# Utsc Aquaria Club



## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Hey UTSC students,

I wanna start a aquarium club on our campus, we can trade plants and other items.

Let me know if anyone is interested!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Let's do it!

When are you doing it? Registration for clubs aren't until next year near the end of summer term I think.

If you're serious about it, I wouldn't mind starting it with you and others.


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Well, I think its too late to start an official club , and next year ill be graduated. But we can still get a group of people and have an "unofficial" club. So far its only been you and I who have admitted to going to UofT, i wonder why


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Probably cause out of the entire GTA, there's only a couple hundred aquaria-hobbyists. Out of the couple hundred, there's only a handful of aquaria-hobbyists. Adding to the fact that UofT students are mostly in severe student debt, I don't think there are actually a lot of aquarium keepers. Yeah we can still start a club. Maybe we'll see how it goes this year in terms of response and # interested, and I can start an official club next year. Gotta write an entire club constitution though, which will take forever.


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

From what I know of UofT clubs from my 4 year stint at St George it would not be worth it to make it official. The only real reason most clubs become official is to get money from SAC. I am not sure what kind of expenses you would have, likely none, so this paper pushing would be a serious waste of time I would guess.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I see your point. I guess that's why we should make it unofficial this year.
See where it goes--and if it is worthwhile it can be made official.
Official status allows you to have a greater reach in attracting new members, funding from SAC wouldn't hurt either. Just a question, have you had club forming experience before? It'd be helpful to have input from someone who's started a club before, either in high school or university or outside. I don't have any club forming experience, I'm on a couple of different clubs but have never started one before... so it'd be fun to do that too.. just to try it.


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## JamesG (Feb 27, 2007)

I won't be much help there as I was never a member of any formal clubs at UofT. Hopefully someone else will have some more info for you.


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## jrs (Mar 18, 2006)

I did my 4 year term at St. George as well. That is when I first start keeping a tank. I didn't come across any serious aquarists when I was there.


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## chompy (Mar 24, 2006)

I'm living in a UofT residence with my girlfriend, but I go to a different school. I only know of one guy that has fish in my area... then again I don't know many people in my area


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

I guess i can say i have some experiencec running and sort of starting clubs
I'm the Director of our Emergency Medical Response Team (EMRG) and at the moment i'm helping my girlfriend with a club that she's bringing back to life. 
BUTTT i dont really think we need to make this official...we'll let the future people worry about it...We can just keep this as a social network.
Too bad its only me and dextr so far


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

thiban said:


> Too bad its only me and dextr so far


lol at that

yeah let's just trade plants and leave it at that.

nice ERMG.. EMRG.. Good stuff!

I walk by the room all the time on the way from bus stop to class.


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

hm...how do we start this?
i was thinking we book a room....put up flyers, seek other hobbyists, and hope they show up 
lets do it next semester


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

sure that sounds good

flyers aren't super effective, but that's the only way

i don't know any close friends that keep aquariums


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## hironobu (Oct 30, 2007)

Is it too late to join? I graduated last year, too bad I never heard of any aquarium club when I was in school...


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Hey 
I'm sure you can join...if your willing to come to school for meetings and stuff...
i have printed up some flyers BUT i'm not going to post it until next semester.
Any ideas are welcome!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

hey thiban

let me know about the meeting next sem! just find me if you need help, i could help out in any way.

thanks,
deks


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

I think I might come at your meetings too, even though I'm from the St. George campus. But we don't have an aquarium club here, and I don't know anyone at school that's into this hobby. 
Trading plants, or even fish/snails/shrimp, would be awesome for the beginning.
Do post the date in advance, so I can plan ahead my plant trimming and have cuttings for the meeting


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

wow this is awesome!!!
there is also a lab technician at my school who is into the hobby too...she is trying to set up a freshwater aquarium in one of our labs and ive been helping her out. I even told her about this site. Well thats another member....hopefully after i put up the flyers we would get more responses. 
I'll keep everyone updated!

Thiban


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

wow i just read this thread, im first year at utsc, ill be looking forward to learning more about the hobby through this club. Count me in!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

TypeZERO said:


> wow i just read this thread, im first year at utsc, ill be looking forward to learning more about the hobby through this club. Count me in!


Nice!

I think now we have like 4-5 people--probably going to be more once Thiban posts the flyers.

I know like 2 of them don't even go to UTSC or graduated already, but that's no problem!


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Hey guys,
I will put the flyers up next semester, you know with exams and everything there arent going to be that many responses. I even got a professor to watch over us. He was the first person i actually gave our flyer to. His name is Nathan Lovejoy and his research is classifying needlefishes. I work for him, at his aquatics lab down in the first floor science wing. He has 3 60g with around 15 needlefishes and one 25 g with feeder guppies. Maybe we can use that room as our meeting place. But the only thing is it requires an access card and i'm the only one who has the card. Well its just a thought!
Hope this starts to run soon!
Thiban


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Nice! That's some nice connections you got there. Most business profs I know don't own aquariums lol


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi all, I'm Martin from utsc

thiban - can i still be VP?  


and for everyone else here that don't know me, I also work for Professor Nathan Lovejoy. and We actually have six 75 gallons and the feeder tank is only 15 =P 

Anyway, the thing with the fishroom tho is that it is actually a high security area, according to the campus police, they really want limited access (Hence only 4 undergrads - including me and thiban has card). So, if anything, we could use one of the 3rd floor science rooms? Maybe Joanne or Eric could give us one of the rooms. 

Just a thought


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Well SORRY for not knowing the details Martian!
I just did a rough estimate. Anyways, ya the aquatics lab is high security, but I was still thinking we can probably set up some tanks in there or something, and we can go in there if needed. Our official "meetings" can happen in the labs, im sure Joanne would love to be part of our club!


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

btw, Joanne cultures Daphnia, and brine shrimp in the lab. She also has a bunch of moss, which i'm assuming is java moss. I'm sure she can hook us up


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

We need to have animal protocols for the fish room for every species of vertebrate we keep there, hence I threw the snail and plants in. 

As long as it's only plants and inverts we are good, since I am the most responsible for the lab =P
If it's fishes or whatever, upstairs would be a better option =D


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

i was actually only thinking of growing plants in there. Especially if we can get one of those huge CO2 tanks from Stephen Reid, we can grow a huge number of plants ;-)


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

oh yea, after exams, I am going to ask her for one of each culture. I am getting the key to the room tomorrow, so maybe we can take the room =)


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

Btw. I was pushing Nate LJ to getting 6 feet long tanks - 108 Gallons 
forgot how much it costs ~230? , but PJ's said they will ship them for me if I ever want to order them

do you think you would need or want something like that? I know I would =)


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

martin we can discuss the details over the phone and then come up with some finalized solutions ...Martin, Desktr goes to UTSC too, and he really wants to take part in the formation of the team, us three should meet up and really discuss the issues


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

ok cool, I am interested in your "idea" about the wall tanks too =)


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Then we shall see!!!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Wow! 

High security fish room? So that's what the campus police patrol.  Just kidding.  There's so many things I don't know about the school.

Yeah I'd definitely like to be in on whatever we're doing! I have handfuls of java moss if anyone wants it, probably softball size+. Plenty to go around.

(Just realized today after four months of not trimming it, found a quite severely decomposed panda cory inside the thicket, probably dug into a hole and got stuck in the moss).

Anyway, yeah I'm in! Done exams Wednesday so I'll discuss with you guys later! 

-Dexter


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

i just finished exams myself, great to see that things are coming together!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Can't wait to get this thing started!

BTW, I don't think I know what you guys keep in your aquariums. What do you keep? 

I'll start:

I like to watch grass grow, so I have all planted tanks. I saved a lot of money from before, so this is all I spend on other than food and going out.

- 55gal planted 
-2.5gal planted
- 4x 10gal being set-up on a rack in the basement.
Also ordering a custom 26g, basically the dimension of 2x 10g being put together.

I have multiple tank syndrome, so I promised myself this is the maximum number... forever.


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

I started out with a 20gallon tank, never considering live plants. I have some corries, platies, guppies, and a honey gourami in there. As for decor i got few plastic plants and driftwood with christmas moss tied down to it. I have a 5 gallon qt ive been wanting to do try a nano and get into some real live plants. My father is willing to help me pay for a 55gallon set up once our basement is finished so i cant wait for that, for the mean while i would like to learn more about keeping live plants!


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## ozi (Aug 23, 2007)

there's something about nano tanks, i can't describe it, but they just go under my skin  
yours is awsome!!! can you give us some info on it, like what lighting to you use and what's the substrate (eco-complete maybe?)??
i have a 5G for my red cherry shrimpies, and i recently redecorated it cauz it started looking like a jungle with only stem plants. i could barely see my RCS. but now it's more "open". i hope to put some pics later on today, maybe make a new journal for it


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

ozi said:


> there's something about nano tanks, i can't describe it, but they just go under my skin
> yours is awsome!!! can you give us some info on it, like what lighting to you use and what's the substrate (eco-complete maybe?)??
> i have a 5G for my red cherry shrimpies, and i recently redecorated it cauz it started looking like a jungle will only stem plants. i could barely see my RCS. but now it's more "open". i hope to put some pics later on today, maybe make a new journal for it


It was originally supposed to be a quarantine tank.

Substrate: Flourite black, peat moss underneath
Lighting: 27w Compact Fluorescent Spiral
Ferts: Tom Barr's EI method, water solutions; KNO3 + KH2PO4 3x a week, trace elements 3x a week, waterchanges once a week with RO water, 1x GH booster (calcium + magnesium salts) during WCs.
Filtration: Red Sea Deco Art Nano Filter, I started adding dry almond leaves to lower the pH and hardness (thinking of keeping red crystal shrimp or boraras brigittae)

Fauna: pond bladder snails and hydra lol
Flora: dwarf hairgrass, glosso, spirodela polyrhiza

Temp: Room temperature, 18-20 degrees celcius
pH: 6.5-7.0
KH / GH: 1-3 degrees
Haven't checked ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels because I haven't kept anything in there. Don't even know if it's cycled.

I've actually neglected water changes / dosing regimen the past month, so the tank has so algae growth. The pond snails (that hitch-hiked with the plants) are doing a great job keeping it clean though, although they sometimes make me lose my appetite looking at their mouths moving around.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

TypeZERO said:


> I started out with a 20gallon tank, never considering live plants. I have some corries, platies, guppies, and a honey gourami in there. As for decor i got few plastic plants and driftwood with christmas moss tied down to it. I have a 5 gallon qt ive been wanting to do try a nano and get into some real live plants. My father is willing to help me pay for a 55gallon set up once our basement is finished so i cant wait for that, for the mean while i would like to learn more about keeping live plants!


Sweet. What corries do you keep? I've been looking for christmas moss--do you think we can do a trade or something?

Live plants are pretty easy to keep, just need to learn about a few things before starting. Forums and online articles are the best source.

Plant growth is interdependent on a combintion of lights, CO2 and fertilizers.

Lights--depends on how much you want. It is like a gas pedal, higher = faster growth, more nutrient consumption, vice versa.

Fluorescent tubes are most cost-effective. It works for most tanks, but once you get to higher lighting levels, it's less effective given the limited hood space.

Compact fluorescent tubes are great for their power and price.

Metal halides are great for larger tanks. Usually used for reef tanks.

CO2 - Plant growth rate is many times faster with in a CO2-enriched environment than in a non-CO2 enriched environment. You can go for pressurized or DIY. A substitute is Seachem's Excel, provides carbon in another form. If CO2 is a 10, excel is 6-7.

DIY is basically yeast + sugar water in non-oxygen environment so yeast produces CO2 (such as a plastic bottle), has to be renewed about every 2-3 weeks. Pressurized involves at most basic CO2 cylinder and regulator (high pressure gauge to measure cylinder pressure, low pressure gauge to measure exiting gas pressure). Extras include needle valve to make fine-adjustments, solenoid turns on/off CO2, bubble counter measures CO2 rate. All CO2 should have check valves for accidents.

You need a method to diffuse the CO2. Lots of methods, powerhead, bell, reactor, lily pipes, airstone, inlet to HOB, etc.)

Substrate is only important for rooting plants.

Higher lights, 3+ wpg, usually needs pressurized CO2 injection (55g+ needs pressurized to keep CO2 levels steady), which means ferts are needed. You can go w/o CO2, just plants grow slower, so you don't need as much lighting. Since plants grow faster in high light, there's more usually more maintenance and higher chance for things to go wrong faster.

Lower light levels, you need less CO2, lower proportion of ferts.

No CO2 + lower lighting, not a lot of people go for this even though it looks really cool. It requires the least maintenance and work. See Tom Barr's article.

Almost all plants do well with moderate lighting. Some plants are that classified as "low-light" thrive in bright lighting as well, it's just that they can tolerate light levels.

Fertilizers, you need macro/micro nutrients. Commercial products are easiest to use. Dry fertilizers involves measuring, but most cost-effective. You can go w/o any fertilizers, fish food / waste provides most nutrients.

Algae is an opportunity-taker, it thrives when there an imbalance in the system, either too much or little of something.

I can't say enough good things about plants. Some good things about plants: When plants do well, fish will do well. Fish are healthier and live longer with healthy plants. Plants give protection and hiding places for fish and other critters. They also act as extra biological filtration--absorbing a lot of harmful substances into their structure.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I was talking to the girl who worked at Menagerie's today,

Why not make a facebook group?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Good luck you guys!  LOts of awesome stuff man.. :3


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## hironobu (Oct 30, 2007)

dekstr said:


> I was talking to the girl who worked at Menagerie's today,
> 
> Why not make a facebook group?


I'm totally for it! =) This way we can even post pictures and availabilities on the site. That'll be awesome! 

p.s. Hey dexter did you get any shrimps?


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## thiban (Nov 19, 2007)

Hey Guys!
I don't have facebook  but still sounds like a great idea!
i got some shrimps and some plants today from Derek. I actually bought 5 algae eating shrimps from BA for 10.00. This morning i found one exoskeleton, but the other 4 are fine. The only predator they have is my angelfish. The shrimps i got from Derek are the Red Cherry Shrimp. They are so fun to watch. Luckily he gave me alot of plants, and this helped with the hiding. My tank is finally looking how i want it too, but will need a few days for the plants to grow in!
I feel like i am finally accomplishing my goal


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

hironobu said:


> I'm totally for it! =) This way we can even post pictures and availabilities on the site. That'll be awesome!
> 
> p.s. Hey dexter did you get any shrimps?


Not from menagerie's.

They had red cherry shrimp and yellow bee shrimp come in with the shipment.
The bee shrimp are quite small, you can't see the colouration really well yet. I might get some later when they've been in the store a bit longer. Also, as the website said, massive plant order! It was so full they moved some of the plants into the fish tanks lol. Don't remember the price, about $3-4 each I think.

The plant pads they're selling are amazing. HC pads are so thick and green and healthy. Same with the glosso, dwarf hairgrass. However, the glosso you can tell was grown emersed. I got a nice HC pad.

I also went to aquapets and the store at market village yesterday.

Aquapets has red crystal shrimp for sale at $10--grade B or C, not sure.

The one at market village had amano shrimp for $2.99 each, or 5 for $10. They labelled it "yamato shrimp". They have a lot of amano shrimps there! I got 10 amano shrimps from market village!

They also had red cherry shrimp for the same price and deal.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

thiban said:


> Hey Guys!
> I don't have facebook  but still sounds like a great idea!
> i got some shrimps and some plants today from Derek. I actually bought 5 algae eating shrimps from BA for 10.00. This morning i found one exoskeleton, but the other 4 are fine. The only predator they have is my angelfish. The shrimps i got from Derek are the Red Cherry Shrimp. They are so fun to watch. Luckily he gave me alot of plants, and this helped with the hiding. My tank is finally looking how i want it too, but will need a few days for the plants to grow in!
> I feel like i am finally accomplishing my goal


Awesome! Hope your angelfish dont' eat your shrimps. It probably will if hungry enough and once it gets bigger. Get facebook just for the group lol.


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

LOL, thiban isn't likely to get facebook =P but regardless, I was wondering if anyone has small plants for the bottom of the tank. I really don't know my plants so you gotta help me out =) 

other than that, merry christmas everyone


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I had some glosso and dwarf hairgrass.

Should've asked earlier because I just did a massive trim on both of them yesterday--now the clippings are in the garbage .



Merry Christmas.


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

Hemianthus callitrichoides, glosso nd dwarf hairgrass
I think I will need one or all of those =P lemme know if you hafta do clippings again. Thanks!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Hey guys, I set up a general Toronto / GTA facebook group that links to all the other groups.

http://utoronto.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23001711240


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

dex, thiban, when are you avaible to meet up? I am going to have to go to school to finish my fin ray counts, so I am possibly going tomorrow or the day after ... but when are you guys free?


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I'm free anytime. 

Might drop by finactics Friday and see what fish Mr. Bandura has for sale.

I'll PM you my cell.


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## martin c (Dec 17, 2007)

Dex, TBan, you guys free anytime tomorrow or wed? Just wondering if you guys would like to meet up. just call my cell.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Kind of busy at the moment. Gotta apply to all these jobs for co-op right now.

Maybe in a month or so. I'll get back to you!


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Damn this sounds sick... I wish Ryerson student had initiative to make a aquarium club but then they wouldn't be going to Ryerson


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I'm glad I found this forum, and especially this thread 

I'm currently at UT St. George campus as well, and I know only one other aqua hobbyist, but I do know of two professors that keep aquariums in their offices. I knew another serious hobbyist, but I think he's already graduated from the downtown campus.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I haven't talked to Thiban in a long time now.

Thing is he is doing most of the organizing, and I'm just tagging along.

He also has connections to the fish lab and knows the professor who runs it. But that turned out to be not a good place to meet because the fish lab is high security.

I think the goal is to get as many people as possible to meet informally and unofficially. Hopefully, doesn't matter if you're alumni, not from UofT, as long as you're about somehow related to university student.

I'm really busy at the moment with other activities and responsibilities, so maybe sometime after mid-term we can get it started.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

If this thing is able to go through properly, we can actually form a club that is more centrally localized around the downtown core/amongst University students/alumni to begin with.

It doesn't have to be big... The MFC started with just a few people and now has grown in less than a years time.

If a temporary space is unavailable, a study room at the library is always convenient


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Hey everyone,

Since I have not heard back from Thiban so far, how about a meeting in March or April, right after mid-terms or something.

Dates? Location?

Brian, you talked about meeting at UTSG, can you find a good location to meet? There are a lot of facilities at university campuses. It seems the most convenient to run it at UTSG due to availability of public transportation and proximity to city. 

However, UTSC is between UTM and UTSG, so that's an option there too. 

Open to suggestions.

I'll start developing an attendance list to get a estimate of how many people can attend. However, the details are vague so my guess is most people will not commit until there is definite location/date.

Let's see how this will work.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

UTSG has a few libraries on campus that have reading/study rooms available... such as Robart's but you need a U of T student card to flash the guy so you can get in.

There are also other libraries on campus like Gerstein where there is a community study room on the main floor.

If anything, I can book study rooms for 2 hours that can accomodate 12 people in each room at Ryerson which is pretty close to UTSG.

Let me know what you guys wanna do. This doesn't necessarily have to be U of T students only right? So maybe I can post sort of a "meet and greet" and we can see how many people would like to attend?


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Good idea!

I think it's a good idea to book a room first, then create some sort of advertisement and start contacting some people who have shown interest before.

That way, people can respond Y/N/maybe, we get a good gauge of interest. If we get little response or different time/date is requested, we can always change it.

It doesn't cost any money to book a room right?


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Take photos! ^_^


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

No, I can book a room at the library building on Ryerson Campus. It usually runs for 2 hours but I can book it again right after that.

I can try for a 12 person room but I need an exact date - they are usually empty if you book it a week ahead so if I get a date right now than we can get into it for sure.

Its like a 2 minute walk from Dundas station so it isn't much further than UTSG and I find that the study rooms at UTSG you can't talk that loud as all the students there are... ya know... lol.


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## PalermoPenano (Jul 17, 2007)

Anybody go to york?!


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Some people probably do but it isn't a problem if you want to come to the meeting anyways 

This was originally intended for UTSC members but I'm from Ryerson and I'm still going 

It would be cool to see people getting together and talking about some fish stuff. I mean... there is an aquarium club basically for every region except downtown Toronto which is kinda weird to me.


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## aeri (Sep 9, 2007)

i'm at ryerson as well


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Well that means you shouldn't have an excuse not to show up at the meeting... haha.


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## aeri (Sep 9, 2007)

i think setting up meetings at the rammer would be ideal.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

You mean Ram in the Rye?


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## aeri (Sep 9, 2007)

__________yap


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

I guess we'll leave it upto dekstr to decide, I don't really care where we meet.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I would like it anywhere that's convenient for most people. Ryerson seems like an ideal location.

What is the rammer? I assume some location around Ryerson "campus"?

I find that there are some university libraries where people like to meet and chat and the volume tolerance of librarians are high.

Since you can book a room pretty late, how about sometime in March. That will definitely be after midterms but before the finals and give enough time for a booking.

So now it will be called "University Aquaria Club" or something like that.

We'll plan along the way.

Things are coming along!

Regards,
Dexter

Edit: I watched Old School yesterday. It can be like that in the sense that everyone is welcome and minus the fraternity part! lol
Also, there are no restrictions like needing student ID at the place Brian mentioned right?


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