Oh no! I woke up this week to a total disaster! I expected an ordinary day in the Selva De
Fuego, this giant Amazon River Paludarium, the mighty home kingdom to the Fire Nation,
our massive colony of fire ants. But when I saw it, I knew we had a crisis
at hand. A dead fish, one of the guppy gang members
had passed away overnight, but also, dead ants, tonnes and tonnes of dead ants. AC Family, it was time to take some drastic
measures. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel, and hit the
bell icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! So it took me a minute to figure things out
but, AC Family, when I did, the solution I dreamt up to solve the problem lead to the
creation of the most epic thing I have ever fashioned in the history of the ant room! Keep on watching until the end for the final
reveal. So, here's what I gathered happened. The Fire Nation, being the intelligent ant
colony that they are, discovered that they no longer needed to have the colony's graveyard
site take up valuable real estate which instead, could have been used for nesting, and so they
collectively decided to do something I had hoped they'd never do, but inside, feared
they eventually would. AC Family, I regret to announce that the Fire
Nation has decided to start dumping all their existing dead into our river, and from the
looks of things it seems they had dumped overnight, at least several months-worth of dead ants
into our river. Man! It was a move that made sense for the colony
because why should the Fire Nation place their dead at such close proximity to the nest,
which attracts mold, mites, and other unwanteds, when they could simply dump it into a fast-flowing
river to be taken far away down stream? The only problem with that is, this river
is not a real one, and due to how it is rigged, it has completely caused some major issues. First, look at the intake for the filter. It is completely clogged up with dead ant
bodies. This clog is extremely problematic because
it means less water is being sucked up by the filter, which also therefore means a slower-flowing
river, build-up of foul water, and the bigger problem of all: the very reason why one of
our guppies died. The massive amount of dead decaying ant bodies
in the river was too much for our Corydoras catfish to eat all at once, and all the dead
decaying ants created a sudden spike in poisonous ammonia, nitrite, and nitrogen in the water,
which was too great an amount for our plants and canister filter to neutralize on time,
thereby leading to the ultimate death of our guppy. If this is all confusing you, to put it simply,
in a previous video we explained how decaying organic matter and fish waste creates ammonia,
nitrites, and nitrates in the water, and these nitrogenous compounds are lethal to fish and
animals at certain levels. Our plants and filter usually help neutralize
these nitrogenous toxins, in between routine water changes. So the big problem now was this: with the
Fire Nation now dumping all their dead into the waters, we needed a solution to deal with
the sudden surge of poisonous nitrogen in the river from the all decaying ant cadavres. Up to this point, I hadn't thought of a set
contingency plan for such a thing, but the one thing I was thankful for was that over
the past few weeks, I had made some key edits to the river just in case something like this
were to happen. If you're new here, back when I first created
this paludarium, it was devoid of plants, save a little bit of moss, and had a small,
dinky submersible filter. It was just enough to get by, but suddenly
out of nowhere there was a mass mysterious death of fish and we couldn't figure out why,
even if our water quality tests came out inconclusive. Now even though we never really knew what
caused the death of our fish that day, the whole fiasco caused me to think ahead and
make some major adjustments to our river to better equip it to deal with future hidden
disasters. So we amped up filtration and added a tonne
of plants both into the river floor and floating on the waters surface. Now some of you commented asking, if water
quality was fine according to water tests, why all these sudden changes to the river? And well, this is the reason. Preventative maintenance! I am so glad this river had a bigger filter
and all these plants, dealing with this sudden water poisoning. I even added a team of water lettuce a couple
weeks ago to join our floating duckweed and frogbit, which surely has helped deal with
all these dead ants. Even though we lost a guppy overnight, we
surely would have lost a lot more if not all our fish if it weren't for all these plants
and large canister filter to carry the bulk of the poison load. Now as for the plants, adversely, they were
totally LOVING all this great food! Dead ants and the spike in nitrates is basically
a buffet for all these plants. You see plants eat ammonia, nitrites, and
nitrates, so unlike us, the plants welcomed these ant carcasses and toxic nitrogenous
compounds with open arms, I mean roots. You can actually see where the roots have
clung to dead ants. Additionally, the clogged filter also lead
to a build-up of suspended organic debris floating in our river, which the roots from
the plants filtered out for the plants to eat. But, despite this glorious feast for our water
plants, this imbalance was not good. It was a death pool for our fish and also
lethal to the Fire Nation, because the ants drink from this river. And so, AC Family, here was my ultimate plan. First, we had to clean up all these dead ants. I put on some gloves and went in to unplug
the filter intake so the filter could get back to it's great work at cleaning up and
neutralizing the toxic nitrogen-rich waters. Immediately, any and all suspended debris
were sucked into the filter. This unclogging also restored the currents
of the river. I then went in to scoop out as much of the
sunken dead ants as I could. There! Now to leave the rest of the cleanup to the
plants and filter until the waters would get back to normal. I also did a partial water change to get rid
of excess nitrogen. But this was just a quick fix. The biggest problem had to be dealt with. How were we going to deal with future ant
bodies being dumped into the river? It's not like I could tell the Fire Nation
to cease their body dumping immediately. So, here was my idea. We needed to do three things: First, we needed
to increase our team of plants filtering the water and feeding on nitrates. Second, we needed to increase our team of
beneficial bacteria needed to neutralize the nitrates, and third, we needed to increase
the overall volume of water in our river system. Increasing the plant life, beneficial bacteria
colonies, and amount of water meant it would take much longer for the river to reach lethal
levels of poisonous ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates if ever the Fire Nation decides to
do a mass body or garbage dumping into the river. So AC Family, it was time for the Selva de
Fuego to receive it's biggest renovation and construction ever. My idea was crazy and I wasn't sure if it
would work, but it seemed I had no other option but to try. So here's was the plan. Water from the river gets sucked up here,
is brought to the canister filter, and then pumped back out through a tube which runs
down underground along the back of the Selva de Fuego then out through the other side,
feeding the river. My idea was I needed to create a separate
large body of water here, which would house more plants for filtration, and then this
water from this body of water would then need to be returned to the River at this end so
the water can continue to create a flow downstream, to begin the cycle all over again. So for this new body of water, I took a plastic
critter crawler and I literally had to burn a semi-hole towards the top and shape it using
a metal knife. With silicone caulking I attached part of
a plastic tube and pebbles to give it a more natural feel if this area were to be exposed. This would act like a spout to move water
out of this critter crawler and into the river. I then proceeded to install this into the
Selva de Fuego. This new installation took several days to
tweak and get right, but when it finally all came together, the final product was utter
magic. Behold, the new majestic landmark of the Selva
de Fuego. The Fire Nation and resident Selva de Fuegans
now had the most remarkable waterfall. I was utterly spellbound by its tranquil beauty,
and could not stop looking. Watching the crystal clear waters cascading
over the rocks forming the Selva de Fuago's new waterfall mountain was so satisfying and
calming! Have a look! The ants just loved this new landmark and
explored the face of their new waterfall mountain with glee. I also bet the fish appreciated this new oxygenating
installment. With all of this new amazing water turbulence,
more oxygen was now being dissolved into the water. You may notice the incorporation of a new
plant. This right here is a magnificent South American
vining and plant called Heart-leafed Philodendron, or Philodendron cordatum, also a very popular
house plant. I love it because you could literally just
stick cuttings of it into water or wet surfaces and it will literally grow roots that will
cling on to rocks to anchor it in place. These roots would also go on to eat poisonous
nitrates in the water passing through this waterfall, and speaking which, if you think
this waterfall is cool, AC Family, check out where the true magic happens! Behind this rock mountain, lays our brand
new whirlpool. The critter crawler created an amazing venue
for floating water plants to grow, which would allow them to do their great work at naturally
filter the water coming from our canister filter, for a second round. All these floating plants came from our river,
and I made it so that the water entering this whirlpool moves in a circular motion all around
the critter crawler so the water passes all these amazing, ammonia-, nitrite-, and nitrate-hungry
roots before exiting through one of three ports. And yes, I had to add two more exit ports,
because after my initial tests I found that water was not leaving fast enough and the
water being pumped in from the filter caused a mass overflow of this whirlpool. Now the water after passing through these
filtering roots flows out of these tubes which I have obscured within the rock arrangement. I also made sure to add Philodendron into
the whirlpool at certain places to ensure the floating plants and their roots do not
clog any of the output tubes, as this would lead to a mass overspill again. Lastly, the gravel layer at the bottom of
the whirlpool also provided a suitable habitat for colonies of beneficial bacteria to live
and grow overtime which would help at neutralizing poisonous ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates
resulting from dead decaying fire ant bodies and ant waste. This whirlpool gravel layer and root forest
also helped trap additional debris our canister filter might miss, keeping the waters even
clearer. Overall, I couldn't express my joy at this
new whirlpool waterfall installation. Not only was this new landmark absolutely
beautiful, but more importantly, it was functional. With this new oxygenating waterfall, an added
5 gallons of water, and essentially now a secondary natural filter, the Selva de Fuego's
river was healthier than ever and much more equipped at dealing with sudden events like
a mass dumping of Fire Nation ant bodies into the river. To celebrate this new titanic event and complete
the entire natural look of the Selva de Fuego, I also installed a new stone backdrop, which
I loved it so much because it not only made the Selva de Fuego look even more natural,
but it also gave the entire paludarium incredible depth. I felt as though I was staring at a chunk
of rainforest in my Ant Room. I stood for hours in awe watching. And the Fire Nation also found the launch
of this new majestic landmark a suitable time to launch a royal event of their own. I was shocked to discover, when checking on
the Selva de Fuego late at night, that the Fire Nation had decided to have a nuptial
flight at the center of the kingdom. The added humidity from the whirlpool and
waterfall must have stimulated the Fire Nation to nuptial fly. All I could see were queens emerging along
with masses of Fire Nation workers. The queen alates took off at various times,
and some even made it out of the Selva de Fuego, but as you may have seen from a past
video, I wasn't worried because just nearby, were our other ant kingdoms with black lights
to attract the alates, which would fall in to be eaten by ant colonies who waited patiently
for the Fire Nation alate feast. By morning, it warmed my heart to see the
guppy gang dancing at the foot of their new waterfall. The waters were crystal clear now, clearer
than they've ever been before. Have a look! Just gorgeous! I could only imagine how refreshing it must
have been for the fish to breathe and swim through these freshly oxygenated and purified
waters. The new swimming space due to the transfer
of the floating plants from the river to the whirlpool, was also greatly appreciated by
the fish, as well as allowed for more light to enter the river for our Saggitaria growing
along the bottom. With the proliferation of our water plants,
including this new Philodendron, the waters will be filtered effectively more and more. The greatest thing about all this, is that
our new water system will continue to provide clean water to the Fire Nation, even if they
decide to pull stunts like dumping their dead bodies or garbage into the river. It may take the Fire Nation several more months
to build up an equivalent amount of dead as that which was dumped previously into the
river before this whole mess, but by then, our river system will have much more plants,
a greater colony of neutralizing beneficial bacteria, and will overall be fully equipped
at handling such a death dump. Additionally, all dead ants dumped into the
river from here on in, if not eaten up by our Corydoras catfish, can simply sit around
safely until I am able to literally suck them out with every weekly water change. I can also suck up any ants dumped into our
whirlpool, and perhaps add an aquatic beast in there if ant body dumping gets out of control. Stay tuned for that! Oh, and about the Corydoras catfish, in a
couple months, this system will be ready to support more Corydoras catfish which I plan
to add to feed on ant bodies and garbage, and I can't wait! Also, I'm happy to inform you that our Corydoras
catfish have an official name! Thanks to your votes the school of Corydoras
will from here on in be called the White Tigers. I love the White Tigers so much and they've
been diligent at keeping all areas of our river clean. But AC Family, speaking of official names,
I think you know what's next, right? Our new grand landmarks need names! What should we call our new waterfall and
whirlpool? Leave your name suggestions in the comments
and I will choose my favourites for us to vote on in a future video. The morning Selva de Fuegan rains rolled in. These vital daily rains as well as the Fire
Nation's excrement and garbage, nourished the land plants, which provided the Selva
de Fuegans with fresh air and vital cover. I watched some guppies grazing on a patch
of algae. The Fire Nation performed their ritualistic
dance in the rain. Our new waterfall continued to bring forth
life-giving waters. All day I stared at the random sights within
the Selva de Fuego, for hours and hours, well into the night. Never had I seen such a beautiful piece of
nature in my home, and I couldn't believe we could look at it and admire it any time
we wanted. Amidst all this heart-warming gorgeousness,
I realized that Nature is truly more complex than I ever imagined. We've been tweaking and improving this piece
of nature a long the way, in response to disasters and imminent dangers, and it already has been
quite the journey of discovery. I imagine Mother Nature's actual mechanics
to be much more complex than that which we've created here in the Selva de Fuego. I am sure Mother Nature manages billions of
moving parts, and likely had many, many secret built-in contingency plans, set in place,
so the balance of her ecosystems remained unaffected regardless of anything drastic. How else would life have persisted on Earth
for so long? It seems we figured out one such contingency
plan today. The new waterfall-whirlpool installment acted
as water quality buffers so that water could remain safe and clean to drink despite what
the Fire Nation decides to dump into it. As a creator of worlds, it also made me appreciate
the value of being prepared, and realize the importance of preventative measures, so the
millions of lives that depend on us and our decisions for their survival, continue to
thrive. AC Family, we did good today, finding a solution
to a serious and major crisis, and coolest of all, we created greater beauty in the process. Isn't it amazing to discover the blueprints
of nature on a microscale? This is what I just love about keeping pet
ants. It's ant love forever. Now on to a neighbouring ant kingdom, that
I've been dying to update you all on. They've truly been pioneering hardcore, and
I feel are they're well on their way to becoming a successful ant kingdom. I have some key updates on our huge, aggressive,
and queenless Diacamma ant colony, whom I call the Bullet Ants of Asia, living quietly
in the Shire, and I can't wait to show you how they've been. Alright AC Family, I love moving on from ant
colony to ant colony and trust me on this, you guys will trip out at what I have to show
you regarding our new Diacamma ant colony! So be sure to hit that SUBSCRIBE button and
bell icon now so you don't miss out on this huge epic update, and hit the LIKE button
every single time, including now. Also, if you're new to the channel and want
to catch up on your AntsCanada Lore. I've put together a complete story line playlist
so you can watch how all of the ant colonies you love on this channel, came to be, all
their challenges and hardships, all their successes and life events, their entire story
lines can now be watched from the very start so you can better appreciate the journey these
ants, as well as us watching them, have been embarking on. It's incredible how epic the lives of ants
are! Also, just a quick reminder to all those wanting
to get into ant keeping, we offer a tonne of easy-to-use ant keeping gear and pro ant
farms at our shop at AntsCanada.com. We ship worldwide, and offer full email customer
support if you need it. AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would just like to watch hypnotic, beauty scenes of our new waterfall
and whirlpool, and how the Selva de Fuegans are enjoying the new installment. Trust me, it's truly spell-binding and I find
myself always sitting and watching for hours at a time! Do check it out! Before we continue with the AC Question of
the Week, I would like to plug my daily vlogging channel, daily vlogs of my travels around
the world which often includes a lot of nature stuff. This particular vlog includes my additional
thoughts on the new waterfall and whirlpool. I will actually also be in Toronto, Canada
on May 27th for a public meet and greet at Dixie Mall, Mississauga from 2-5, so feel
free to drop by and chat with me about ants. The link to the official event page is in
the description box. Would love to meet you, AC Family! And now it's time for the AC Question of the
Week. Last week we asked: What bodily changes did the queen
experience after mating? Congratulations to Bilal Tahir who correctly
answered: The queen ant broke off her
wings and became photophobic. Congratulations Bilal you just won a free
e-book handbook from our shop. In this week's AC Question of the Week, we
ask: How does the new setup
help make the waters in the Selva de Fuego a better
home for its inhabitants? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free e-book handbook from our shop. Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we
upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE
if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more. It's ant love forever!
Wow this is so awesome, makes me want my own micro biome.
Awesome video and tank but does he/she have to talk like that?
what an absolutely amazing ant farm! fuck my life that thing is sexy.
I binge watched his whole channel over the last week, this guy is awesome!!!
I'd have watched a 5 or 6 minute video about this ant dilemma, but 24 minutes? Forget it. Plus the irritating voiceover.
This sounds like Jeremy Fredrick Wilson, aka Bumpity Boo