Fishy weather
Jun. 23rd, 2011 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoBlack clouds intermixed with brief "sun showers". Never enough rain to count, sun never lasts long enough to matter. All outdoor things on hold.
Installed the DECnet for Linux packages and the features work just fine with the genuine Alpha hardware at the other end. Not so well with the emulated VAX, but this may be a configuration issue. It's rather like a dancing bear: It's not how well he dances, but the fact that he dances at all...
Fish tanks are still acting weird. The fish in the 30 gallon seem happy enough for the moment, but the pH of the water is way above 8.0 and that's too high. All the suggested treatments have failed to lower the reading. The 20 gallon tank (no fish) has the same high pH issue. Since there's no one in there, I've been experimenting by dumping quantities of white vinegar into it daily. No measurable result. The buffering capability of whatever is in that water is gigantic. The water is developing a white flaky sediment that doesn't dissolve but floats around like the flakes in a snow globe. I think it's probably sodium acetate, produced by a reaction between the sodium carbonate left in the water by our water softener and the acetic acid in the vinegar. The pH remains unbudged at around 8.4.
Installed the DECnet for Linux packages and the features work just fine with the genuine Alpha hardware at the other end. Not so well with the emulated VAX, but this may be a configuration issue. It's rather like a dancing bear: It's not how well he dances, but the fact that he dances at all...
Fish tanks are still acting weird. The fish in the 30 gallon seem happy enough for the moment, but the pH of the water is way above 8.0 and that's too high. All the suggested treatments have failed to lower the reading. The 20 gallon tank (no fish) has the same high pH issue. Since there's no one in there, I've been experimenting by dumping quantities of white vinegar into it daily. No measurable result. The buffering capability of whatever is in that water is gigantic. The water is developing a white flaky sediment that doesn't dissolve but floats around like the flakes in a snow globe. I think it's probably sodium acetate, produced by a reaction between the sodium carbonate left in the water by our water softener and the acetic acid in the vinegar. The pH remains unbudged at around 8.4.
