Dead Ants vs. Whirlpool Waterfall

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Reddit Comments

Wow this is so awesome, makes me want my own micro biome.

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/UnstoppableHypocrite 📅︎︎ May 19 2018 🗫︎ replies

Awesome video and tank but does he/she have to talk like that?

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/JonRemzzzz 📅︎︎ May 20 2018 🗫︎ replies

what an absolutely amazing ant farm! fuck my life that thing is sexy.

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/[deleted] 📅︎︎ May 20 2018 🗫︎ replies

I binge watched his whole channel over the last week, this guy is awesome!!!

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/[deleted] 📅︎︎ May 20 2018 🗫︎ replies

I'd have watched a 5 or 6 minute video about this ant dilemma, but 24 minutes? Forget it. Plus the irritating voiceover.

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/baloneycologne 📅︎︎ May 19 2018 🗫︎ replies

This sounds like Jeremy Fredrick Wilson, aka Bumpity Boo

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/Apple_juice_13 📅︎︎ May 20 2018 🗫︎ replies
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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!
Info
Channel: AntsCanada
Views: 1,745,573
Rating: 4.8919601 out of 5
Keywords: ants, antscanada, mikey bustos, myrmecology, antfarm, ant colony, ant nest, queen ant, formicarium, antstore, ant habitat, antworks, insects, science, pets, exotic, nature, fire ants, paludarium, solenopsis, biotope, aquascape, terrarium, fish, rainforest, waterfall
Id: UPDm0WNYgkw
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 24min 25sec (1465 seconds)
Published: Sat May 19 2018
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