Year: 2024

Low alkalinity Shrimphaus

Posted on by Andy Pierce

Despite all the advice to the contrary, I tried out some Caridina shrimp in the tapwater-based Shrimphaus.  This did not go well and after 3 weeks there was only one brave survivor left.  The usual way to keep soft water shrimp is to start with reverse-osmosis (RO) water which is selectively remineralised mostly to restore calcium and magnesium (general hardness – GH).  Alkalinity (KH) is usually kept pretty low.  The problem with this approach is that RO equipment can be expensive, takes up a good amount of space, and wastes a lot of water.  There is an interesting RO water supplier, Spotless Water, that has RO water vending stations distributed around England, but there aren’t any in the Cambridgeshire area.  Having RO water shipped in directly isn’t very practical.

What do to about that?

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Caridina shrimp in the Shrimphaus

Posted on by Andy Pierce

‘Crystal Red’ caridina shrimp:  top-down view on the edge of the river

Bloody Mary shrimp (Neocaridina davidi) have been living in the Shrimphaus for a couple years now and are starting to get a little long in the tooth.  Their solid dusky red colour also makes them difficult to see against the dark aquasoil and slate hardscape, although the new lighting has helped.  I thought I’d pick up some more brightly coloured newcomers.

Caridina shrimp have interesting colours

Neocaridina come in interesting colours but with caridina shrimp there are more varieties and dramatic patterns.  I was drawn to Crystal Red shrimp – with their solid white colouration and dramatic red stripe they definitely stand out against a dark background.

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Planting Anubias barteri ‘Mini Coin’

Posted on by Andy Pierce
Anubias Barteri 'Mini Coin'
‘Mini Coin’ on the mountain

It’s been a challenge to find an epiphyte that looks good on the mountain.  I tried Anubias nana ‘Snow White’ which failed to grow, and the similar Anubias nana ‘Pinto’ which grew fine but looked too big for the nanotank.  Also in the mix was Bucephalandra caterina which grew well and kind of resembled a sombrero hat after it really got going, and Anubias barteri nana ‘Pangolino’ which was more rhizome than decorative leaves.  Now I’m having a go with Anubias Barteri ‘Mini Coin’ which I sourced from Java Plants (a new vendor for me).  After the great epiphyte tear-out of last year there was prime epiphyte real estate available on the mountain. Continue reading “Planting Anubias barteri ‘Mini Coin’” →

Dennerle Carbo Test Precision

Posted on by Andy Pierce
Dennerle Carbo Test Precision
Dennerle Carbo Test Precision

I picked up a new drop checker from Dennerle – the Carbo Test Precision, sold by Real Aquatics.  This drop checker comes in three different sizes.  I got the small 20 mm version which actually surprised me by how small it turned out to be.  This checker is different because instead of having a hanging tear-drop shape, this one is spherical and has a white plastic tube embedded in the middle providing an opening to the bottom.  The idea here is that the drop checker solution can easily be viewed against the white background of the filling tube which provides a more consistent reading than all-glass checkers where you’re always looking at the colour of the solution against a background of something else.

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Week Aqua S-series light first impressions

Posted on by Andy Pierce

I have been using an Asta 20 nano LED light on the Shrimphaus, and that’s been fine but it’s a point source light so there’s not much illumination at either the back (shaded by the river) or the right side (furthest away).  Today I swapped that out for a new Week Aqua S400 Pro aquarium light.

What’s in the box?

Week Aqua S400pro
everything from the box

The S-series comes in three different light lengths:  321mm, 421mm or 471mm.  I went for the middle length S400 model.

You get the light itself with a solid yet lightweight aluminium shell powered through a generous length cord, voltage adaptor and your choice of plug ending.  You also get a milled aluminium mounting bracket with six polypropylene (?) screws to hold it all together.  The light mounts on an aluminium pole which comes with a silicone O-ring to hold the light in place.  Finishing up the package are two plastic zip ties for cord neatness, and a QC control certificate.

You do NOT get any form of instructions either for assembly, mounting or usage.  Fortunately it’s all pretty intuitive how to put it together.

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Planting Salvinia minima

Posted on by Andy Pierce

I have been considering floating plants for a while, but they always looked kind of big and dangly and nasty to me which has put me off.  Then the Aquatic Plant Society had a get together at Aquarium Gardens and I saw this pretty new (to me) much smaller floating plant from Tropica:  Salvinia minima. I picked up a pot to try it out in the Shrimphaus.

It’s a floating plant, so “planting” Salvinia minima is dead-easy.  Starting with an in vitro pot, you rinse off the media it came with and then I floated it in a bowl of clean water and forked it over into the Shrimphaus.

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Bigger disposable CO2 tanks

Posted on by Andy Pierce

I have been using 600 g disposable CO2 cylinders to provide CO2 gas to the Fireplace Aquarium and that has been pretty good.  One cylinder lasts two or three months and they are a reasonably unobtrusive size.  Recently though I have been going big.  Welder’s Warehouse has a two extra-large cylinders combo deal.  Each cylinder holds 1300 g of CO2.  Surprisingly, the larger cylinders are not much taller than the 600 g cylinders I have been using so they don’t take up massively more space.  The other nice feature is they come with a flat bottomed plastic collar base and stand stably upright on their own.  The smaller cylinders just have the round bottom and so need to lean up against something which is always a bit of a worry.

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Big rescape

Posted on by Andy Pierce

I like the look of the Cryptocoryne nevelli and the Schismatoglottis prietoi as well, but it seemed like they were on the wrong sides of the tank.  The C. nevelli got larger than I thought it would so blocked the view of the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’ and the recently re-attempted Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’.  (Must… get… Alternanthera… to work!)  Meanwhile the shorter S. Prietoi left a lot of empty vertical space on the right side.

A good amount of the original biOrb ceramic filter media was pulled out by the roots of the plants being extracted.  I replaced the lost volume with aquasoil.  Pulling up major amounts of plant mass like this always releases lots of fine debris and it took several large water changes and repeated cycles with the portable filter to get these particulates cleared up.

Shoaling ember tetras

Posted on by Andy Pierce

Ember tetras are a great little fish with lots of colour and activity.  They are a ‘shoaling’ fish which means they like to stay together in a loose group – this is different from ‘schooling’ fish which exhibit a tight formation with highly synchronised movements.  Filed under “there’s always one”, we have this one ember, named ‘Jerry’, who does not shoal with the other embers and instead hangs out by him(her?)self on the opposite side of the tank.  The shoaling embers are generally in the upper left of the Fireplace Aquarium, whilst Jerry is inevitably on the middle/upper right side.  Why Jerry doesn’t go along with the group is a mystery but it’s very consistent behaviour and always from the same fish, and if I’m honest, it’s not without its charm.

The embers replaced chili rasboras in the Fireplace Aquarium.  The embers are big enough not to get eaten by the rummys or the barbs – this was less true for the slightly smaller chilis.