Author: Andy Pierce

Learning about planted freshwater aquaria and WordPress.

Planting Echinodorus chrileni

Posted on by Andy Pierce
Echinodorus Chrileni not doing well
Echinodorus chrileni v1.0 not doing well

Replanting actually…  I was looking for something that could grow submersed in the back right corner of the Shrimphaus that might be able to break the water surface and grow emersed.  Amazon sword plants (Echinodorus species) are sometimes able to do that and I looked for an intermediate sized one with interesting aspects and came up with Echinodorus chrileni.  I first picked up a pot from Pro-shrimp grown in rockwool by Aquafleur about 8 months ago.  The plant arrived in great shape, but then gradually rotted away over several months, with no evidence of transitioning to the submersed growth form.  This was back when I was using the Asta point-source lighting that was at the exact opposite corner of the tank so the spot for the chrileni was pretty shaded.  When I switched over the Shrimphaus to the more even lighting from a Week Aqua S-400 Pro light, I figured let’s give the chrileni another try.

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Aquasoil and water chemistry

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aquasoil

Aquasoil (there are various brands and types) is “an active bottom layer that lowers the pH value and slightly affects the water chemistry“.  One aspect is to slowly leach out fertiliser into the water column over time.  How about that ‘lowers the pH’ piece?  One way would be to have the aquasoil directly add acid to the water but that wouldn’t last very long.  Instead it is thought (although not published – trade secret) the aquasoil has an element of being an ion exchange matrix.  This means there are charged surfaces on the aquasoil that can be pre-loaded with either positively charged (cations) or negatively charged (anions) molecules.  These ions are slowly ‘exchangeable’ with ions of similar charge from the water column.  For pH lowering purposes, the aquasoil would need to come pre-charged with H+ ions, possibly in the form of ammonium (NH4+), which can be exchanged for calcium (Ca++) or magnesium (Mg++) from the water column.  The net effect would be to soften the water (removing Ca++/Mg++), add nitrogen based fertiliser (the ammonium) and to lower the pH of the water.  All three of these effects are thought to be beneficial in a planted aquarium.

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Electrics in a fireplace

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Recently following a heavy rain one of the residual current breakers (RCD) on the main breaker box of the house tripped and could not be reset which took down half of the lighting and almost all of the wall sockets.  I strung up a network of extension leads to the one remaining live socket (for the cooker) to keep power to the fridge/freezer and the boiler.  What about the critters?  I strung another lead through to power on the Shrimphaus to keep the new caridina shrimp happy with water flow, oxygenation and light.  So far so good – call the electrician.  Meanwhile, lets get the internet back on (check) and probably good to sort the Fireplace Aquarium as well.  Connecting the powerbar for the Fireplace Aquarium immediately trips the RCD on the cooker socket circuit, taking down most of the rest of the power to the house.

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Low alkalinity Shrimphaus

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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

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‘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’

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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