Container (dirted) plants.

These are 2 x 3" x 1" glass jars that have been planted with a single Dwarf Sag plant, (Sagittaria Subulata) and 3 Parva plants, (Crytocorne Parva). There is a layer of Tropica plant growth substrate in the bottom of each container and they are topped with gravel to hold the plants in place.
Dwarf Sag 18-28C, Parva 22-28C

Inadequate filtration?

03-Feb-2018

I don't feel that I have adequate filtration in my 24*12*12 55 litre "Livebearer" aquarium.
It currently has a dual sponge Air lift filter, and an Internal 50-200 Litre per hour power filter.
I have noticed that both filters have very fine sponge media fitted and this seems to clog up quite quickly causing a drop off in flow rate. The sponges are also difficult to clean.

I have therefore decided to replace the filter sponges with a more open texture sponge to permit more free water flow. I will so how these perform.
I will also investigate the many DIY airlift filter designs on the internet. Also see if an external canister filter would be a good option.

Paludarium Build - Marks Aquatics YouTube channel

I really enjoyed this Paludarium build by Mark Cauvain of "Marks Aquatics.
I sent Mark a few bits and pieces towards the build.

See the video (Part 3) at https://youtu.be/-1BoiYKcTQs

Jan 2018 - Aquarium Roundup

Window Aquarium

22 litre Window aquarium with 8 White Cloud Mountain Minnow. My home made Matten filter is working well. The plants are dosed with EasyCarb and fertilizer although the growth not great - possibly due to gravel substrate.

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Round Vase Aquarium

6.5 litre Vase aquarium. This tank has an air lift filter made from a drink bottle and plastic pipe. The media is Alfagrog. There is some clay granules plant media in the base and then this is covered with Alfagrog. Two baby WCMM live in the tank. No extra heating is installed the fish are happy at room temperature at the moment this is 18.3c. (It is useful to have cycled media available for new projects)

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White Cloud Minnow Winter accommodation.

The minnow in this 27 litre cube aquarium were in the summer tub pond last year. I brought them into the house when the weather turned cooler in October. There are the original adults plus about 15 young fish. The Vase and Window aquarium contain another 10 young fish that were bred in the tub last summer. I will transfer them outside again when the weather warms up. Aquarium is at ambient room temperature of about 18c.

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Plant grow-out Aquarium

I use this 27 litre aquarium as a stock tank for growing on plants to use in other tanks. There are some Red Cherry Shrimp in there, together with a Cappuccino Snail, Ramshorn and Malaysian trumpet snails and 2 amano shrimp. A small Chinese Hillstream Loach also wanders around the tank. The rear integrated filter and high plant growth seems to keep the water in good condition and the loach seems to be doing well in this tank.

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Red Cherry Shrimp Aquarium

This is my 24 litre Red Cherry Shrimp Tank. I filter is with 2 Air Sponge filters. I had trouble with filament algae so I cleaned this out as much as possible and added extra plants to absorb nutrients. I have also increased the amount of water changes I do. The shrimp seem to be doing OK with some breeding.

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Live bearer Aquarium.

This is my "Livebearer" aquarium It is 55 litres and contains Endler guppys and Red Wagtail Platys. In addition I have 4 Corydoras and a Siamese Algae eater in there. The substrate in Clay granules and the plants are fed and dosed with EasyCarb. It is filtered with a sponge airlift filter and internal power filter.

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AquaNano 40 Aquarium.

My "AquaNano 40" - 55 litre aquarium has a heavy growth of Cryptocorne plants. It contains 8 home bred Kribensis together with 3 Ember tetra and 4 Red Cherry Barb. It is probably too heavily stocked but is has a large integrated filter at the rear with Sponge and BioHome media. I also do frequent 50% water changes.  So the water quality is very good and the fish are doing well. It has been set up for about 4 years now so I will refresh it this summer.

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Glass Vase experiment II - Terrarium

I rescued 2 Anubis plants from the aquarium when they were being smothered with algae and placed them in damp containers in moist soil to encourage them to grow in an emersed environment. They have recovered quite well with new leaves forming, so I decided to add them to a terrarium I have created in a 5.5" glass vase.

The vase contains a layer of gravel covered with a plastic mesh, then I added a sprinkle of activated carbon granules to capture any smells and finally added about 1" of compost.

I left the rhizome of the anubis exposed with the roots in contact with the compost.
I also added some small pieces of a selaginella moss and some pieces of British moss.

I cut a perspex circle to cover the vase and keep the humidity high. I am interested to see how they all grow, and will updated the blog in a few weeks.

Glass Vase experiment

Here is a little experiment with a Glass Vase I have setup. I added some substrate, then planted it with 3 spare plants. It is in the window next to my 50 Litre tank. I am interested to see if the plants will grow. There is no heating or filtering so regular water changes are required. (I will not be adding any fish to the container due to its small size.) I just checked the temperature and it is 17.5 deg C.

I will post updates to show what happens.

Window tank back in position with new filter.

My 24" * 8" * 8" aquarium is now back in its usual position on the windowsill.
I stripped it down and resealed it, then added an acrylic divider with a large hole in to create a "Matten" style filter unit. The acrylic divider was assembled with "Super glue" and fitted with aquarium quality silicon sealant.

A piece of medium density foam is placed behind the divider. The hole in the acrylic divider provides an effective area of 250 square centimetres.

In the recess created behind the filter I have installed a Dennerle Nano "ThermoCompact" 25W Heater and a small filter pump unit that has had its small filter box removed. The filter label indicates that it has a maximum flow rate of 300 litre per hour. The tank volume is 50 litres so the water is filtered 6 times per hour.

A  2" inch layer of medium/course gravel has been added to the tank. The filter has been "seeded" with Evolution Aqua Pure aquarium bacteria / enzyme balls.

The tank will now be operated for a few weeks to allow it to mature.

View of Aquarium on window sill.

Interior view of Filter.

Filter cavity showing pump and heater.