Deven – Page 3 – Fish Tank Projects

innovative marine nuvo 24 – The lost shrimp city

November 22, 2014 Deven One comment

After realizing i was severly suferring from multiple tank syndrome i decided it was time to consolidate a few of my tanks.. but if i was going to cut down on tank s the new one had to be pretty awesome. I love the look of Mr Aqua 12G long tanks however it wasnt quite enough capacity to combine a few shrimp tanks..

Let me introduce the innovative marine nuvo 24. This stylish little tank is is made of 6mm bent glass and has a built in sump… this is generally a salt water thing but seemed perfect to hide all of the equipment and keep that clean look. One of the best part are the dimensions. The tank is 36x12x13. The sump area is about 3″ deep leaving 10″ ish deep for the display area.

The stock pump is 460 ish GPH which has tons of flow for a small thank however i feel its a bit overkill for my shrimp (and a little loud) so i just ordered a Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump – 251 GPH.

For lighting I decided to try out the new ecoxotic e-series, this awesome little light has tons of par and a wireless remote that lets you fine tune each color to achieve the perfect blend. the light also had a built in timmer and a few pre-programmed modes to simulate clouds and thunder storms. (these modes cant be used with the built in timer.. but i plan on fixing that later with an arduino based controller) The light it selv is very small and sleek

The wood for the scape was stolen out of my other nano tanks. After about 20 different spaces i finally designed on a layout using 3 chunks of driftwood into one feature.

(offsetted for astecticinterest.. always rember to use the rule of thirds!) it was time to start my dry start (DSM)

For my new tank i decided to go with Glosso due to is ease of maintenance.. but omg was it a slow proccess. I had a lush carpet of HC in a little over a month. my glosso dry start had two months to grow before i start to fully fill and even when flooded 2 months later it still had lots of work todo.

Now with a pretty cool design ready i needed to find a stand. The cube stand I had was 36″ wide and fit the tank perfectly.. however it was pretty flimsy and I didnt trust it with 150lbs of water ontop of it. Time to re-enforce it!

To add strength I glued strips of 5/8″ plywood to the stand using PL400 , clamped it down and let it dry over night.

Once dry i used a bit of drywall mud to smooth it out and bled the seams from the origional stand with the plywood.
with the structural work done it was time for paint.

And i do say it turned out awesome! The seams blended perfectly and gave the stand a nice chunky look… which a weight worthy stand ready it was time to fill it.

I added a giant bag of bio-rings from various other tanks and let the tank run over night, tested the water the next day and things looked good so i added my first batch of shrimp

More updates to come once I get the new pump and co2 diffuser 🙂

Jan 12 2015:
Well it’s been a good month plus since the last update and the glosso is slowly but surely spreading. I finally almost have a nice lush carpet!

Dry Start HC (Dwarf Baby Tears) – DSM

January 6, 2014 Deven 9 comments

Many aquatic plants can be grown emersed rather than submersed. The main reason to grow a plant immersed is faster growth. The air around us has an abundance of CO2 which greatly accelerate plant growth. Hemianthus callitrichoides commonly known as HC or Dwarf Baby Tears is an excellent example of plant that can grow both submersed and immersed.

I decided to try out the Dry Start Meathod (DSM) in 6 Gallon fluval edge tank with the top removed. HC originates from Cuba and loves a humid environment.

My Process:
Tank: 6G Fluval edge (topless)
Lighting: Finnex Planted Plus
Substrate: Fluval Stratum
CO2: Paintball tank with Aquatek mini regulator
Filter: Zoomed 501 with 9mm glass lilly pipes
HC loves a soft smaller grained soil, this ensure the delicate roots can make they way down with minimal resistance. In my case i used Fluval Stratum due to local availability. For lighting I decided to try out Finnex’s new planted plus led light.. which so far is yielding fantastic results. If HC does not have enough light it will grow vertical rather than spreading across the substrate to form a lush carpet.

To start you will want to find a foal point (either rocks or driftwood) and play around to find your desired look. This can be a interesting process.. i know i tried at least 20 different combinations of rocks and layouts until i decided on this one.

Aquascape Hardscape

For the 6 Gallon tank i used 2 pots of HC.. three would have been nice but two is doing the job.
You ideally want to plant small plugs about an inch apart for maximum spread. You can get quicker spread the more you break up the bunches.. this can however be a time consuming process.. so get comfy!

Insert each mini clump with long tweezers and ensure the roots are within the soil. I try to leave just the top leave above.
I also randomly inserted about 8 root tabs to aid in future growth once flooded.

HC first planted

I filled a spray bottle with distilled water and a bit of Excel (metracide 14) to help prevent any mould or algae from forming.
Spray your HC so that all of your substrate and leaves are moist. Next take a chunk of clear cling wrap and cover the top of the tank… Covering the tank with clear cling wrap will let in the light and hold in the humidity. I opened up the syranwrap for about 20-30 min every 2-3 days. re misted and let it air out. Its important to get good air exchange in your tank… alternatively you could leave a corner or two not fully sealed to allow air exchange or lower humidity if there is any sign of mould. (Distilled water is more pure and will bring in less foreign bacteria to the tank.. using excel or metracide in the water also acts as an anti fungal)

Photo update: 1 week into my dry start (DSM)

Dry Start HC - 1 week

Two weeks into the HC DSM

Dry Start HC - 2 weeks

Three weeks into the DSM HC 'Dwarf Baby Tears' dry start - 3 weeks

Three weeks into HC DSM – Top view of spread

HC spread 3 weeks

DSM does work very well.. how ever it does require patience.. but that seems to be most thing when it comes to aquascaping. After another week or two i will flood the tank.
Once flooded the HC will be starved for CO2. I plan on injecting pressurized CO2 at a high rate for the first 4-5 days to allow the HC to adapt.. then i will slowly lower the CO2 over the next week or two until it is at a low steady ammount. I plan on using this tank for fancier shrimp (who generally dont like high CO2 or PH swings..) so I plan on getting the CO2 as low as possible while still keeping the the HC happy.

Week 4

Just over 4 weeks in we have a lovely carpet of HC taking over the tank! IT looks so nice its time to flood it.

4-week-hc

When filling i used a tuperware lid to pour onto so i did not disturb the HC/substrate

Filling the tank using a lid

Since i have such a shallow tank I decided to burry the ceramic co2 diffuser into the carpet to to partially hide it and give the bubbles a little more time to float up.. The output of the lilly pipe is aimed so that it pushes the bubbles across the tank allowing more diffusion time.

Co2 diffuser in HC

I set the CO2 to 3-4 bubbles /second for the next 4-5 days then turned it down and added a few CPD’s for the next 1.5-2 weeks while still slowly lowering the CO2.

The HC looks happy and is pearling!

hc-pearling-bubble

Once i got the bubbles down to 1 ever 2-2.5 seconds i decided it was time to add in my shrimp. One of the OEBTs enjoying its new home!
2-week-oebt

oebt-hc-fill lush-hc-carpet fish-hc-oebt

Aquascaping

DIY Planaria Trap

May 23, 2013 Deven One comment

planaria-white-worm-aquarium Planaria are non-parasitic flatworm worm that can appear in your aquarium. Planaria are easiest identified by there flat body and spade shaped heads. Many claim that they are harmless and just an eyesore however that has been claims that they may hurt or stress out baby or week adult shrimp. The two main way s to get rid of planaria is by chemicals or diy traps. Traps may not 100% guarantee removal unless used over an extended period they are however non invasive and remove the risk of any of your other under water creatures being hurt by chemicals.

If you choose to go down the chemical warfare route the most common option is a dog dewormer containing fenbendazole such as safeguard.
The agreed upon “safe” dosing of fenbendazole is .1 grams per 10 Gallons of aquarium. Be sure to remove any carbon that my be in your filter as it will absorb the chemicals and defeat the purpose of dosing the tank. Within 48 hours your planaria should all be dead. Vacuum away and enjoy a pest free tank.

In my shrimp tank i just moved in some Crystal red and Crystal Black shrimp.. I didnt want to use chemicals after just moving them and decided to build a DIY Planaria Trap. You can purchase them but they can be a bit pricey for such a small device.

To build mine i used a test tub from a test kit, and some airline house.

1. Drill a 1/4 hole in the lid of the test tube
2. Push in a peice of airline tubing. Ensure the tube is floating in the center of the tube (this make its harder from the planaria to escape)
3. Fill your trap with tank water and bait it with meat, shrimp, blood worms or some other form of tasty raw food.
4. 3. Tie on some thread or thin string to retrieve your catch and submerge

diy-planaria-trap

I left this trap overnight and work up to bout 5-6 planaria in the trap so it seems to be working well!
catch-planaria

DIY Aquarium Projects

Arduino Controlled Dosing Pumps

May 12, 2013 Deven 85 comments

Aquarium controllers can make your life easier.. especially when it comes to remembering to dose your aquarium. I recently started a new planted tank and realized how bad my lax dosing schedule was… to fix this i decided to build an arduino based dosing system. Yes it may be overkill.. but I do love automation and building so this seemed like the perfect project! They dosing shield consists of an RTC DS1307. I searched the web for countless hours researching how to build this project… I found lots of bits of information but no complete guides so i decided to do this write up as a step by step guide for the beginner arduino builder.

[youtube_video] 8gr5I7OUo7I [/youtube_video]

Arduino Auto Doser

Shopping list:

DS1307 RTC $3.50
Arduino Uno ATmega 328 $15
Arduino Prototype Shield $5.50 (optional but recommended)3x 1k Resistor
3x IRFZ44N (or any other N channel transistor)
3x Diodes
1x l7805cv – 5V regulator
3x Dosing pump (ebay)

arduino dosing pump controller

Find a box to mount your project in… This lovely tea box was a whopping $3 and makes a perfect project box.

Drill some holes yo mount the motors.

Paint your box if desired them mount your components.

Update: I finally got a proper tube holder!

tube-holder-aquarium-doser

The Schematic:

arduino controlled dosing pumps

Arduino Sketch

[code lang=”arduino”]
// Deven Rich 12-5-2013
// This project was built on the Arduino Uno – ATmega328P
// I would also like to give credit to Maurice Ribble for providing chunks of the RTC code
// This code sets up the DS1307 Real Time clock on the Arduino board to controll 3 dosing pumps
// The RTC keeps track of time, the code checks it and turns on the pumps at a specified time
// to dose your aquarium

#include "Wire.h"
#define DS1307_I2C_ADDRESS 0x68

// Convert normal decimal numbers to binary coded decimal
byte decToBcd(byte val)
{
return ( (val/10*16) + (val%10) );
}

// Convert binary coded decimal to normal decimal numbers
byte bcdToDec(byte val)
{
return ( (val/16*10) + (val%16) );
}

// Stops the DS1307, but it has the side effect of setting seconds to 0
// Probably only want to use this for testing
/*void stopDs1307()
{
Wire.beginTransmission(DS1307_I2C_ADDRESS);
Wire.write(0);
Wire.writeWire.writeWire.write(0x80);
Wire.endTransmission();
}*/

// 1) Sets the date and time on the ds1307
// 2) Starts the clock
// 3) Sets hour mode to 24 hour clock
// Assumes you’re passing in valid numbers
void setDateDs1307(byte second,        // 0-59
byte minute,        // 0-59
byte hour,          // 1-23
byte dayOfWeek,     // 1-7
byte dayOfMonth,    // 1-28/29/30/31
byte month,         // 1-12
byte year)          // 0-99
{
Wire.beginTransmission(DS1307_I2C_ADDRESS);
Wire.write(0);
Wire.write(decToBcd(second));    // 0 to bit 7 starts the clock
Wire.write(decToBcd(minute));
Wire.write(decToBcd(hour));      // If you want 12 hour am/pm you need to set
// bit 6 (also need to change readDateDs1307)
Wire.write(decToBcd(dayOfWeek));
Wire.write(decToBcd(dayOfMonth));
Wire.write(decToBcd(month));
Wire.write(decToBcd(year));
Wire.endTransmission();
}

// Gets the date and time from the ds1307
void getDateDs1307(byte *second,
byte *minute,
byte *hour,
byte *dayOfWeek,
byte *dayOfMonth,
byte *month,
byte *year)
{
// Reset the register pointer
Wire.beginTransmission(DS1307_I2C_ADDRESS);
Wire.write(0);
Wire.endTransmission();

Wire.requestFrom(DS1307_I2C_ADDRESS, 7);

// A few of these need masks because certain bits are control bits
*second     = bcdToDec(Wire.read() & 0x7f);
*minute     = bcdToDec(Wire.read());
*hour       = bcdToDec(Wire.read() & 0x3f); // Need to change this if 12 hour am/pm
*dayOfWeek = bcdToDec(Wire.read());
*dayOfMonth = bcdToDec(Wire.read());
*month      = bcdToDec(Wire.read());
*year       = bcdToDec(Wire.read());
}

//define pins
int motorPin1 = 9;
int motorPin2 = 10;
int motorPin3 = 11;

void setup() // run once, when the sketch starts
{
byte second, minute, hour, dayOfWeek, dayOfMonth, month, year;
pinMode(motorPin1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin3, OUTPUT);

Wire.begin();
Serial.begin(9600);

// Change these values to what you want to set your clock to.
// You only need to run this the first time you setup your RTC.
// Set the correct value below and un comment it to run it.

/*
second = 45;
minute = 55;
hour = 9;
dayOfWeek = 2;
dayOfMonth = 30;
month = 4;
year = 13;
setDateDs1307(second, minute, hour, dayOfWeek, dayOfMonth, month, year);

}
void loop() // run over and over again
{
byte second, minute, hour, dayOfWeek, dayOfMonth, month, year;

// this prints the output to the serial window (tools > serial monitor in arduino) and is great for testing
getDateDs1307(&second, &minute, &hour, &dayOfWeek, &dayOfMonth, &month, &year);
Serial.print(hour, DEC);
Serial.print(":");
Serial.print(minute, DEC);
Serial.print(":");
Serial.print(second, DEC);

// Set the time you want the motors to kick in
if((hour == 21)&&(minute == 23)&&(second==10)){
Serial.print(" TRUE");
Serial.println(" ");
Serial.println(" MP1");
analogWrite(motorPin1, 255);
delay(8500); // set how long you want the motor to run… 1000 = aprox 1ml

analogWrite(motorPin1, 0);
Serial.println(" MP2");
analogWrite(motorPin2, 255);
delay(9500); // set how long you want the motor to run… 1000 = aprox 1ml

analogWrite(motorPin2, 0);
Serial.println(" MP3");
analogWrite(motorPin3, 255);
delay(5500); // set how long you want the motor to run… 1000 = aprox 1ml
analogWrite(motorPin3, 0);

}
// we dont really need this since we set the pin to low above but just incase 🙂
else{Serial.println(" false");
analogWrite(motorPin1, 0);
analogWrite(motorPin2, 0);
analogWrite(motorPin3, 0);
}

delay(1000);

}

[/code]

Let me know if you have any questions and enjoy your new Arduino Dosing pumps!

As request I snapped a pic of the underside of the board

DIY Aquarium Projects

Osaka Forest Tank log

April 7, 2013 Deven 5 comments

After finding a stellar deal on a 84 Gallon Fluval Osaka 320 I decided to start a new project. Sadly the tank has a bunch of small scratches that I dint notice until after I had the tank (thats what happens when you buy a tank from photos…at least they arnt to noticeable once it filled with water.

I have never been a fan of the generic pet shop backgrounds so once the tank showed up I decided to spray paint the background to make a nice clean backdrop. A black background will make your plants and fish pop and is always a good choice.

Start by giving the back of the tank a good cleaning. Make sure there is no oil or dirt on the tank before you paint it.

prep-aquarium-for-painting

Mask/tape off absolutely every side of the tank to prevent any over spray hitting the viewing area. A little work now will save you alot of clean up later.

tape-off-side-of-tank

Spray paint the back using a flat black paint. Do multiple light coats to prevent runs and create a seamless backdrop.

spray-paint-fish-tank

Preform a water test by filling the tank with water to see how it looks and confirm there is no leaks.. (yay the scratches have mostly disappears!)

fish tank water test

The filter for this tank is an FX5.. argueably a little overkill but you can not over filter a tank.. My only worry is to much flow as the tank will be stocked with armys of tetras and danios.

FX5 Filter

Since this will be a planted dirt tank.. i decided to go with good old Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting Mix capped with Eco-Complete.
I also used some Instant Aquaria to cap the the dirt as the price was right!
dirted-tank-substrate

Using eco-complete i create a esthetic border to hide the dirt (unlike my first planted tank where you can see the layers).

dirted-tank-mgocpm

Once I had my base I capped with with instant aquaria and eco-complete.

At this point i have used about 3/4 a big of Eco-complete to make a 1-1.5″ layer. 2 bags of instant aquaria and 2 bags of Eco-complet

capped-dirt-miracle-grow-organic-choice

I will be adding 2-3 more bags of eco-complete to make hills on the side (once my order shows up)

Once the driftwood was prepared (quit floating) I decided to play with some scapes in the tank.

scaped-driftwood

driftwood-layout

fluval-oska-320-scape

So far this seems to be my favorite layout.. I think it will look even better once i build up the left/right sides and have a valley in the center….

The waiting games is killing me! (hurry up eco-complete order!) I decided to DIY Night Light Aquarium leds. which turned out great.

So far i’m loving the aqua color on the tank.

aquarium-led-night-light

Over the past week or two I have been stocking up on plants which are currently housed in my shrimp/fry tanks. The shrimp seem to love snacking on the algae and micro organisms on the fresh plants.

Planning the layout.

WHen it comes to drift wood a small rotation can totaly change the look of the aquascape. I must have tried 30 different varations until i decided which way to go. I would advise that you leave the tank water less for a few days to give you time to play with different scapes. Its much harder to change once filled so be patient and find the best layout possible. Below are a few (of many) examples of different looks with just 2 pieces of drift wood.

aquarium-driftwood driftwood-setup

driftwood3

fish-thank-driftwood

fishtank-driftwood

driftwood-tank

And the winning design……………

aquascaping-fluval-osaka

aquascape-hardscape-aquarium

osaka-forest-layout

Next you want to half fill the tank with water and start planting!

Its always best to you tall stems/plants as your “background, and work forward to medium mid ground plants then finally low lying front plants or carpets.
If you know the proper name of the plant you should be able to find out its lighting requirements, co2 needs and maximum growth height. Be sure to plan for future growth to avoid replanting later.

Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-2 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-3 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-18 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-17 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-15 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-14 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-13 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-12 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-11 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-10 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-9

Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-8 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-7 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-6 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-5

Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-16 Fluval-Osaka-320-Aquascape-4

Night shot with only the LED’s on.

DIY-led-aquarium-night-light

Update: March 18/2013

Its been about 6 weeks and time for an update. The plants have really started to grow in, especially the hyghro along the back.. i have trimmed it a few times now. A few of the plans such as the tall spiky ones in the bottom left has dropped their old leaves and grown new ones , the lots/Lilly have done lost most of their original steam and are being replaced with a healthy new batch. This is common as a plant adjust to its new environment.

osaka-planted-tank-shot

live-aquarium-plants planted-tank planted-tank-side-lotus

osaka-planted-tank planted-aquarium
aquarium-plants

The ivory mystery snail is cleaning up the powerhead for me 🙂
snail-powerhead

I have added 5 Ottos to the clean up crew

fx5-otto

DSC_5405 - edited full

midtank

underwater-ledge

javafern-side

I have also added Pressurized CO2 and built an automatic dosing system.

aquarium-co2 co2-automated-doser

Update – May 28/2013

Wow.. .. I just realized that I have only had this tank up and running for about a month and a half now.. it feels like much longer!

April 11th, 2013

Beginning of a planted tank

May 25th, 2013 (quick cell phone shot for now)

Osaka forest planted tank

Not to shabby for 47 days in. .. I cant wait to see what this tank turns into over time.
I was also inspired but another member to shoot a quick underwater video and give you guys a fish eye view of the tank.

[youtube_video] Vj4P6H32iws [/youtube_video]

Update: 6/13/13

I finally got a proper tube holder!

tube-holder-aquarium-doser

I also wanted to take a night show was the lovely led night lighting. The tank has really filled in the past few weeks. I even trimmed it twice in the past month.

oska-forest-tank-night-shot

31/07/2013 – Time for an update!

Its been a while, so i think i’m due for an update. The Amazon Swords and lilly pads are litterly taking over the tank. I think my system may be working a little to well! I have to trim it every second week and have buckets of extra plants (anyone need plants?!)

The amazon sword nicely hides everything as it has taken over the left hand side of the tank. There is also a stem full of “runners” and mini swords popping up. I may move some into other tanks.. or sell a few. The Lilly pads are massive and shading the right hand side, these will also need trimming as the huge shadow has started to kill my red plants.. The only thing not growing like the weed is the dwarf hair grass.. i’m not to sure why.. any ideas?

osaka-fish-tank-wood under-the-lillypads giant-amazon-sword amazon-sword-aquarium osaka-plants aquarium-lilly-pads osaka2 osaka-bridge osaka-substrate2 osaka-overgrown osaka-forest-grown-in

Aquascaping

DIY Led Aquarium Night Lights

April 7, 2013 Deven One comment

Led’s make great night lights, especially in an aquarium!

The T5HO lights were a little bright for watching movies at night so i decided to dim down night mode using leds.

For this project i decided to use a strip of RGB leds so i could pick custom colors and fine tune the look of this tank.

I found a 75′ roll of black thermostat control wire for 3$ at princess auto which was just about perfect for making my led power wire. The only down fall was the wire was 3 wire.. so i added a 4th strand and use small chucks of heat shrink to a single 4 wire cable.

diy-led-wire

heat shrink became a very clean way to join the wires for the RGB Leds.

led-wires

The RGB leds have 3m double sided tape as a backing that made it a breeze to stock to the T5HO fixture. My only worry is if the heat from the T5’s will loosen the led sticker or not.. but time will tell!

led-t5ho-mod

A simple RGB controller let you pick the perfect color. You can pick your color, fading effects, brightness and speed.
I got this controller fairly cheap off ebay and it works perfectly.

The lighting will be controlled by a dual channel timer. This will allow me to turn on the leds when the T5 light turns off (and not blind me for night time movie nights)

The power bar i used also has usb ports that will power a future arduino aquarium controller project.

Time for a test.. and it works!
So far the Aqua blue color is my favorite and will look great once the tank is filled.

aquarium-led-night-light

Test with the tank full of water and plants.. It looks awesome!

DIY-led-aquarium-night-light

DIY Aquarium Projects

How to prepare drift wood

April 7, 2013 Deven 2 comments

Finding interesting pieces of driftwood can help create a stunning under water aqua scape. The first thing you will need to do is find some interesting wood. Drift wood can be picked up from a local pet store or scavenged from local oceans or streams. If you are driftwood hunting in nature be sure your wood is a hardwood as softwoods such as pine will decompose far to quickly in the aquarium and create a hazardous environment for your fish.

Preparing the driftwood.
1. Using a pressure washer or a scrub brush remove all dirt and bark from your wood.
2. If possible boil your driftwood in a large pot, bathtub or bucket. this will help release tannons and kill any potential hitchhiking creatures.
3. If your driftwood is floating, you may have to let it site for a few days up to a month until it finally decides to sink.. In my experience most peices have sunk within 3-4 days of soaking.

driftwood

Large garbage or recycling cans make excellent soaking containers, just be sure to give it a good rinse first!

soak-driftwood

I soaked my wood for about 5 days. Each day I would dump out and fill the bin with fresh water to help release the tannins (tea color in the water).

The tannins will not hurt the fish (in fact it may even be beneficial to most fish) Removing tannins is mainly an ascetic choice and is personal preference. Tannins generally fully leach out after about 3 months.

submerse-driftwood

Once your driftwood is fully water logged its time to place it in your tank and decide on a lay out!
Be sure to rotate it and try every possible angle until you get it just right. You can also stack multiple possible small pieces togeaterh to create interesting larger pieces.

driftwood-layout

Aquascaping

How to Dirt an aquarium

April 7, 2013 Deven One comment

All great planted tanks start with the right substrate. In a high tech tank one generally injects C02 and add nutrients to through root tabs or liquid fertilizers. In a low tech tank one uses dirt as a sources of nutrients for plant growth. I am a fan of low tech as it reduces the added work of daily or weekly doing of ferts. In my tank I choose to go with Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting Mix (MGOCPM) as the nutrient rich base layer capped Instant Aquaria and Eco-Complete.

dirted-tank-substrate

In order to hide the dirt start by making a border of your capping material around the front and side of the tank. This will create an ascetic border and hide the layer of dirt. I generally do an 1.5″ ish layer of MGOCPM. In a planted tank you want to shoot for at-least 3″ of total substrate thickness to make it nice and easy to get plants rooted. If your substrate is to shallow you will ricks plants being uprooted and floating around your tank.

dirted-tank-mgocpm

Finally you will want to cap your base layer find a top layer of Eco-complete or your substrate of choice to make an appealing base layer.

capped-dirt-miracle-grow-organic-choice

Dirted Tank

DIY Breeding Mop

April 2, 2013 Deven Leave a comment

Egg laying fish love to spawn in live plants. One of the common way to mimic these plants is the use of yarn. Be sure to pick a dark colored acrylic yarn as it will not break down in the water over time. I generally pick green since it best mimics actual plants.

Alot of egg scattering tetras and danios tend to eat the eggs after the span which can reduce the number of surviving fry.

Egg scatters tend to have less sticky eggs that will fall out of the mop if you shake it so be sure to have something underneath to catch the eggs if you plan on moving them. With most small fish its a good idea to separate the parents from the eggs once the span is over.

Start by wrapping the yard around a book about 100 times.