DIY stand build

I have been building this stand for my 24" * 12" * 12" aquarium. It is constructed from 1 1/2" * 2 1/2" "studding" timber for the 4 uprights. These are screwed to 2 frames, top and bottom, made from 2 3/4" * 3/4" timber. Once secured, 8 upright pieces made from the same timber as the frames, are screwed to the uprights to fill between the top and bottom frames.

I will clad the stand with 3/8" plywood, leaving a gap top and bottom at the rear for electrical and tank connections. Also I will create a door at the front to allow access to the equipment.

The stand is 23" wide, 11" deep, 35 1/2" tall. once clad, the dimensions will be the same as the footprint of the tank.

This stand design is by Joey, The DIY Fishkeeper, whose Video instructions can be found on his YouTube Channel....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM9oZkV3tGJuUUhgZaiGZkQ

Flora Base Pro substrate - Invertebrate Aquarium

24th May 2017

I have added a litre of "Flora Base Pro" substrate to my invertebrate tank. It raised the substrate level by about 5-10 mm. The plants are more secure now.

I have started dosing with 1ml of Easy-carb and a couple of drops of Easy life Profito fertiliser. The plants are starting to look fresher so hopefully they will soon start to grow more. 

The Flora base is expensive, but seems to be a superb substrate product. There was virtually no clouding of the water and because the beads are small, they bedded well around the plant roots.

Bournemouth Aquarium visit.

20th May 2017 

I really like this lovely open-top Amazonia aquarium at Bournemouth Aquarium.

Plant growing advice

19th May 2017

Plant growing advice…

Jake at Romsey World of water store recommended this website for advice regarding aquarium plant growing…

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/index.htm

It appears to be very useful.

Emmersed Plant growing

12th May 2017

These are my sickly looking Anubias plants. They are not happy in a tank so I thought I would try growing them emmersed. Apparently they will grow ok if you keep the humidity high while they get used to the move from underwater to an air environment. I will update again in a few weeks.

Update 2 Garden Water Feature

12th May 2017

My water feature filter is now working.

After a couple of issues, I have now managed to get my pool filter system up and running.

The main problem was that the power head pump was delivering too much water to the filter, causing it to overflow. The pump was a 500 litre per hour one, also the output regulator was missing. I found a 400 litre per hour one in my spares box that had a regulator and I substituted this one.

I also replaced the filter outlet hose with a 3/4″ hose and shortened it to be no longer than required. The level in the filter now seems to be stable so I will see if it performs OK.

I am using the filter as a mechanical filter, i.e. no bio or chemical components, as I have no fish in the pond.

Update 1 Garden Water Feature

12th May 2017

My homemade pond filter up and running supplying my garden water feature.

Garden water feature

9th May 2017

My outdoor water feature is coming along. It consists of a plastic planter that is 20" in diameter by 15" deep. I am filling it with rainwater as hopefully, this will have less nutrients in than our local tap water. I intend to add a couple of aquatic plants.

The 3 plants that are in the pots surrounding the tub are bog plants so I have drilled some holes in the pot sides to create a soggy area in the bottom of each of one. All We need now is some rain, it has been very dry over the past few weeks.

May 2017 Snapshot of Aquariums

8th May 2017

This is a snapshot of my indoor aquariums.

Greenhouse Tank update

8th May 2017

24″ x 12″ x 12″ aquarium reinstalled in the greenhouse ready for the summer. (56 litre, 15 US gall)

I am using my Boyu external filter, it is an EF-05 (the model without the UV lamp). It is a 5.5 watt version moving 150 litre per hour. So I am looking at about 3 tank water changes per hour.

I have initially filled the tank with rain water - I am hoping this will reduce the amount of green filament algae the develops as in theory it should contain less dissolved nutrients (nitrates etc) that our tap water. It is also much softer with no dissolved calcium salts.

I have seeded the filter with “Evolution Aqua Pure Aquarium Balls”

I may add some Temperate Platies or White Cloud Minnow in a couple of weeks depending how the tank develops. At the moment there is no substrate in the tank, so I can monitor the cleanliness more easily.

I have added a heater to the tank but this is set to a low temperature i.e. about 20C.

28th May 2017

Update - I had the same issue as previously, too much light causing masses of algae. I have replaced the tank with a 2.5 gallon one to keep the filter bacteria maturing.

White Cloud Mountain Minnow.

9th Feb 2017

This is a video of my White Cloud Mountain Minnow Tank. It is 24" * 8" * 8". Planted with Cryptocorne plants. I can recommend these minnow, they are pretty very active, hardy and low cost.

Homemade gravity filter

8th May 2017

This is my homemade gravity filter. It is constructed from a 9″ x 6″ plastic container that has a clip on lid. 2 holes were drill top and bottom at the end. and plastic pipe was fed through the holes into the box. The pipes were drilled with several holes to create a spray pattern.

I placed a wire mesh at the bottom of the bow to prevent the foams blocking the outlet pipe. I also used silicon sealant to glue an overflow pipe vertically at the end of the box. This is to create a bypass of the foams to allow the water to escape the filter box if the foams become blocked.

There are 3 layers of foams installed black course, green medium, blue fine density, I have also placed a pad over the top to catch any debris, this can easily by rinsed and replaced.

The top spray inlet will be fed from a 500 litre per hour power head from Aqua one.

 I will post again with the results and observations of my testing process.

Jan 2017 video update

19th Jan 2017

Here is a short video showing my aquariums at the beginning of 2017.

Baby Kribensis

4th March 2016

My Kribensis has hatched a brood of babies this morning. Hopefully she will manage to keep some this time and not eat them all. Sadly the male won’t see them as she attacked him before I had chance to remove him and he subsequently died :-(

Aquarium update November 2015

November 2015

My aquarium update.

Messing about in the greenhouse

29/05/2016 - Messing about in the greenhouse

I thought I would try Dustins ideas as seen on his Dustins fishtanks YouTube channel (which is always entertaining!) and try having a couple of tanks in my greenhouse. I wanted to see if I can get my plants to grow naturally, also to monitor the temperatures in the tanks, and possibly see if fish can survive in there.

The larger container is an old plastic storage box that I normally use as a sump for rainwater to water my greenhouse plants with. This tank has intake and return pipes connected to a BOYU external canister filter that I bought a few months back for a project and then never used. I thought I would try it to see how effective it is. 

The other is small aquarium with a foam airlift filter. I haven’t used this type before so I thought I would see if it would clear the water in this tank.

The water in both tanks is rain water from my rain water butt off the house roof.

I measured the temperatures tonight and the large tank was 20c the small tank was 22c. If it is stable at this temperature then it may be used for temperate fish, i.e. Temperate Platy and White Cloud Mountain Minnow.

    

Aqua Nano initial setup video

December 2014

This video is of my “AquaNano 40″ initial setup.

Endler Tank

5th Feb 2016 

This is a photo of my 24 litre (5.3 gall) Endler guppy ( Poecilia wingei) tank.

It contains about 15 home bred Endlers.

Blyxa Japonica

5/Feb/2016

I planted two nice stems of "Blyxa Japonica"  (Dwarf soft rush) in my AquaNano 40 tank. It looked very good initially, but didn't last more that a few weeks. I believe it requires a higher light level and probably CO2 injection.

Reworked window tank

3 Feb 2016

I have reworked my 24″ x 8″ x 8″tank. I didn’t like the plant soil so planted up the crypts etc. into small trays filled with plant soil, then put gravel around the trays to hide them. It will be interesting to see how well the plants grow. The tank is situated back on the window sill - I am hoping I am able to black out enough natural light to prevent rampant algae growth.

Cherry Shrimp Safety tunnels

2nd Feb 2016

2/2/2016 - My Red Cherry Shrimp are enjoying their new safety tunnels. 

Aqua Nano update

28 Jan 2016 

My Aquanano 40 with Blue Guppy, Harlequin Raspora and Honey Gourami.

Plants are Mainly Cryptocorne and Anubias

Red Cherry Shrimp setup.

28 Jan 2016 

The Red Cherry Shrimp are growing and breeding nicely in their own tank. The tank is 12" * 7" deep and 9" high. this gives a capacity of 11 litres, (2.4 UK gallons). I also use a "hang on back filter that draws water from the tank via a sponge covered lift pipe.

Initial setup of Aqua Nano 40

December 2014

Initial setup of my 55 litre Aqua-Nano 40. I bought this tank locally through Ebay, Nice thing about these tanks is the huge filter, pump and heating arrangement that occupies the full back of the tank behind the black panel.

Window sill aquarium.

I bought this tank about 15 years ago to house a goldfish on a window sill. I had it constructed to fit the window sill, it is 24″ long , 8″ high and 8″ wide. It has a capacity of 4.84 gallons (22 ltr).

The goldfish was moved into a friends outdoor pond when he became too large for the tank and the tank was not used until June 2014 when I decided to try it as a tropical tank. This was something I had not done since I had a 24″x12″x12″ aquarium back in the early 1970′s.

This is a photo of the initial setup with no fish added. I left the tank to cycle for about 4 weeks. With a bacterial starter added to the internal filter medium

Welcome to my fish keeping hobby

12-Jan-2016

Welcome to my adventures in fish keeping.

I had a 24"*12"*12" aquarium in the 1970's. It was constructed from 1"angle iron with welded mitre corners, the glass was held in place with putty.

I remember it had an under-gravel filter and an aluminium hood with two 15 watt pygmy lamps. It was cleaned every  now and then when it became smelly! No routine water changes in those days, Poor fish!

I started fish keeping again a few years ago, things have changed immensely from when I started in the hobby. I am having fun learning the new information now available. Here you will find details of my activities and perhaps gain a few learning points, and be able to offer me advice.