Regular and substantial water changes for an aquarium are a good idea. With EI fertiliser dosing the built-in assumption is that at least 50% of the water will be changed out every week to prevent a build-up of excess fertilisers. Both the Fireplace Aquarium and the Shrimphaus follow this maintenance schedule, although lately I have […]
Read more →Category: Aquarium observations
Journal/observations—what I noticed over time; experiential notes rather than evidence-based investigation.
Some collected wisdom from experiences with the downfall and subsequent rebuild of the low-tech open-topped Shrimphaus aquarium… Open topped tanks should be made from glass, not acrylic Open topped tanks will experience water evaporation. As that happens, mineral deposits will be left behind at the receding waterline. These mineral deposits can be easily scraped off […]
Read more →It’s been more than four months since the Alternanthera reineckii ‘Rosanervig’ got planted in the Fireplace Aquarium, and whilst it seemed to be doing well initially, after 11 weeks things weren’t looking so great. I thought lack of light from overgrowing Bucephalandra caterina might have been contributory, so I did a massive epiphyte trim to […]
Read more →The airstone does a great job of keeping the surface of Shrimphaus clear from biofilm, but how it does that exactly isn’t clear. One idea is that when the bubbles break on the surface they fling water and biofilm in random directions, including over the side of the open topped tank. For sure this flinging […]
Read more →The Shrimphaus recently spontaneously developed a relatively solid whitish layer on the top surface of the water. I’m convinced this layer was a biofilm, a macroscopic colony of microscopic organisms holding themselves together. Although not usually considered dangerous to plants or animals, biofilms don’t look very nice, and can potentially inhibit beneficial gas exchange between […]
Read more →The newly planted vallis seemed to be doing poorly with the leaves suffering structural damage and since vallis is thought to be sensitive to damage from liquid carbon I stopped the daily dosing of EasyCarbo. Stopping the daily liquid carbon is something I had been thinking about doing anyway, on the grounds that with injected […]
Read more →They say Cryptocoryne lutea ‘Hobbit’ is a small crypt, but saying it and seeing it are two different things. This is a really small crypt! The original idea was to have a small plant to go in front of the Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ to hide the rooty lower stems of the Lobelia without covering up the […]
Read more →After two week holiday – no maintenance yet We took a two week holiday and left the fish and plants in the Fireplace Aquarium on their own recognizance. I did an 80% water change the day we set out, gave the fish a little extra food flakes, turned off the CO2 gas and otherwise left […]
Read more →I ran out of CO2 gas today for the Fireplace Aquarium and swapped out the old CO2 supply cylinder for a new one. I get 600 g CO2 at a time in disposable cylinders used for MIG welding, and sure enough, the empty cylinder weighed 1200 g and the new cylinder weighed 1800 g. End […]
Read more →Unusual view* down into the Fireplace Aquarium during a major water change. On the top of the mountain on the right is Bucephalandra caterina, with newly installed Anubias barteri nana ‘Pinto’ further down. The flopped over red plant is Ludwigia palustris mini ‘Super Red’ with bright green Lobelia cardinalis ‘Dwarf’ just below it. The low […]
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