Ripper Hollow

I’ve been wanting to be more green at home. I’ve already looked at solar, which would make me at least 50% independant from PG&E, but is way over my budget and wouldn’t pay for itself fast enough.

I’ve changed all of my light bulbs to CFL’s. That’s great on energy savings, but it definitely isn’t near enough. I’ve considered going with LED lighting, but I think it’s a bit more expensive than the CFL’s. I’ll have to look more into that.

I need to start replacing my appliances with energy saving ones. Appliances such as my refridgerator, dish washer, washer and dryer. I’d also like to replace my water heater with a tanless water heater. I’d also like to replace the hvac system with a multiple zone system. But that’ll have to wait until after I have the room addition over the garage, which probably won’t be for another 5-10 years.

Being a computer geek, I have several computers. In my office, I have my main computer running Ubuntu Linux (also my file server), and my media machine that runs Windows 7 Ultimate. I rarely turn these computers off. I’m going to start turning off the media computer when not in use. I also have a 24″ iMac in my bedroom.

As for outside the house, I’d like to get a rain barrel connected to a gutter downspout and water my trees and plants using rainwater. That way I use less water from the water company and it’s environmentally friendly.

I’m already being green when it comes to mowing the lawns. I have a battery powered lawn mower that I charge once month. My next yard project is to install sprinklers.

What are you doing to be green and reduce energy usage?

Popularity: 23% [?]

I’ve never successfully made a budget before, and I really need one. I make plenty of money, but I over spend a lot and don’t keep good enough track of my bills.

My father keeps asking me if I’d like help making a spreadsheet for my budget, but I’ve been thinking about using Intuit QuickBooks. I know it isn’t a free product, but I want to try it out and see if I like it. I can have it automatically connect to my banks to download my transactions, and then create a budget for me.

From there, I can fine tune the budget, and track my bills better.

Have you set up a budget? Did you stick with it? How did you set it up? Did you use something like QuickBooks? Leave me a comment.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Fissidens fontanus from Aqua Botanic

I’m planning on making a tree/bush using Fissidens fontanus for my 26 gallon aquarium. I’m still researching on ways to do this, and also the best ways to trim to keep the tree/bush look.  I think this will look really good in my aquarium, once I’m able to replace the substrate and work a new aqua-scape.  I think it will look really good sitting close to my Cabomba furcata.  My new aqua-scape will be kind of a hill scape, with driftwood.  Of course I’ll have a ton of other plants in there, along with cryptocoryne parva, cryptocoryne wendtii, anubias minima, vallisneria nana, hygrophila corymbosa kompact, christmas moss, and peacock moss.  I might also try dwarf hairgrass again.  I’ll keep you updated once I start playing with the fissidens fontanus.

Do you have experience with Fissidens fontanus?  Leave a comment!

Popularity: 25% [?]

I’m currently in the planning stage of my 20 gallon aquarium.  I already have the tank (it’s a tank that I’ve had for a while now), the lighting, the filter, heater, and some of the hard scape materials.  I still need to get the organic soil, sand, plants, and of course, shrimp and fish.

Equipment I Already Have:

1. Single GLO Life-Glo T5 HO 24W 6700K
2. 20 Gallon Tall Aquarium
3. Eheim ECCO 2232
4. Catalina Titanium Heater 100W
5. Two Red/Brown Sand Banks

Stuff I Still Need:

1. Organic Topsoil (un-fertilized)
2. CaribSea Tahitian Moon Substrate

Planned Fauna:

1. Neon Tetra x10
2. Red Cherry Shrimp x5
3. Amano Shrimp x5
4. Otocinclus x5
5. Zebra Nerite Snail x5

Planned Flora:

1. E. tenellus, Marselia minuta, or dwarf sag
2. Hygros, Bacopa, Rotala indica, Ludwigia repens, Hydrocoytle leucocephala for stem plants
3. Mosses, ferns, anubias, and crypts

Popularity: 50% [?]

I have a strange nutrient deficiency (or something) going on with one of my plants. the leaves are curling and turning black. The black parts are fairly rough to the touch. I’m also still having trouble with string hair algae. I change 50% water weekly, and dose dry fertilizers, 1/16 tsp Trace & Fe 3x week and 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, K2SO4, 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x week. I think I’ll try increasing my CO2 injection. I need to find my drop checker. I have no idea where it is, and I really don’t want to order a new one.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Update: Seems that this is normal for this type of anubias.  I might also have a low phosphate level.  I’ve decided to up my KH2PO4 from 1/16 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  I’ll see if that helps.  I need to get a phosphate level test kit.

Popularity: 21% [?]