Posts Tagged ‘house’
Friday, December 16th, 2005
I don’t use or trust combined heater/thermostats that use conventional bi-metallic strips. I believe that some modern combined heater /thermostats use electronic thermostats today, and do not rely on bi-metallic strips anymore, but the majority of the cheaper modern combined heater/thermostats still use the troublesome, unreliable bi-metallic strip, which have the habit of “sticking-on” and over-heating the aquarium with disastrous consequences.
I use either Eheim Thermofilters (I’ve had of these fail, and over-heat an aquarium!), Hydor External heaters or dedicated external thermostats connected to a heater to control the temperature in the aquariums in the fish house.
I found a box of Armitage Combined Heater/Thermostats in the attic from the 1980-1990s, I don’t think Armitages, Nottingham manufactuer any electrical hardware for the Aquatic industry today. I’ve spent some time removing all the bi-metallic strips, and hardwiring the heaters so they are permanently on, so they can be controlled by my dedicated external thermostats. I was going to throw this box of heaters on the local tip, so they now have a new life.
Tags: aquarium, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Recycling Armitage Combined Heater Thermostats
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
I thought one of my cats had sneezed on the bottom display tank in the “sun room”, only to discover that the smaller Purple Spotted Gudgeon Mogurnda Asdpersa, have turned out to be a pair, and have spawned in the community tank. These two fish were moved into this tank in September, after purchasing at the beginning of the very same month. I originally purchased six fish, of which two died.
This pair are much smaller, than the two larger fish I have in the fish house. The two fish in the fish house have turned into 5 inch monsters. These fish have fanastic colouration when spawning.
I’ve also got two young pairs of Angelfish in the 6x2x2 aquarium in the fish house, spawning in opposite corners!
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, bblog, blog, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Purple Spotted Gudgeon Mogurnda Asdpersa Spawn
Tuesday, December 13th, 2005
I’m pulling the late shift at the office again, this week. So not got much time after work, so I’ve spent some time this evening doing the boring jobs, and labelling the electrics in the fish house, it needed doing. I’ve also finally completed all the electrics for Aquarium No.9. I’ve just found out that nPower are increasing their electricity and gas prices from the 1 January 2006, so I’m glad I switched!
I’ve been feeding an empty fish tank to help it mature. So I didn’t think a picture of an empty fish tank would be exciting enough to post in the blog.
Tomorrow evening time permitting, and poviding the water quality is okay, I’ll move some hardy Zebra Danios and Guppies into the tank to help cycle the it.
Tags: aquarium, blog, electricity, feeding, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Electrics labelled
Thursday, December 8th, 2005
Overcome by the smell of acetic acid (vinegar smell) after re-sealing Aquarium No.9, I’ve left the fish house early this evening. I’m surprised this fish tank held water, because after cleaning it out, the silicon sealer in the fish tank, just fell off – well this tank is 18 years old! – only new aquariums seals, are guaranteed for 1-2 years today.
L001/L022 feeding on courgette with the help a Screwcumber.
Albino Ancistrus sp. feeding on cucumber with the help of a Screwcumber.
It’s the Christmas Party tomorrow evening, so I don’t expect I’ll be adding a blog entry tomorrow!
There’s a little yellow idol to the north of Katmandu
Tags: Ancistrus, andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, bblog, blog, Christmas, feeding, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Nobody told me there’d be days like these!
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
At the end of October, I posted an entry Do you suffer from high electricity bills?. I’ve been looking for a power meter to measure kWh for many months to establish Fish House Electricity costs, and I eventually managed to purchase one from JLB Electronics.
The results are now in for half of my fish house, the fish house is split between into two ring mains, so this is ring main one. (It also allows me to draw up to a maximum of 20A per ring main!). Ring main one supplies electricity for 9 aquariums.
Ring Main One Summary
- 120W of fluorescent lighting.
- 2.7kWh of aquarium heating.
Items connected to Ring Main One:-
- 3 x 40W Aquaglow fluorescent lights.
- 1 x 50W heater.
- 3 x 150W heaters.
- 2 x 300W heaters.
- 2 x 500W heaters.
- 1 x Hydor 300W external heater.
- 1 x Hydor internal combined Filter/300W heater.
- 1 x Eheim 2260 External Canister filter.
- 1 x Hagen Biolife 55 Internal Filter.
- 1 x Project PH600 Powerhead.
- 1 x Hagen 201 Powerhead.
- 1 x Personal Computer with 150W power supply.
The maximum wattage drawn by the electrical applications was 2.1kW on Friday 25 November at 4.03am.
In the last 32 days, the electricity consumed by ring main one is 605 kWh. A cost recorded by the power meter of 49 pounds. I’m charged 8.1p per kWh by nPower.
I’ll measure ring main two, and post the results on the blog, in a few weeks.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, blog, computer, electricity, fish, fish house, house, kWh
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Fish House Electricity Cost!!!
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
I’ve finally made an effort to re-locate Aquarium No.9, which has been used as a Daphina rearing tank since I setup the fish house, due to the space and 15 inch height of this aquarium I’ve not been able to add fish to it, because of the 16″ height of the metal stand. I don’t know why they make double stands, where the bottom space is two small, maybe it was designed for a 12″ height tank. I had hoped to purchase a 48x18x18 inch aquarium to fill the void under the 6x2x2ft tank, but it’s a waste of money having an empty tank and needs must. It gives me 48x12x12 of space for a few small fish tanks.
This is the bottom shelf below my 6x2x2ft aquarium, currently being used as a shelf for tropical fish odds and ends.
It would have been easier to purchase a new tank, than move and existing tank, with little space, I was unable to use an Eheim pond pump to remove the water, so it was slowly syphoned. It’s taken me a few hours this evening, to remove the water, and move the tank. I need to clean tomorrow evening, and I’ve also found, so missing silicon inside the tank, so whilst it’s empty, I’ll quickly re-seal with silicon sealer.
Aquarium No.9’s new home.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, bblog, blog, fish, fish house, house, Tropical Fish
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Aquarium No.9 Relocation
Friday, December 2nd, 2005
I purchased two of these catfish over 2 years ago very cheaply from UK Marines Ltd, Batley. I purchased them to reduce the algae in the fish house, but they don’t seem to like too much algae, they were quite small and thin, when purchased, but have grown to about six inches, they are housed in a 6x2x2ft aquarium, and have now started to fight.
I’ve not been able to find these listed in the Datz or Aqualog L numbers books, so I’m curiours to know what they are called, and what L number they are, so If you know, please contact me.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, bblog, blog, catfish, fish, fish house, house, l number, marine, marines
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on What catfish is this?
Thursday, December 1st, 2005
I have noticed some snails in one of the latest breeding tanks, I’ve setup in the fish house for the Dwarf Hoplo catfish Hoplosternum pectorale. This is the only tank with snails, so I am a little surprised as to where this single snail has come from.
Now there are two more, the fish tank, associated equipment and furnishings have not been used for over 18 years. It seems I’ve just added water, and a snail has appeared!
Tags: breeding, catfish, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Mystery snails…
Thursday, December 1st, 2005
I’m glad it’s a warmer night at 4 degrees C outside, I was concerned at the temperature drop last night in the fish house, but the fish must have enjoyed the drop in temperature in the fish tanks, because the Sturisoma Aureum spawned again for the third time, Endler’s dropped another four live fry, and a pair of Kribensis cichlids spawned.
The Sturisoma Aureum fry, are growing very quickly on huge quantities of greens, it’s time to move them out of the breeding tank, and into a large grow-out tank, which I’ll be installing over the weekend.
Tags: breeding, fish, fish house, house
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Sturisoma Aureum Third Spawning Attempt
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Last week, I reported on my new toy for partial water changes, well here’s a picture.
Okay, it’s a syphon connected to a small length of housepipe with a Hozelock connector connected to it. This is a Reef One Syphon, the manufacturers of the biOrb and biUbe, others are available. But it makes my job a lot easier, than carrying buckets of water out of the fish house on a cold night. (and now I’ve got a knackered back!). I had thought of purchasing an automatic water changer The Python No-Spill Clean And Fill, but I don’t top up my aquariums direct from mains water, and the water pressure is low, and water is wasted when using the syphon, so for me, this seemed like a waste of cash. I was going to install some 40mm waste pipe and plumb it to the outside of the garage (drain), but a length of housepipe does the same job – cheaply.
Tags: andysworld, aquablog, aquarium, bblog, blog, fish, fish house, house, reef
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on New Toy – not very exciting
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