Hydroponic plants

I was interested to see on YouTube how some people grow plants in the top of their aquarium with the leaves out of the top of the tank and the roots dangling in the water. Apparently there are quite a few different plants that are able to survive and thrive in these conditions. I have made this small container up with a plastic tray and a piece of acrylic on top, drilled with 18mm holes to allow me to insert plant cuttings  through so any roots are suspended in the water. I have added 2 Peace Lilly plants that were growing in compost to the tray as apparently these can be successful. There are also "Busy Lizzie (impatiens), coleus, spider plants and tradescantia.

I will update again in a few weeks to see if any have been successful.

Red Cherry shrimp tank mark II

I have setup this tank as a Red Cherry Shrimp Tank, I feel the existing tank they are in is probably not "baby shrimp" safe as there are vents through to the filter area at the rear of the tank which baby shrimp may be sucked in. I have therefore setup this aquarium with a "Hang on back "waterfall" type filter to provide a safer breeding tank. It is currently being run to mature the filters and shrimp will be added in the next couple of weeks.

Terrarium? - insect eating plants

This is not strictly Tropical Fish keeping!, but I thought you might be interested in my attempt at making a Terrarium. I gathered a few pieces of bark and mosses and added a couple of insectivore plants. One is a Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula), the other is a Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia Hybrid)
I put some capillary matting in the bottom of the aquarium and keep it damp. I am not sure how long I will be able to keep them growing. Apparently they are a bit tricky for those new to the hobby!

24" *12"*12 aquarium setup

My 24" x 12" x 12" (12 gallon UK) aquarium has been setup in the greenhouse ready to hold the White Cloud Minnow when the weather is too cold for them in the summer tub pond.
I am using a sponge airlift filter, I seeded it with a squeeze of a sponge into the aquarium water from a cycled tank filter and I will run it for a couple of weeks before adding any fish. So far the filter seems to be working very well.

Growing Emersed Anubias

My sickly looking Anubias were planted up a few weeks ago into wet compost and covered over with plastic film, as you can see they are now starting to develop new leaves and look healthy. I will update again in a couple of months.

Fry tanks in greenhouse

I have been having some success with my 2 fry tanks that are in the greenhouse. One is filtered using the home made "Alfagrog" airlift filter (that I described in an earlier post) the other is filtered using a BOYU external canister filter. Both are performing well and the fry appear to be growing.

The fry have been extracted from the outside tub pond, where the White Cloud Mountain Minnow have lived during this summer. I have placed about 12-15 fry in the two tanks to grow on. The temperature in the tanks is about 23°C @18:00hrs after a warm day and it seems to drop to the high teens during the night. The fry seem quite happy. I also notice there are at least 4 fry in the pond that are about half an inch long but it has quite a lot of algae growth so they are difficult to see.

Fry tank with BOYU filter

Fry tank with Alfagrog air filter

I also made a hood light from some 9mm plywood. It is 18" long and is drilled at each end to receive a glass tube LED unit that I bought as a submersible light. It comes on for a couple of hours in the evening via a timer switch. It is quite effective though it would not be bright enough for plant growth.

 

D.I.Y airlift filter using Alfagrog

This is a D.I.Y airlift filter I built using the following items:-

• a plastic drinks bottle
• a short length of plastic pipe
• an air stone
• some Alfagrog filter media.

To build the filter...

The plastic pipe was drilled several times through the bottom inch or so, with a 3/16" drill (5 mm).
The plastic drinks bottle was cut to about 7" tall and the label was removed.
The pipe was held in the bottom of the bottle while the E25 Alfagrog was poured into the space around the outside pipe until the bottle was full..
Finally an air stone was inserted down the pipe to the bottom of the bottle. The filter was lowered into the aquarium and the air stone was connected to the air pump.

Note: this filter is a biological filter, it reduces harmful pollutants such as ammonia and nitrites from the water. It does not remove particles of matter from the water, a mechanical filter with sponges etc. is required to do this.

The filtration process...

As the air bubble rise up the pipe they carries along the water in the pipe, this water is replaced with water that passes through the holes in the base of the pipe, this water in turn is drawn down through the "Alfagrog" from the aquarium.
Beneficial bacteria will collect and multiply on the "Alfagrog" and as water flows over this material the water will be purified of any ammonia and nitrites it contains by these bacteria. The resultant nitrates produced by the bacteria will be absorbed by any plants present and can also be removed with water changes.

More information about Alfagrog can be found by visiting http://www.alfagrog.com/index.html

Invertebrate Tank update. 15th August 2017

Invertebrate Tank update. 15th August 2017

As can be seen the invertebrate tank is doing well. The plants are growing well now and the shrimp, snails etc are all thriving. However there are still no sign of any baby Red Cherry Shrimp though, even though there has been several shrimp carrying eggs. I am still trying to investigate why this is happening. As I mentioned on a previous post, it may be due to the high water flow, so I am preparing a tank with a Hang-on-back 'waterfall' type filter. I have also just ordered some 'Alfagrog' to use in a home-made 'air-lift' filter, so it will be interesting to see how this performs.

Re-worked tank for Red Cherry Shrimp

I am resetting one of my tanks, (the Superfish Aqua 30 (5.3 gallon, 24 litre). so it may be used for keeping Red Cherry Shrimp.  I have removed the hood that was supplied with the tank, that contain a low energy fluorescent lamp, and made an acrylic cover to use instead. Lighting will be provided by an Led unit resting on the acrylic lid.

My current Red Cherry Shrimp aquarium has quite a powerful water flow provided by an internal power head. Although I have had several 'berried' female shrimp, I have had virtually no baby shrimp produced and I wonder if this is due to the high water flow rate. So the new tank setup will use a 'hang on back' type filter which delivers a more gentle water flow, I have added some activated charcoal to the filter to help purify the water. The shrimp have bred using this type of filter before so this should be more productive for them.

I have also obtained some commercial Azalea roots for decoration. I am soaking this at the moment to remove tannin and water-log it so it sinks. There are many nooks and crannies in the roots suitable for attaching plants to. 

Growing pond Marginal plants in a dry garden - update

The use of planters to grow marginal plants has been sucessfull. Depite the weather being very variable so far this summer the plants have grown very well and put on some good growth.

Houttuynia cordata variegata - Orange Peel Pla

Iris pseudacorus - Yellow Flag Iris.

Equissetum - Mare Tail

Scirpus cernuus