Posts Tagged ‘aquarium’

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More fish tanks!

Sunday, October 23rd, 2005

I’ve found space in the fish house to add another two 50 litre fish tanks, 24″x15″x12″ this space was where the computer controlling the webcams was occupying. Sorry, I need the space, and it just so happened, that I had two fish tanks, that needed collecting from my family in South Wales!

I’ve spent a few hours this evening, filling with existing aquarium water from my other tanks, moving “cycled and mature” air operated sponge filters from my 6″x2″x2″ tank into these new tanks, I hope to cycle these quickly. so I can use them later next month.

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Water Chemistry Lesson Part 1

Sunday, October 9th, 2005

The secret of breeding and keeping fish is all about managing water, and to successfully manage water you need to understand a little water chemistry.

pH
pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of water. A pH reading of 7.0 is neutral. A pH higher than 7.0 is alkaline, and a pH lower than 7.0 is acidic.

pH is defined as follows: the lower-case letter “p” in pH stands for the negative common (base ten) logarithm, while the upper-case letter “H” stands for the element hydrogen. Thus, pH is a logarithmic measurement of the number of moles of hydrogen ions (H+) per liter of solution. Incidentally, the “p” prefix is also used with other types of chemical measurements where a logarithmic scale is desired, pCO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and pO2 (Oxygen) being two such examples.

In layman’s terms this means, that a 0.2 change in pH is a big change to fish, never try to change the pH of aquarium water by more than 0.2 a day.

I use an Aquarium test kit, manufacturered by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc to test for pH. This is a wet kit, but there are many different test kits around, and some dry kits which are quicker to use, but more expensive. I also use digital pH testers for quickness, but the pH probe has a life, and must be regularly calibrated before use.

ph Meters

pH should be tested weekly, since natural materials in the aquarium can cause a pH change.

KH
K(c)arbonate hardness is the measure of carbonate and bicarbonate ion concentrations dissolved in water. These minerals are present in our tap, well and bottled spring water. The level of carbonate hardness in tap and bottled water depends on the source of the water and the treatment process it has undergone. Carbonate hardness helps stabilize pH in the aquarium. An aquarium with a very low KH < 50ppm will tend to be acidic. Aquariums with a very low KH level are subject to rapid pH shifts, if not monitored carefully, sometimes referred to a pH crash. Water with a high KH level > 200pm usually have a high pH. KH is usually measured in dKH.

KH Test Kit

GH
General Hardness is the measure of calcium and magnesium ion concentrations dissolved in water. These minerals are also present in in our tap, well and bottled spring water. It also depends on the source of the water and the treatment process it has undergone. Hard water > 200ppm is high in calcium and magnesium, while soft water 50 – 100ppm is low in these minerals. GH is usually measured in dGH.

To convert both GH and KH to parts per million (ppm) multiply by 17.9.

I use a test kit manufactuered by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc to test for KH & GH.

Why am I telling you all this? Over the forthcoming weeks, I’ll be installing a Dennerle CO2 system into my display tank to aid plant growth, and I’ll be using terms such as pH, KH and GH, so you’ll understand what I referring to!

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Hot or Cold?

Friday, October 7th, 2005

After some careful consideration, considering the advantages and disadvantages, I have decided to re-locate the air-inlet to my compressor back into the fish house in the garage, at ceiling height. I’ve drilled a small hole in my jablite partition and inserted the eheim tubing which connects to the air-inlet of my Hailea Air Compressor.

Air Compressor

Advantages of Internal Air

  • Internal air tends to be of a constant
    temperature.
  • Internal air tends to be of a constant
    humidity.
  • Internal air will be free of pollutants.

Disadvantages of External Air

  • Cold external air will cool the body of the compressor,
    possibly causing some condensation and water damage to the surrounding area.
  • It will cool the aquariums.
  • Air could be contaminated.

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What’s for supper?

Thursday, October 6th, 2005



An aquarist in Germany recommended that I try
Sera Catfish Chips for Ancistrus and Pleco Catfish if I’m finding it difficult in obtaining Hikari
Algae Wafers, he has had great success with this product in Germany. Many high
quality aquarium products come from Germany, Eheim,
Tetra and
Dennerle are just a few manufacturers,
so I’ll definitely experiment with this product.

Sera retailers in the UK are not common, but I know a place on my doorstep that
stocks Sera products. Petland, York is a
Sera retailer.

I purchased some Sera Catfish Chips for Ancistrus and Pleco Catfish, the
ingredients are very interesting because the usual marine algae and spirulina
are present, but willow wood and bark and alder wood are also ingredients. This
product will certainly help if you have no bogwood present in your aquariums for
the catfish to graze on. Many years ago, when I first saw a "pleco" in aquaria,
it was given willow wood and bark to graze on, this was before the days of any
"Algae Wafers", it was said, that chemicals in the willow made the catfish
sleepy, like an anaesthetic if they ate too much, so it was only fed in small
quantities. This is the first fish food product I’ve seen using "wood" as an
ingredient.

I offer my fish a varied diet to stop them getting hooked on one type of
food, I vary the food each day, here’s a list of the products I use:-

  • Tetra Prima.
  • Tetra Tips Freeze Dried Tablets.
  • Tetra Fresh Delica Daphinia, Bloodworm, Brine Shrimp.
  • Tetra Holiday and Weekend Food Sticks.
  • Tetra Min Flake Food.
  • JMC Catfish Pellets.
  • Barlow’s Aquatics Sinking, Stinking Catfish Pellets.
  • Nutrafin Max Complete Flake Food.
  • Aquarian Tropical Flake Food.
  • Phoenix Tropical Flake.
  • Today’s Freeze Dried Tubifex Worms.
  • ZM 000, 100, 200, 300, 400, Small, Medium and Large Granular Advanced Fish
    Diets.
  • Ruto Frozen foods, Spinach, Tubifex and Bloodworm.
  • Frozen prawns.
  • Courgettes, Cucumber, peas and lettuce.
  • Live Food when available.
  • and Sera Catfish Chips for Ancistrus and Pleco
    Catfish.

When I first started "fishkeeping", many years ago, when my Dad won a
goldfish at the Fun Fair, we came home with a glass goldfish bowl, and a
cardboard tube of ant eggs to feed the goldfish.

Tropical Fish Food Technology has greatly improved! If it had not improved, I
don’t think I would have been as successful in breeding and caring for the
tropical fish in the many years I’ve kept them. For many years I was hooked on
Aquarian Tropical Flake, not personally, but variety is the spice of life!

Go on, change your food today!

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Cheap Alternative to Aquatic Planting Kit Pots

Monday, October 3rd, 2005

This was emailed to me by a fellow aquarist after having difficulties with the gibbiceps digging up the plants in my display tank. Reproduced here in its entirety with permission of the author – Amerce.

“Actually I managed to rig something a little bit cheaper up for myself with items I had left over or had squirreled away.

I had some peat left over from my killifish breeding pots (sterilized in the microwave), I had some aquarium sand (£2+ for a 3 kg bag), some fine gravel left over from another aquarium and some plastic containers left over from various things (Ferrero rocher container, strawberry punnet container etc. I’d punched some holes in the container bottom beforehand), the most expensive part was buying the plants and the plant rooter granules.

I lined the bottom of the containers with some peat, sprinkled some of the root granules and then tied up the plants (using the lead that java sent me), once I had decided where all the plants were going I then used the wet sand to firmly place the plants in the container (I’d washed the sand earlier and it was still a bit moist) the sand acted like putty and was easy to shape and mould around the plant roots, then I sprinkled the gravel over everything to make sure the sand and plants didn’t float up once it was placed in the tank, and because the containers had been punched before the water soaked in to the base of the container and gradually filled it and it sank nicely without loosing the plant, soil, or sand.

This way the undergravel isn’t bunged up with roots from the plants and you can take out the containers at any time to do plant maintenance and also move the container where ever you want without upsetting the plants too much.”

So this Christmas, save those Ferrero rocher containers, and recycle them, and save them from landfill!

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Soaking Bogwood

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.

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I can do anything with aquarium sealant

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.

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Water Deflector for LifeGard FB300 installed

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.
 

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Mopani or Bogwood?

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.

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Red Dwarf!

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!

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