Weekly Update 2: A long list

Firstly sorry this is a bit late I was quite busy the last few days. The tank is doing fairly well. With Co2 installed the plants are looking noticeably better and greener although still suffering from lack of light. The fish are doing good. The platy's are growing nicely. Unfortanately the minnows are quite aggressive towards eCh other. This is a problem because I am planning to have timid fish like neon tetras and emperor tetras. Still this can wait. For now the Co2 has been to a big enough upgrade. But in the future I hope to upgrade the lights to either a 55 watt or two thirty watt. Also I plan to get more plants. Then once that has been seen too and the plants have stabilized I'll get some new fish. I was thinking maybe two black mollies, two emperor tetras and ten or so neon tetras. If this goes well maybe I'll try something more difficult like some flame tetras or lemon tetras.

Lighting: The Next Problem in Liine

So with the recent completion and success and of my Co2 system I now have to go on to a new project. On a trip to my local fish shop and on the net I came across the 2 watt rule, which is that to grow plants you need at least 2 watts per gallon minimum. On inspection of the hood unit on my 29 gallon tank, i found that the bulb in there is a measly twenty watts. Worse yet the hood is only rated to twenty watts becasue of heat issues. It appears once again I will have to do a little DIY to shape things up. I am considering building a LED light assembly to meet the size, heat and light requirements of the tank. I am still thinking about it but it's looking like thats how it's going to go.

Co2 System: Now up and Running

So I finally completed my Co2 fertilization system last night. After drilling out and sealing the caps, drilling a hole in the cabinet and running the line, and finally mixing up the sugar water and yeast it is finished. True it is not a high powered system but I was smart enough to get a four way connector so in theory I could have four bottles running at once.

When I went to check it this morning when I opened the valve on the conector there was a sastifactory hiss. If you want to build one of these sytems remember to add one bottle a week when starting so as not to quickly alter the pH and shock the fish. Also in lightly planted tanks to much Co2 can lead to poisening over night if the plants have not produced enough oxygen during the day.


All in all this was a cheap project which I hope will have good results for the plants and fish in the tank.

Co2 Fertilization Progress

So I set out to build a Co2 fertilization system to improve plant health and growth in my tank and thus overall health. And so far, so good actually. I have drilled out the caps of the 2 litre bottles and installed and sealed the piping onto the bottle caps for the producers and the separators. The use of separators means that you can use standard airline because any bubbles from the yeast solution that are highly acidic are separated out in the second bottle. I will explain this more on my instructions on how to build the DIY yeast Co2 system. No all that is left to do is drill a hole in the cabinet beneath to run the line through, connect the pipes and mix up the yeast. Hopefully all goes well. 

Cascade 200 Filter Review

As I have mentioned on the weekend I bought a new filter to replace my old one which conked out. I am very pleased with what I bought, the Cascade 200 filter recommended by my local aquarium shop. The 200 rates well across the board on removing particles from the water, removing ammonia and nitrite, capacity, oxygen exchange, ease of use, quietness and price. On removing particles from the water. I replanted some plants on the weekend and on full flow the water was clear in the tank (29 gallon) in minutes. When I recently checked Nitrite and Nitrate levels to get a baseline before Co2 nitrite was at 0 and nitrate was at a low 20 and this was at lowest flow setting. Unfortunately I do not have equipment to check ammonia. The 200 is rated to filter 50 gallons and 185 gallons per hour it is powerful for it's size. Some may be wondering what i mean by oxygen exchange. The cascade 200 has a fourth part in it's sump style filtration system. a system of bending channels at the output space maximize water contact time and turbulence causing for a larger exchange of oxygen which is nice if you don't have an air rock because of Co2 system. The system was very easy to use and the impeller started in seconds. The filters noise is hardly noticeable, one of the quietest I've seen. On the matter of price it is decent at $40.00. it also comes with a three year warranty. One draw back is you will have too pay ten dollars for a pack of cartridges every few months, a little more pricey then some, but not the most expensive out there for sure. All and all and excellent filter series that I would recommend for anyone. Rating 9.5/10

Plants in the Aquarium 2: Detoxification

Continuing on the subject of plants in the aquarium I'll now talk about how plants can destory toxic substances in a aquarium. A plant acts both as a filter for toxic substances in two ways. Firstly, plants absorb a large amount of nitrogen in order to fuel there growth. Nitrogen in the tank in the form of dangerous nitrite and somewhat less dangerous (but still dangerous) nitrate. These can be poisonous to fish and also leads to dreaded alga blooms. The biological portion of your filter will do this as well but if your tank is overstocked this provides an additional buffer zone between water changes. Plants absorb nutrients preventing algae blooms, which in some cases are very toxic constantly secreting toxins. Lastly plants provide an operating surface for helpful bacteria. These will grow on the sponge in your filter but more surface area helps speed up the cycle an provides some buffer in the case of filter failure, clogging etc.

New Stuff

Today at the fish store I got a bunch of new things for the tank. A new cascade 200 filter which is running beautifully with hardly a whisper, plant supplements, water testing strips as well as tubing, valves and diffusers for the new Co2 system. I am also faced with a tough decision. One of my minnows has been chasing the other ones around the tank and they are now starting to become pale, a sure sign of stress, so I will probably have to get rid of him or give him to a friend. Stay tuned for a guide to the Co2 system.

Weekly Post 1: A Shaky but Lucky Start

Might get some black Molly's to control algae

A newer version of my old filter

So here we are, the first Friday post and already approaching 600 Views! Thanks for your guys support, honestly didn't expect it but am happy to see it. Now about the tank. Put simply, I probably should have waited to start the tank. I realize now after reading up on the net that I didn't have most of the needed equipment to properly take care of the tank. I have no water testing equipment, no Co2 fertilization, and to top it off the old filter just conked out today. But I'm looking to change this. I'm planning to get water testing equipment, a new filter, possibly some new plants as well as making my Co2 fertilization system. That's the shaky part, the lucky part is that everything survived and seems to be doing okay. The fish seem happy but the plants are being attacked by snails which I am also looking at getting rid of. Stay tuned for more on my projects and new stuff and once again thanks for the support. 

Co2 Fertilization

As I read more and more about fish keeping on the Web and in books I have realized that plants in the aquarium are very important (I will be continuing the series on this soon) and that for your plants to truly excel you need Co2 fertilization in your tank. Certainly you can have a healthy aquarium without Co2 fertilization, but with Co2 fertilization you will soon see the difference. So, convinced that I should get this established early to get things running I have decided to build a Co2 injection system. I am leaning towards the yeast reactor method but am still deciding. I will get this series started soon as well as running the importances of plants series. I'll keep you posted.

Plants in the Aquarium 1

Plants are an important part of the aquarium. They have many benefits that improve the health of fish and the overall tank.
1 Plants produce oxygen in photosynthesis. In this they take in carbon dioxide and water and light and produce sugar for themselves and most importantly oxygen. This is a much better source of oxygen then from airrocks for two reasons. It is disolved directly into the water and it doesn't produce a surface of bubbles. These bubbles allow carbon dioxide to leave the water and go into the air. Not good seeing plants need the carbon dioxide to live.

Oxygen is good for the tank mainly in that it is essental for fish to live. They will enjoy a more healhy life if there is a good amount of oxygen in the water.

A word of warning plants consume oxygen at night in respiration to produce energy. This should not be a problem unless you have a highly stocked tank, in which case use caution.

Starting out

As I mentioned the tank had been empty for several years. It is a twenty nine gallon so a mid size tank. It has large sharp edged substrate (gravel) at the bottom and so is not suitable for bottom feeders like catfish. At this stage it has a rod heater but I am looking at upgrading to a substrate heater in the future. There are three plants currently in the tank which I bought with the fish and two small leaved and one large leafed one. I'll explain why its important to put plants in first in a later post. For fish I have four grayish minnows and three red Platy's. All seems to be going good so far after three days.

About the Blog

Hey, hows it going. Last weekend I went to the fish store to resurrect a aquarium that hasn't been holding anything (except algae) for the last three or so years. I've decided to take it on both as a sort of pastime and hobby. It also looks quiet nice now in the house. This will be a collection of my experiences and experiments for quiet some time as well as showing any research i have done. Expect a new post every Friday as well as anything else I find interesting in between. I have no experience in this as before some one else took care of the tank. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions go ahead and leave them in the comments section.  This should be interesting.