Mermaid Swims In Essays -- Personal Narrative Aquariums Papers

Mermaid Swims In I am new to the hobby of keeping and maintaining an aquarium. My boyfriend, Andrew, gave me an aquarium for my birthday two months ago. I was very excited. When I was little, my family had two goldfish in a small, round bowl. Watching my mother clean out the tank was the extent to which I knew how to care for fish. The aquarium that Andrew gave me is an Eclipse 6; a six-gallon aquarium equipped with a bio-wheel filtration system. The bio-wheel system is a three-step filtration system: the water is sucked out of the aquarium into a tube, passed along a carbon filter, and then into a chamber that houses a bio-wheel-a small rotating filter that absorbs impurities from the water. Finally, the water is dropped back into the aquarium via waterfall. Eclipse aquariums have wonderful reputations; I am confident in saying that it is one of the best if not the best aquarium on the market. As you can imagine, maintaining this aquarium is a lot different from caring for the small fishbowl that I grew up with. At first, I knew not how involved the process was and decided to start stocking my aquarium. I purchased four plants (all plastic) because I was told that beginners should not start with live plants, which can alter the chemical levels in the water. My final purchase was the gravel and I quickly assumed I was ready to get started. Was I ever wrong. Keeping a healthy aquarium turned out to be much more work than I had ever imagined. However, I did not find this out until I failed several times. After killing five fish I was afraid to try again. I was overwhelmed with how much there was to learn. I wondered if I would ever be able to learn all I needed to be able to keep a healthy aquarium. Thus... ... is that they seem to "suck you in". I found myself happily chatting to people for what seemed like minutes and later realize I had been sitting in front of the computer for countless hours. It is somewhat worse than watching television because it completely draws you in. There are no commercial breaks where you can dart to the bathroom before the show starts. This is the downside of the Internet for me. I feel guilty when I am stuck in my house on the computer and it is a beautiful day outside. The time I spend on the Internet also seems to cut into the time I am supposed to be doing schoolwork or cleaning my house. Oh well! It is fun! WORKS CITED Aquaria Central. http://www.aquariacentral.com/. (01 May 99) Fish Link Central. http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/. (01 May 99) The Aquaria. http://www.actwin.com/fish/index.cgi. (01 May 99) Mermaid Swims In Essays -- Personal Narrative Aquariums Papers Mermaid Swims In I am new to the hobby of keeping and maintaining an aquarium. My boyfriend, Andrew, gave me an aquarium for my birthday two months ago. I was very excited. When I was little, my family had two goldfish in a small, round bowl. Watching my mother clean out the tank was the extent to which I knew how to care for fish. The aquarium that Andrew gave me is an Eclipse 6; a six-gallon aquarium equipped with a bio-wheel filtration system. The bio-wheel system is a three-step filtration system: the water is sucked out of the aquarium into a tube, passed along a carbon filter, and then into a chamber that houses a bio-wheel-a small rotating filter that absorbs impurities from the water. Finally, the water is dropped back into the aquarium via waterfall. Eclipse aquariums have wonderful reputations; I am confident in saying that it is one of the best if not the best aquarium on the market. As you can imagine, maintaining this aquarium is a lot different from caring for the small fishbowl that I grew up with. At first, I knew not how involved the process was and decided to start stocking my aquarium. I purchased four plants (all plastic) because I was told that beginners should not start with live plants, which can alter the chemical levels in the water. My final purchase was the gravel and I quickly assumed I was ready to get started. Was I ever wrong. Keeping a healthy aquarium turned out to be much more work than I had ever imagined. However, I did not find this out until I failed several times. After killing five fish I was afraid to try again. I was overwhelmed with how much there was to learn. I wondered if I would ever be able to learn all I needed to be able to keep a healthy aquarium. Thus... ... is that they seem to "suck you in". I found myself happily chatting to people for what seemed like minutes and later realize I had been sitting in front of the computer for countless hours. It is somewhat worse than watching television because it completely draws you in. There are no commercial breaks where you can dart to the bathroom before the show starts. This is the downside of the Internet for me. I feel guilty when I am stuck in my house on the computer and it is a beautiful day outside. The time I spend on the Internet also seems to cut into the time I am supposed to be doing schoolwork or cleaning my house. Oh well! It is fun! WORKS CITED Aquaria Central. http://www.aquariacentral.com/. (01 May 99) Fish Link Central. http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/. (01 May 99) The Aquaria. http://www.actwin.com/fish/index.cgi. (01 May 99)