Akwarium

[akwarium]

Hello UKaps,

After a while of just reading, it's time to start a journal myself (at least according to a certain Londoner)

First my 80 cm tank, it's an oldie, scratched and damaged but still fine for experimenting with plants, fertilizer, etc. I'm planning to make a new tank next summer, to replace this one.

on week after set up

plants:
Eleocharis acicularis
Marsilea hirsuta
Cryptocoryne crispulata var balansea
Cryptocoryna albida
Microserum pteropus var trident
Hydrotocyle triptaria
Vesicularia sp.
Hottonia palustris

Substrate; zeolite, peat, osmocote, activated carbon powder and lava powder, covered whit al layer of sand.
Fertiliser: DIY CO2, EI stock solutions whit extra ironsulfate.


My Trichogaster lalius male had other plans whit the eleocharis....

Fish:

20 Boraras maculatus
1/1 Trichogaster lalius
1/2 Trichogaster chuna
5 Caridina multidenta
6 juv. "Puntius" hexazona

comments please

 

[NanoJames]

Really nice tank! Loving the gourami also, I used to have one that would also take anything it could get for a nest. Even though there wasn't a female in the tank...

 

[NC10]

Haha same here. Not happy unless running around with a twig of some sort in its mouth

 

[Sacha]

Beautiful!!

Just out of interest, why the extra iron?

 

[akwarium]

Beautiful!!

Just out of interest, why the extra iron?

Its about the sulfate in this case, the osmocote type fertiliser in the substrate contains high levels of potassium, so I don't ad potassiumsulfate (K2SO4) to the macro stock solution. I saw sings of a shortage of sulfate (older leaves getting yellow spots and die), and a little extra iron won't hurt....

 

[Vazkez]

Hello there,

very nice I love the wood work

Sorry for the question but how does your CO2 reactor work? I am just interest in this DIY thing

Anayway good luck with the setup

Vaz

 

[akwarium]

Hello Vaz,
made some pics;

it starts here; 10 liter can whit 6-7 L water, some sugar and a little yeast, a 25 watt heater keeps it at 22 degrees C.

inside the tank it looks like this:

The CO2 is blown down by a small pump, de walls of the bottle keep de bubbles inside, only really small bubbles can escape.

the pump is also used to keep the water surface clean:

its cheap, effective and ugly

 

[akwarium]

3 weeks after setup:

The grass is completely gone..

 

[Four50]

The grass may be gone, but it's still a lovely looking scape. Very nice and liking the DIY C02 - I messed around with that method over a decade ago and yes mine was just as effective and ugly!

 

[Vazkez]

Hello again,

Thank you for the guide Looks good I will probably try it as I have spare pump

Also sorry to hear your grass is gone ... I had simile problem with my barbs Came home from work and all of it was eaten... A bit expensive diner for the lol

However the tank still looks great grass / no grass

Vaz

 

[akwarium]

Thank you both,

just need to find a gourami sized muzzle and then I'll retry the Eleocharis,

 

[Phil Edwards]

Its cheap, effective and ugly

Don't forget Old School. That's one heck of a DIY CO2 setup you've got there. Have you considered running the CO2 line into the powerhead's impeller, or would that be too noisy?

 

[akwarium]

That might work if the aquarium and the can where the CO2 is produced are at the same hight.
When the can is standing underneath the aquarium (like I have) the pressure of the water standing above it keeps the CO2 inside the can until the pressure inside the can is higher than the water pressure.
Instead of a nice bubble every second, the CO2 comes out in bigger burps every 20 seconds or so.

Another advantage of this system is that the amount of CO2 can be controlled by adjusting the flow rate of the powerhead. Excess CO2 will build up inside the bottle until it bubbles out trough a hole in the side. Not all the CO2 produced gets dissolved, so the CO2 level stays more constant.