Phobia

Most people dont understand a phobia because they only have fears. Let me tell you something, phobias are truly terrifying for whatever reason. Sometimes the reason is completely unknown.

What kills me is that some phobias are made. Yes it is a trend to be afraid of clowns, small spaces, spiders, and so on. I say these will never come close to a true phobia, ever. Want to know what a phobia feels like? Try facing multiple things youre afraid of at one time. This terrible sensation is much like the feeling you get when facing a phobia. I guess I can say that because I have felt both. Let me tell ya, Im not a fan of thunder/lightning unless Im "at home" (meaning Im at a place I feel comfortable in such as my grandparents house. I dont have the same feeling at the in-laws house or my own house quite yet.) I absolutely hate it when it is too quiet. By too quiet, I mean no sounds which is probably caused by living in a suburban/city area and will get me when I go country (at night anyway.) I dislike small spaces. If I can touch the walls around me, it is too small and have a distaste for the dark. I have lived with a phobia forever and the only thing that has come close to that terrible feeling is when I was using a restroom at the movies. There had been some power outages in that area which kind of freaked me out. Low and behold, I had to use the restroom. Seeing as this was a midnight release (and we were there early...we being my boyfriend and me) there was hardly anyone there. Great! So...I go to potty. I was left in this ultra quiet restroom all by myself in a tiny stall with the possibility of a power outage coming. You bet your behind I was freaked out! However this is only how one would feel at the beginning of encountering a phobia.

My poison...the thing that gets me peeing my pants...is driving. It hasnt ever made sense to me really. I could hop on a horse known for bucking, ride in a plane, and do a bunch of crazy stuff but cannot get being the wheel of a vehicle. I havent been in a serious accident or anything and have no grounds for this phobia at all. Earlier this year, I took a plunge. I told myself that I could beat this. I got my learners permit and was all set to go. 7 months later and here I am.

The worst thing about a phobia is that you know your fear is unreasonable and any funky formula you come up with to make your fear reasonable is usually a basic fear of everyone else. On top of that, things that look bad are often just things that look bad but are nowhere near as terrible as they sound. Example: I have always feared being in a terrible accident so I dont drive. Im clumsy and often daze. Truth be told, most people fear being in a terrible accident and nobody is perfect. Otherwise we wouldnt stare at a green light and not go when there are no other cars around us (I know some of yall have done that. I watch people do it all the time.) I know people that are terribly afraid of dogs, especially pit bulls and their basis for their fear is that dogs cause terrible bites. Yes some dogs do cause terrible bites and yes they do hurt. However not all dogs bite and believe it or not, those terrible bites are often better than those petty bites other animals give. This is because when we are allowed to bleed, our bodies can flush extra bacteria out. With a teeny cat bite, not so much. The same goes for a car. I was advancing pretty nicely at one point in time and learned about crumple zones. Yes accidents look bad but it is because cars are made to be broken. These crumple zones are there to absorb more energy so you dont have to.

I was set back a couple of months ago and never picked back up. I was walking to work one beautiful day when I witnessed a pretty bad looking 3 car accident. There was a red car (heading the same way I was, no stop sign, and going approximately the speed limit of 55 but maybe a little slower,) a brown car turning left from a stop sign, and a silver car turning right. Clearly the reason why silver car hadnt moved was because red car was coming. But brown car decided to edge out anyway. Red car honked (I turned around) and brown car proceeded to pull out, giving about 30 feet to stop. I took off running as the three cars flew at me. I turned around to see red car still sliding at me. It was spinning and eventually went into the suicide lane, completely smashed up. The three passengers got up and walked out. Shortly after, their car caught on fire. Brown car had one person that wasnt moving (possibly because everyone was glaring at her) and silver cars driver passed out for a quick minute. This got me thinking...yes this was a mess but everyone was able to walk in the end. Everyone was ok!

It made me think. Years before this, my sister was involved in a pile up. Her tiny Honda Civic was struck by a large SUV going about 50mph. Yes her car was destroyed and she did pass out. In fact, by the way her car was, it was believed she was dead. After the door was removed, she got up and walked away.

I know this isnt always the case but Im irritated at the fact that my arguments for everything hit the fan here. I have been suicidal and a self mutilator before...I keep telling myself that death is inevitable if not brought on by yourself. So why am I so afraid to drive? Whats the worst that could happen? I could die but at times I have wanted to do that anyway. So what the hell?

phobias dont make sense

I told myself that I would drive before it rained so I would be more confident while learning still. I failed myself. It is now pouring outside and I have to walk because I let myself down. And even if I did get a ride, I have still let myself down. Well world, I will be paying for lessons so I will be forced to go. Yes now that I have paid money, I will have to go right? Otherwise it is a waste!

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Aeration And Water Movement

 

These plants thrive right above the air stone!  (LINK)

Could this be caused by the movement of water through the roots or is it increased oxygen?  In any case, whether its due to increased oxygen or water movement it is obvious that air stones in the raft tank are quite beneficial.

I asked Forest, my friend and hydroponic guru, if it might be due to water movement.  He felt strongly that its the improved oxygen in the water rather than water movement.  Im still on the fence about that, but Forest really knows about hydroponics so I tend to believe what he says.

But this has gotten me thinking  about adding an aquarium PowerHead and/or incorporating an Under-Gravel Jet System as described at this link.  The Under Gravel Jet appears to be very similar to a Fluidized Sand Filter.  

I found this article about designing a Fluidized Sand Filter.  

Further research shows that they can be designed to remove Nitrates as well as Ammonia and Nitrites.  This of course is not what we would desire in an aquaponic system, but it appears easy enough to avoid removal of Nitrates by not building the filter too deep.

 


Devin uses very large 12" air stones in his raft tanks under the gravel.  Yes he places gravel in the bottom of his Floating Raft tanks.   His results are astounding and I tend to agree with Devin about Rafts vs Gravel beds.   Transplants do better when placed into a raft and growth rates seem to be better, and with good aeration the raft systems can only be improved.

I bought a Hydrofarm Active Air Pump.  
Its a bit noisy but an optional volume control can turn adjust the volume and the noise.

* UPDATE October 10, 2012 -  This Hydrofarm pump has been running 24/7 for 4-1/2 months.  It progressively became louder until it sounded like a jack hammer.  Two days ago I turned it off and replaced it with a new EcoPlus Commercial Air 5.   Even after rebuilding it with parts supplied by the distributor it was no longer working properly.    I have high hopes for the new EcoPlus Commercial Air 5.  It runs much cooler than the Hydrofarm pump which ran so hot I could not even touch .
The new EcoPlus Commercial Air 5. is by no means silent, but it purrs with a low tone rather than a raspy and unpleasant noise. 

The noise was too much so I placed the air pump inside my shop and plumbed the line out to the system

Heres a video about how to repair an air pump

Today I placed four fat air stones in this raft tank under about 4 inches of gravel.

 

Its about time to make some better rafts 8-)

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Aquaponics Aeration

Im planning on buying some trout in the next few days to grow in my aquaponics system, so Im thinking a bit about my oxygen levels.

Toward the end of the trout growing period you have a lot of stuff acting against your trout. Your trout are big and make a lot of waste which depletes oxygen as it breaks down, your trout are big and need lots of oxygen, and your weather is getting warmer,  and warmer water doesnt hold as much gas as colder weather does.

You can test this by opening a warm can of beer, or waiting a few years and watching what happens when the oceans stop absorbing carbon dioxide as they warm up a bit.

Anyway...

I have a tube dumping water from my growbed to my sump.

This much water.

Its not under pressure, but is simply overflowing from the growbed at that height. ie this tubes height regulates the depth of the growbed.

no pressure

The tube stopped a few inches above the water and made some nice splashing and bubbling which I thought was adding some oxygen.

Im probably quite correct in thinking that.

But then I added a tube all the way to the bottom of the tank, and pricked a few holes in the tube just after a narrowing where there was an elbow.

This sucks air into the tube via the Venturi effect.








Apparently, this is because the water experiences higher pressure at the restriction just below the elbow, but then lower pressure when the tube becomes wider again. The result of the low pressure is that it sucks in air.

Which is a little odd.

When you put holes in (or before) the bit thats actually restricted, the holes blow out water.

I know because I checked.

So the result is that oddly enough, air is drawn in and the flow of the water draws it down.

Even more oddly, is that the bubbles dont ever really come out. Some do when the water level is a little low, but these are very small, and not many.

The tube is full of bubbles all in chaos, churning around madly.

It looks like this in real life.

The bubbles enter at the top just where the clear tube starts, and they move all the way to the bottom.

Which is also odd given how gently the water is flowing.





At first I thought they were the same bubbles, but if you block the holes, they clear after a few minutes.

Interesting.

As far as I can tell the air is dissolving.

I have no idea if Im probably quite correct in thinking this.

If gas really does dissolve in water that readily and in that quantity, its no wonder fish can live in the stuff.

I think I just got re-interested in the world.

Perhaps its because I stopped taking all those opiates for my hurty ribs.



120 Things in twenty years  thinks ribs make me less thinky.


[EDIT FROM THE FUTURE - I Thought Id add a link to wikipedias entry on Venturi and now that Ive read it I dont think I have any idea what Im talking about, but what I did clearly works. Im just no longer sure why]

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