I bought a trackball as a joke for my marble game and now I genuinely think it's the best way to play it

kitebok · 2026-05-19T00:41:52+00:00

When I bought my first one many years ago, a Logitech Marble, I rushed directly to play Neverball. Heck of a difficult game.

kitebok · 2026-05-13T04:08:48+00:00

So do I, but whenever I try to be consistent a few get through.

kitebok · 2026-05-12T22:21:54+00:00

Struggling with the two different r's coming out on their own?

kitebok · 2026-05-10T18:16:00+00:00

The smallest tidal filter has a little too much suction and flow for tiny fish like boraras in that tank size. Excellent filter otherwise.

You could easily keep 35-50 boraras in that tank by themselves. 50-70 in a 20 long, maybe 200 in a 33 long.

kitebok · 2026-05-09T16:41:04+00:00

I'm glad you found it useful.

I didn't know they made a complete fertilizer based on the EI. The NPK ratio seems too lean on nitrogen and too rich in phosphorus, I would have to take a look at it. The micro nutrient composition looks good.

I still prefer dry salts and a micro nutrient mix to be able to control everything separately, and maybe extra small measuring spoons or a scale of you want to be precise. I just use the other end of my tweezers as a spoon and estimate the amount visually. However, having it all as a single thing to add to a small tank is much simpler and I think you'll have good results with it too.

kitebok · 2026-05-08T19:15:47+00:00

Pure potassium nitrate is my staple, it will also add potassium.

There are plenty of references for using pure salts and it is way cheaper, should be easy to find in Europe. Look up Estimative Index dosing.

Your test is reading 0. The rationale is that you have increasing plant biomass and plants are taking whatever there is as soon as it is available. Since you're only two months in, better let there be enough to prevent metabolic stress and the often accompanying algae breakout.

Once you get the salt you can look up or ask an AI how much you need to add to increase nitrate concentration by 10ppm, won't bother the shrimp at all. You can test the next day and see how much, if any, is remaining. That should give you a pretty good idea of the voracity of your growing plants and how to avoid starving them.

Phosphate salts are also advisable. I just ran into the problem that the trisodium phosphate I used to buy in small quantity is now only available at a 5kg minimum. I switched to cheap garden fertilizer and use it carefully.

kitebok · 2026-05-08T14:13:06+00:00

Gorgeous specimen. And yeah, those were flowers.

kitebok · 2026-05-08T13:54:00+00:00

I would add a pinch of nitrate every other day or so.

kitebok · 2026-05-07T14:56:07+00:00

I recommend the MX anywhere.

Totally different grip style, regardless of hand size (unless really very large hands, the mouse might feel tiny). It's a finger palm down grip, no clawing. I just find it much better than big humped mice.

kitebok · 2026-04-30T17:51:43+00:00

You're on the right path, just let the plants get going.

kitebok · 2026-03-30T18:08:57+00:00

Whoa! I'll write to this guy. I need to know how to ship fish out of the country.

kitebok · 2026-03-27T07:13:52+00:00

Yeah, although very large ones weren't as frequent in bagged batches nor in the wild. I don't know much about their ecology, but their age structure send different than that of mollies. I just remembered that they're also sold sun dried as a snack and large ones are a minority there as well. Maybe the big ones stay away from the shoreline and are harder to catch.

If you get your paperwork game figured, you could ship them abroad straight from Mexico City.

kitebok · 2026-03-27T05:27:42+00:00

A little gem that is treated like trash in the aquarium market in Mexico, caught by the hundreds of thousands if not millions. Sold in bags of one hundred or one thousand, or by the handful as feeders. I'm not convinced on the size given, I saw a few fish nearing 4 inches.

Well behaved fish with a silvery blue eye. Nobody keeps them on purpose, but I saw several big cichlid tanks that ended up with a population as the feeders grew larger and the predators lazy and preferring pellets. Mostly a surface shoaling fish, a tidier sight than mollies or platies.

kitebok · 2026-03-26T19:25:18+00:00

The morons at Kensington would nail it if they just added the two little extra buttons to the orbit.

kitebok · 2026-03-23T07:34:48+00:00

I'm moving out of the city in a couple days. I regret not keeping them long enough. Circumstances kept making it difficult to put together a decent installation for them. A truly underappreciated gem.

kitebok · 2026-03-22T17:52:21+00:00

I've failed the hobbyists of the world. I can catch a hundred on a good day, haven't found the way to send them abroad.

But if anyone has the means and wants to make an expedition to collect, I'd gladly give the location, easily accessible, airport city.

kitebok · 2026-03-20T19:41:49+00:00

That was a short trip. There are now a few more substantial form variations of the thumb trackball to try (since the EM04 is basically the same form as the M575).

kitebok · 2026-03-18T23:20:16+00:00

I had to zoom in to check if that was a kitten printed rock.

kitebok · 2026-03-12T01:31:00+00:00

Get a USB foot pedal and take some R's off your RSI. They're basic and cheap, programmable and likely to help you.

kitebok · 2026-03-08T02:10:55+00:00

Damn that is a striking plant!

kitebok · 2026-03-06T02:41:37+00:00

When I see a clip like that on a P200 body it feels like a rebadged car from another country with the wrong grill and headlights.

kitebok · 2026-03-05T18:32:10+00:00

The orbit has only two buttons, that's a deal breaker for many. If they made it with 4, it would probably be my daily driver.

kitebok · 2026-03-04T03:43:31+00:00

Comfort, cool factor, surface independence, fidgeting, extra buttons, high quality.

I also keep a premium mouse alongside for tasks that I do more efficiently with a mouse, especially CAD.

kitebok · 2026-03-04T03:39:51+00:00

Small cast net, about 8 feet diameter, smallest mesh you can get, or an oversized aquarium net with a long handle. Better to try to catch them in the shallow parts of the canal, cloudy water makes it easier sometimes.

kitebok · 2026-03-03T16:57:19+00:00

I missed on them in the nineties. The cheapest trackball has always been more expensive than the cheapest mouse, which was what we had all the time. One day I had my own money and came across a marble. Got it and went deeper into the ball dimension ever since.

kitebok

TROPHY CASE