The Shrimphaus gets some light brown coloured algae-like material growing on the glass which needs periodic scraping off. It won’t just rub off casually, but it comes off using a credit card blank relatively easily. It does seem to happen more in regions of higher lighting. It isn’t super unsightly, and doesn’t happen fast enough […]
Read more →Category: Tools of the trade
Equipment and methods: CO2 gear, lighting, filtration, controllers, setup techniques.
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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →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 […]
Read more →Shrimphaus used to run at ambient temperature, which during winter is around 20 C. The bloody mary shrimp grew to adulthood and seem active enough, but they aren’t breeding and I was wondering whether them being a little under temperature might be the reason. There is also some thought that the plants might be a […]
Read more →Usually I don’t have a big problem with debris in the Fireplace Aquarium – generally that will settle out onto the substrate and can be removed effectively by resuspension and vacuuming during a large water change. When removing a lot of plants, however, you can wind up with “neutral density” debris – debris with nearly […]
Read more →To help promote genetic diversity I acquired some bloody mary shrimp from Best Aquarium Shrimps UK to supplement the existing colony in the Shrimphaus. They arrived happy and healthy in a plastic bag filled with water and a bit of plastic mesh for them to climb on. How to successfully transition them to their new […]
Read more →Appropriate aquarium lighting is critical to the success of a live-planted tank. The Fireplace Aquarium uses a 15W Kessil A80 Tuna Sun LED light which has both lighting intensity and colour programmed with a Kessil Spectal Controller. This gives a pretty reasonable blend of time on and time off. The plants and animals seem happy. […]
Read more →The pressure inside any liquid CO2 tank is around 860 psi so the gas coming out of the tank needs to be controlled by a regulator to get the pressure down sufficiently that the gas comes out at a usable flow rate. MIG welding regulators reduce the pressure resulting in an adjustable flow rate in […]
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 […]
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