My 'neglected' home aquariums

[George Farmer]

This is a snap shot taken last weekend. I was stood in my living room with just the tank lights on.

The marine tank is 125 litres and the planted nano is 25 litres.

I live away from home during the week and maintain these tanks once a month. Weekends with my wife and children are too precious to spend time getting my hands wet! However, once a month I'll spend a few hours on water changes, filter cleaning, pruning etc.

In my absence, daily, my daughters feed all of the fish and fertilise the planted nano. Both tanks have hoods so evaporation isn't an issue.

I don't have TV in my accommodation away from home, so when I do get home I'm torn between watching TV or my aquariums. The aquariums usually win!

 

[LondonDragon]

You should take the nano to your rented accommodation the perfect TV George

 

[viktorlantos]

Beauty capture George This is amazing with this much of maintenance you still have these top tanks. How do you find the Marine one?

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks Paulo and Viktor.

Paulo - my wife won't let me take the nano. This is a good thing though, believe me. She is my worst critic, so for her to like one of my aquascapes is quite amazing!

Viktor - the marine tank is fascinating. It is completely different to a planted tank in terms of maintenance and lifeforms. It's all about nutrient limitation and critters in the live rock.

The lack of green makes it look more unnatural than a planted tank, as we humans are terrestrial species and generally prefer green colours.

When you get used to this you can appreciate the aquascape more and become interested in growing corals etc.

Marine will never compete with a wonderful Nature Aquarium in terms of transferring land-based nature into your home, but it offers interest on a different level.

 

[zig]

Thread should read 'My pristine home aquariums', thats a great job with so little maintainence

 

[Steve Smith]

Lovely looking tanks George mate Must be great to come home too (as well as the family, of course!)

 

[John Starkey]

Hi George,loving the tanks especially the marine setup,it's something I've always pondered over doing,what's the running costs like compared to a fully planted high tech setup ?,are you hopeing to grow corals and such like,
regards john.

 

[flygja]

Hey George, you mentioned in your sale thread that the filter cotton is rinsed out every week. "Neglected" it isn't!

I remember when I started out in this hobby I told a colleague that my final aim is to set up a complete ecosystem which won't need much weekly maintenance and only a water change or filter rinse every month. He laughed at me in disbelief a year later when I told him I spend 2 hours weekly on my tank cleaning out the algae and doing waterchanges

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks, all!

Hi George,loving the tanks especially the marine setup,it's something I've always pondered over doing,what's the running costs like compared to a fully planted high tech setup ?,are you hopeing to grow corals and such like,
regards john.

Hi John

Running costs for this are similar to an equivalent size high-tech planted tank - but there's less maintenance. Similar lighting levels (probably less power consumption due to LEDs). There's a 1200lph external filter and 2 powerheads, and a heater.

Another additional is cost RO and salt. I have my own RO unit and salt costs £20 for 6.6Kg (D&D - regarded as one of the best) that lasts about 4-6 months.

The RO and salt probably works out at a similar cost to off-the-shelf ferts and CO2 in a planted tank of the same size. Of course, there's too many variables to consider for an accurate comparison.

Mixing salt is simper than you may think. I add 700g to 20 litres of RO and mix in a large bucket with heater and powerhead. It takes a couple of hours max to dissolve fully.

I am successfully growing three species of corals, as well as some polyps that came 'free' on the live rock! The clownfish have settled into one of the corals, so they may even spawn if I'm lucky.

Hey George, you mentioned in your sale thread that the filter cotton is rinsed out every week. "Neglected" it isn't!

Well spotted!

There's no floss, but some fine sponge. I do clean the filter weekly if I get a chance, as I don't want to allow the mechanical media to go biological and produce nitrates. There's no skimmer and a relatively high fish load so it's a delicate balance. Thankfully the rock is incredible and my NO3 readings remain very low. I do get an easy to remove red 'fluff' algae if I leave water changes for too long!