Welcome to the FishHouse Blog!
Sunday, October 2nd, 2005
These
are the four pieces of bogwood I purchased, currently soaking in a vat of water
before adding them to aquariums in the fish house, the brown stain in the water
is caused by the tanin in the bogwood leaching into the water. Boiling and
soaking for long periods can reduce the tanin leaching into the water, the use
of carbon in a filter will remove the tanin from the water but can also remove
other nutrients required for plant growth, regular partial water changes will
also dilute the effect. I quite like the colour, and it appears more natural
for the fish that I keep. It also helps to acidify the water in the
aquarium. You usually have to pay for chemicals to do this e.g.
Tetra Blackwater
Extract. (the observant amongst you will notice this vat was last filled
with a potassium permanganate solution, this has been siphoned off into 20l
bottles, so I can dispose of, at a rate of 500ml (half a litre) a day!)
I’ve planted out my display tank this evening using Aquatic Potting Kits,
I’ve inspected the Totra Vallis, I received from Java-Plants and they are of
very poor quality unlike the Amazon Swords I received, I’ve emailed Java-Plants
for comments. All 25 plants look like they need a priest, very brown, I don’t
think they’ll recover.
On the subject of emailing suppliers, I’ve also emailed Pond-Supplies UK,
because I’ve noticed stress fractures/cracks on my new Air compressor, and
that’s not been in service very long. Air is leaking in via these cracks, and
not via the air-inlet.
On a happier note, my "aquarium sealant fix" seems to have fixed my other
Hi-Blow type air pump.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, blog, fish, fish house, house, images, plants
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Soaking Bogwood
Saturday, October 1st, 2005
Okay, I’ve bent the truth a little here, a friend travelling south from Newcastle met me on the A1/A59 at Junc 47, so I could collect a L190 Royal Pleco/Parnaque L190 Panaque nigrolineatus, extremely nice fish, currently in quarantine. Do other people conduct similiar activities?
Whilst as I was only a few miles from Tropica, Knaresborough, I thought I would drop in and have a browse. Tropica have a fantastic planted Dennerle display tank, just inside the door. Well worth a visit if your travelling up the A1, only a few miles from Junc 47 A1 (and this garden centre has a cafe!) From 5th October 2005, they will also be stocking Tropical Marines. I purchased four aquatic plant potting kits.
On returning to York, made a quick visit to Maidenhead Aquatics to purchase some bogwood, I only wanted small pieces, so browsed around in the box to collect the broken pieces, good value for a tenner (10GBP), I don’t think the staff were too amused, as most of the larger pieces are at least 5 kilos, at 5.50 GBP per kilo, that’s a few quid. I just wanted a few small pieces to add to various tanks, for the L’s and plecos to graze on. This wood is definately bogwood, it’s not been sandblasted like Mopani wood. I also checked out the young Angelfish, but didn’t part with any, because I didn’t think they were in good condition, very poor condition, tatty and torn finnage.
Tags: fish, garden, marine, marines, plec, pleco
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Found an L190 on the A1
Friday, September 30th, 2005
Well, I didn’t break down but a friend did, so apart from show him around the fish house, I had to collect his car not far from Animal House in Batley, West Yorkshire that’s the only fish connection to the fish house, and I got back that late, it was too late to feed the fish.
Tags: fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Breakdown near Animal House
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
I’ve
spent some time in the fish house this evening tidying up lose ends, probably
because it’s the warmest room in the house. I’ve installed, well actually I
dropped the bogwood into my angelfish rearing tank, which houses two unknown "plecos",
this evening there was evidence that the "plecos" had been grazing on the
bogwood because of the "bogwood pooh" left on the tank bottom, I would use the
scientific name bogwood faeces, but I think "bogwood pooh" sounds better, but I
think you’ll understand. It’s not uncommon for "plecos" and other relatives to
eat bogwood, The reason that plecos and other similar fish rasp bogwood is that
they need a substance called Lignin which is contained in the wood . It is
believed it helps them to digest their food. All the veggie catfish have finally
finished off the Tetra Plecomin, so they are back on Hikari. I
‘m sorry I
couldn’t catch a picture of the plecos on the bogwood, there were two fast and
cunning for me.
Fish House pump covered in aquarium sealant, trying to seal the crack and
stop venting air, I don’t know if this will work, if not I might try super-glue,
but aquarium sealant, usually does well under high pressure.
I’ve also moved one large male Koi Veiltail Angelfish out of the quarantine
tank, this was the fish that was not deporting too well, a few weeks ago,
shortly after purchase. I think this fish, may be being bullied by the other
mature males. I’ve found a
Royal Pleco/Parnaque
L190 Panaque nigrolineatus, this could me mine, I’ll have to wait
and see.
Had a re-think, about connecting the air-inlet of the air compressor to the
outside, more later.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, blog, catfish, fish, fish house, house, images, Koi, php, planetcatfish, plec, pleco
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on I can do anything with aquarium sealant
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
The
spare parts for my Lifegard FB300 Fluidized Bed Filter arrived today from the
AquariumSuperstore, I
ordered two replacement water deflectors a few weeks ago because I’ve recently
misplaced the originals in the fish house. The thread of the water deflector is
wrapped with 5 turns of PTFE "plumbers" tape, to stop any leaks. I thought this
was going to be a quick easy job, but trying to unscrew the existing pipe elbow
was difficult because it is made of plastic and the adjustable spanner kept
slipping, I eventually had to remove it from the tank temporarily to unscrew the
existing pipe elbow. TIP Use the correct fitting spanner and not an
adjustable!
The new water deflector is now installed, and the water flow adjusted correctly,
there is no back pressure on the existing power head, and the media fluidizes
very easily, I may have to check after 24 hours, otherwise I may have a tank
full of sand! In the corner of the picture is the inlet pipe to the Eheim 2260
external bucket filter and the top of an Algarde Bio-Foam 200 Sponge filter is
just visible above the surface of the water. This fix tank is probably "over
filtered" if that’s possible, but it helps to keep mature filters on standby as
anything can happen and it usually does.
The Lifegard Fluidized Bed Filter biological maturation takes considerably
longer. In most cases, the maturation period should take no longer than 40 days
during this period the nitrifying bacteria will attach themselves to the media
within the filter. I’ve got another filter to setup in the same way, when this
filter has matured.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, blog, fish, fish house, house, images
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Water Deflector for LifeGard FB300 installed
Thursday, September 29th, 2005
Up
again early this is morning to collect a parcel from the local Sorting Office,
it turned out to be a small piece of Mopani or Bogwood, I’d purchased. The
Sorting Office, also had my remaining order from
Java-Plants, 25 Vallis Torta, which
were placed in a water vat at 28 degree C, until I had chance this evening to
disinfect in my vat of potassium permanganate solution. (yes still having
planting issues in the display tank!).
This is an ideal piece of bogwood for my angelfish to spawn on, and also for
my "plecos" to graze on. When I’ve soaked it and disinfected it, I’ll place it
in my tank, and post a picture here in the blog.
I’ve also have a small community of Endler
Poecilia Livebearers, these seem to be very
popular on eBay at present, and are selling for very high prices, I was recently
given some male Endlers because my females seem to be rather thin. These fish
have finished their quarantine period, and after studying them closely, I don’t
believe they are True Endlers, possibly Guppy hybrids, so I have not mixed them
with my true Endler community, just to be safe, Male Guppies will hybridise with
the females very easily.
I have also moved all the male True Endlers, and separated them from the
females because the females were being harassed too much, and I noticed three
young fry in amongst the java fern which has grown out of control in my display
tank, so I dumped some in the Endlers’ aquarium in the fish house. I’m a little
confused, because every time I examine pictures on the internet of Endlers’ they
all look slightly different, so I still don’t know what True Endlers’ look like!
The nice man "Mark" at
AquariumSuperstore telephone today and left a message to let me know, I
should get my water deflectors tomorrow by post.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, blog, fish, fish house, house, images, internet, plants, plec, pleco
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Mopani or Bogwood?
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
I’ve got 50l of Potassium Permanganate solution at a concentration of 10mg/l that I’ve been using to disinfectant my aquatic plants to remove snails and snail eggs, all waste water from the fish house, is disposed of onto the garden. Not wanting to empty 5ol of mild disinfectant onto the garden, I thought it would be prudent to ask Yorkshire Water, if this could be safely disposed of down the drain. It is possible that this could destroy the good bacteria at the local treatment works. After discussions with Yorkshire Water they advised that I should dispose of it, at a rate of 1l a day down the toilet! So it could take quite a while to dispose of this waste water. Remember this if you are making up quantities to disinfect plants, it may have been easier with hindsight to use a Proprietary “snail off” killer. I’ll make new enquires with Yorkshire Water, if I filter the solution through carbon, if I can then dispose of down the drain. Yorkshire Water were converned that I would kill off the bacteria at the local treatment works and were surprised that you can.
Tags: Discus, fish, fish house, garden, house, plants
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Waste Water
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
All web cam related messages will be posted in the Angelfishcam section from now on, to reduce clutter in the fish house section.
here
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, blog, fish, fish house, house, web
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Angelfishcam Service Status available here
Monday, September 26th, 2005
The fish house tonight, looks like an episode of Red Dwarf after it’s been hit by Bazookoid. I’ll explain and all will become crystal.
I completed my usual evening checks after work, and I noticed a low temperature warning lamp on Aquarium No.8 (low temperature warning lamp is lit when the Aquarium Temperature is -1.5 degree C below set temperarture), this usual indicates the heater has failed, but then I noticed that someone had not connected the heater correctly, after Sundays’ partial water change! The aquarium temperature had only dropped by 2 degree C, over a 24 hours period, the fish house temperature is about 27 – 30 degree C.
I also noticed that there was a pressure drop in all the airstones operating the sponge filters, this could be a pressure leak on the mini-ring main, but was found to be a crack in the large Hi-Blow Air Pump, I don’t know how this could have occured, so I’ve had to quickly switch to the new air compressor and ring main, which has taken several hours to remove all airlines from aquariums, and connect and balance the air for each aquarium, it doesn’t look tidy at present, because there is airline hanging down all over the floor and aquariums, hence the Red Dwarf comment.
I’ve also had a second attempt, at re-planting the display tank.
Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast…
Bazookoid A mini laser-explosive type weapon. It fires a green projectile, which upon contact with an object produces a massive explosive with a large blast radius. Be warned; this is not for close encounters!
Tags: aquarium, fish, fish house, house, Koi, red dwarf
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Red Dwarf!
Sunday, September 25th, 2005
I need to move some fish around in the fish house, I already have one Eheim 2260, (expensive to fill with media!), but great filters. So Wanted Eheim 2260 External Bucket Filter as pictured, don’t require any media, if it’s got tubing, spray outlet and inlet pipes advantageous, but not essential. This is a picture of the unit I currently own. So if you have one like it, and want some cash!
Mail
me.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, blog, fish, fish house, house, images
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on WANTED Eheim 2260 External Bucket Filter
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