Update of tank & stuff.

BGA 0 vs. Me. 1 – I finally won the battle with BGA (I do hope that this is a permanent fixture). I introduced a 4 day black-out period to my tank. However before that I did the following.

• Cleaned both filters
• Scraped the pre-existing BGA
• Siphoned 50% of the water and cleaned the affected gravel

I then proceeded to tape up the entire tank and lined it well with old copies of newspaper. I ensured that NO trace of light could penetrate the tank. I however did not have any air pump so in return I lowered the tank’s water so that the spray-bar can provide the much-needed air bubbles.

4 days later on Sunday, I removed the paper and was saddened to find the following casualties.

• 1 x Red Mellon
• 2 x Neon Tetras
• 1 x pygmy glassfish

The plants suffered as well, however the B.G.A sufferred more! No more B.G.A was in sight! I then proceeded to wash both the filters again, performed a 60% water change, fluffed up all the dead spots, dirt, etc. Trimmed the plants, refilled the water, gave a generous dose of KNO3 & KH2PO4.

After a couple of hours the water cleared up. So far after 3 days since the major clean-up, I’ve yet to spot any trace of the B.G.A (crosses fingers) as I would HATE to have to tape up the tank once again.

TECH UPDATE

I just bought the O2 XDA Atom and traded in my O2 XDA 2 Mini.

S$688 burnt away… *sigh*. Anyways before getting the phone I read up quite a bit on the phone-cum-PDA and was shocked to see ratings of 2/10. So far the phone isn’t acting up and there’s no such “buzzing” noise as reviewed by the lot at CNET (ASIA).

Anyways, I have been using O2 products since its launch of the O2 XDA II (yes the big bulky one) and then the O2 XDA II mini and now the Atom, so far so good, no complaints from me.. yet.

Below are the specifications.

Dimensions
• Approx. 58(W) x 102(L) x 18.5(T) mm
• Weight with battery: 140g

Platform
• Microsoft Windows Mobile™ 5.0
• Integrated personal digital assistance, tri-band EDGE phone, FM radio, high-resolution camera, Bluetooth, and Wireless LAN

Processor
• Intel PXA272 416MHz

Memory
• Flash ROM: 128MB in total
• RAM: 64MB

Display
• 2.7″ TFT LCD display with touch panel
• 240 x 320 dots resolution
• Supports 262K colours (65,536 effective)

Audio
• Stereo speaker
• Speaker with receiver
• Omni-directional mono microphone
• Support speaker phone operation
• Ringtone support: 64-chord MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV
• Playback support: MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR

Keyboard / Button / Switch
• Power button
• Send and End phone button
• Start and O2 MediaPlus button
• Side buttons: Volume up, Volume down, Camera and Recorder
• 5-way navigation buttons: Right, Left, Up, Down and Action

Camera
• Colour 2-mega-pixel CMOS camera
• Preview mirror for self portrait
• White LED strobe flash
• Support still image and video capture

Interface
• Infrared IrDA 1.2 SIR (115kbps at 30cm)
• Mini-USB connector for USB 1.1 connection and power charging
• SIM card slot
• MiniSD memory card slot
• Audio jack (2.5mm ø)

Notification
• Three-color LED (amber, green and blue)
• Notification by sound, message and vibration

Language options available
• English
• Traditional Chinese (in separate SKU)

Device-to-Device Connectivity
• Bluetooth
Bluetooth SIG version 1.2 compliant
Supported profiles: headset, hands-free, object push, serial port, dial-up network, advanced audio distribution (A2DP), Audio/Video Remote Control (AVRCP)
• Wireless LAN
IEEE 802.11b compliant
• Infrared
Infrared IrDA 1.2 SIR (115kbps at 30cm)

GSM / GPRS
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
GSM900
GSM1800
GSM1900
• GSM services
Speech services with EFR/FR/HR/AMR codec
Emergency call
DTMF tone generation
Call holding, waiting, forwarding, barring
SMS w/ MT/PP, MO/PP, Cell broadcast, text mode, PDU mode
• GPRS / EDGE functionality
EGPRS class 10
GPRS CS 1 to 4 coding scheme supported
EDGE MCS 1 to 9
• SIM function
3V SIM operation
SIM application toolkit
Over the air provisioning
• Internal antenna

Battery
• Removable rechargeable Li-Ion battery, 1,530mAh

Operation time
• Standby: 150 hours
• Talk time up to 5.5 hours

Battery life may vary depending on RF conditions and actual usage

AC adapter
• AC input: 100~240 Vac, 50 / 60Hz

Regulatory
• R&TTE, EMC/EMI, Safety
• BQB certification
• USB v1.1 compliance test

Minimum desktop requirements
• Microsoft® Windows® XP (Service Pack 1 or later), Microsoft® Windows® 2000 (Service Pack 4 or later)
• Microsoft® Outlook® 98 or later required for synchronisation of email, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes (Microsoft® Outlook® 2002 recommended)
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.01 or later
• Hard-disk drive with 65MB of available hard-disk space (actual requirements will vary based on the selection of features and user’s current system configuration)
• Available Infrared or USB port
• One CD-ROM drive
• VGA graphics card or compatible video graphics adapter at 256 colour or higher
• Keyboard
• Microsoft® mouse or compatible input device

Warranty
• 12 months for main unit
• 6 months for supplied accessories

Collection of my prize, Eden 501 filter.

I went down to Biotope Aquarium to collect my prize. I was supposed to be there by 2pm however due to torrential rains here in Bedok, the streets were flooded, likewise the pavements. I should have taken a few photos due to the rarity of having any floods in Singapore. I saw pedestrians walking in knee high waters.

Anyways, back to the collection process. I reached Biotop only at 3pm, an hour late. I was rather embarrased but the kind folks that being Thio (the owner of Biotope), Benny and Solonavi (the other Eden 501 winner) were graceful enough to greet me. The critters at Biotope had little tanks to themselves, the apistos. I saw a pair of German-bred apisto going for S$600! I did not know that apistos could cost THAT much! I then saw the entry-level apistos going for a more reasonable prize of S$12 per pair. I might get a pair, considering my tank has LOTS of hiding space for them.

Anyways, Benny took a couple of photos of us and Thio in the prize giving ‘ceremony’. Here are the rest of the photos of the Eden 501 filter.

EfhiMECH like component.

All the parts of the Eden 501 filter.

Estimative Index – revamped.

After trying out Tom Barr's Estimative Index I am a firm believer as I have seen my dying plants flourish after trying out his methods. I have come up with a revamped EI-Schedule. Hopefully this will bring out the best of the plants that I have now.