats from my phone.

Wires will be cleaned up... I promise.

After mounting everything to a board and then to the wall, I started to route cables the best I could. There's still a lot of wires that I need to permanently route by either bunching together the wires or attaching directly to the board, however I'll have to tackle that job for a later day. In the picture below, you can see what it looks like now with out the wiring being cleaned up. The wiring will be channeled between the modules and bundled together to create a cleaner look. The blue "tags" are labels for each cord so that I know what every plug does. Although the picture does it little justice, the new setup is sadly much better than what I had before, and after cleaning up the wiring, should look really nice. At the top of the board, I will likely mount my Ecotech Marine Vortech controllers with Velcro. With these mounted, I'll still have a few extra inches to allow for future upgrades.

Vortech Controllers Join The Party...

Tank is looking better with RKL running the show.