Back to the blog

Back to the blog

As always my obsessive nature has led me to start lots of new projects and neglect a few of the old ones. This first post back will take an eclectic look round some of my current projects, hobbies and interests.

Aquariums

I currently have quite a few freshwater aquariums running. The marine aquarium that has featured at various times throughout this blog has been taken down as I did not feel I had the time or the interest that it needed devoting to it.

Planted aquarium

I have pretty much always had at least one planted aquarium, as it combines two of my favourite interests.
My current display tank is a Fluval Spec 60 with the lid removed. I changed the light from the stock LED light To a Fluval Fresh & Plant 3.0, mostly because the stock light needs to be manually switched on so cannot be used on a timer. Its also The first tank at home I have had Presurised CO₂ on.
It has currently got a quite bit of algae from neglect and not remembering to add liquid fertiliser. It also has a window behind it which doesn't help. At some point I will get round to putting a background on it, which would solve this.
It currently houses quite a number of different fish.
Including, but not limited to:

• Girardinus metallicus - black chin Livebearer
• Rosy loach (I would put a scientific name, but no one seems to agree on one yet as this is a fairly newly discovered fish)
• Nematobrycon palmeri - Emperor tetra
• Aspidorus fuscoguttatus  - Tiny cory-like catfish
• Poecilia reticulata - A few random male guppies growing out just to see how the colours turn out from some old experiments.
• Caridina multidentata - amano shrimp
• Neocaridina davidi - Blue cherry shrimp

Plant tank (current)

Plant tank (previous scape, when I was keeping up with maintenance)

Emperor tetra

Breeding tanks.

Next I have my breeding tanks. These use air-powered sponge filters and have been home to all sorts of projects, past and present. Currently they house mostly various colours of Neocaridina shrimp, but also one has some Aspidoras spilotus.
One of the tanks also has a spider plant growing in a hang on the back filter (Random project - it does pretty well and should be sucking up nitrate, although I never test the water).

Breeding tanks

Orange Neocaridina And Ottocinclus tank which is the right of the four tanks

Orange shrimp (in need of a cull to get rid of the non-orange)

Blue shrimp

Plants (non aquatic)

I am still keeping a few chilli plants around but nothing like before, maybe I will show these in another post.

As previously mentioned I also like keeping house plants in my aquarium filters. This combines two of my hobbies and alsos help suck up nitrate.

Pothos  Epipremnum growing in plant tank filter

Another set of projects which I started a few years ago, neglected at times, are my terrarium jars. I love setting them up, but they only come good a long time later. I think this one has be running Three years.

Terrarium jar

Pond

As always the pond is very over grown. Lots of iris are flowering and I have no idea what fish are in there. Generally I chuck a load of tropicals in there just for the summer and I don't know how they are doing till I net the pond in September. My most successful year i added 6 rosy barbs in May and there were 165 in September.

Pond

Japanese iris - Iris ensata 

Water lily

I think that's quite enough for this first post back. I will do some more in depth posts, concentrating on one thing at a time, some time soon. I will also get the DSLR back out and take some better photos for future posts.

I will leave you with the other major change in my life since I last wrote this blog. 

Daisy and Dora Who are F1b Cockapoos (Cockapoo(Spaniel x Poodle) x Poodle)

They are One and two years old, can be challenging at times, but also endless fun!

Thanks for reading!

My Marine aquarium

Its long past time I do an update on my marine aquarium. Not the best photo but I have some nicer individual shots of some of the fish later. I would describe the Aquarium as a bit of a mirror for the rest of the my life. A bit of a mess but so much going on. The corals, macro algaes and fish are all healthy and thriving mostly. There is a bit of unsightly algae around, but the urchin needs something to eat so I leave alone and he periodically Mows down all the extra algae.

First some background. The aquarium has just gone past its first birthday. The tank is a Kent marine bio reef 94l. I removed all media from filter area, except the odd bag of phosphate absorber when I remember. I replaced the Kent nano skimmer with a cheap Boyu WG308 skimmer because it fit in the compartment, was a bit bigger skimmer, and is far less fiddly than the Kent skimmer. Also in the back compartments is a heater, the return pump that came with the set up and another small pump that pumps up into my refugium. So the only filtration my marine aquarium has is the skimmer, refugium and about 20kg of live rock in the front aquarium.

My refugium is a converted Fluval spec 19l. The Fluval spec has a boxed in end which house sponges and a return pump. This makes it ideal to use as it already has a weir and syphon box. first once again I got rid of all the media, then block a small whole which stopped the filter draining if the media was blocked. I placed the spec aquarium on a surface higher than the main aquarium but so that its bottom half was lower than the main aquarium water level.I then added multiple fail-safe syphon tubes to keep the water level in the specs syphon box the same as the level in the main aquarium. I have drawn a quick diagram to show how this works. (its been a while since I showed off my mspaint skills!)

The other thing I changed from the original spec is I added a much larger Led light. There is a few good points about this system that should be highlighted. First if the power goes off or if I turn it off for maintenance. The refugium does not drain into the main aquarium. As soon as its feeder pump goes off it stops overflowing its weir and only the water in its syphon box can flow into the main aquarium and only if the main aquarium has a lower level than the box. the second advantage to this system is copepods and other plankton can travel from the refugium to the main aquarium without passing through a pump or filter. this hopefully Supplies Eric, My green spotted Mandarin plenty of food.

The refugium currently houses all the frags I cut of my colt coral. It also has several macro algaes growing around in there. Mostly caulerpa racemosa but also taxifolia. It is difficult to get a good photo as the coral frags are in the way but here is some quick photos.

Ok so onto the residents in the main Aquarium. They have been pretty much the same fish since I started, I think the last addition was in about April last year. Some of the fish are getting a bit large, but as they seem happy/healthy and as it would involve taking apart all the rock-work to get at them, I have left them alone.

First we have my pair of clowns. They are Black saddleback clown fish. Both are black and white, the female is larger and pretty much the boss of the aquarium. The male is smaller with a yellow face and yellow on his pectoral fins. when I tried to keep an anemone in the aquarium the clowns were far too rough with it. I may try a larger one again another time to see if they have calmed down.

Next up I have two Lemon damselfish (Peal and Tart), The larger of which I would like to remove. but haven't found an easy way yet. These are pretty calm fish as damsels go, although Tart is getting a bit belligerent Now shes getting quite big.

Next Is my Blue Sapphire damselfish Chrysiptera springeri. This can go from almost black one minute to bright blue the next depending on its mood. it has been very calm so far perhaps because it is scared of the larger lemon damsel.

Next is another fish that has a reputation for being trouble is my Orchid dottyback. I got this fish because a customer returned it to the shop. luckily all the residents in my aquarium can handle themselves so it doesn't seem to have been a problem. a striking active fish that likes to hide in small wholes between the rocks.

There was a few residents I didn't get a photo of this time round. Eric my spotted mandarin is doing well and is always hunting round the tank, just didn't manage to get a good photo. Then there is the fire shrimp I only see at feeding time. There is also two peppermint shrimps that I had not seen for about 6 months, til recently when I was watching the tank at night with just blue light on, they poped out to say hello.

On the coral front The colt coral has recovered from it hack back. and is starting to branch out once again from its stump. the zooanthids and green star polyps continue to spread themselves around and battle it out for space. I added a small rather damaged stump of a toad-stall that was looking sorry for itself in the shop and it has recovered well. you can see it behind the dottyback in the photo above.

Colt coral 

The Short spine urchin was hiding somewhere when I was taking photos but is still around helping keep algae in check.

That's all for now. Overall the aquarium does very well with little or no maintenance from me. I just feed it and change some water once in a while. I will do some further photo updates when I can get a picture of my mandarin as hes a fish worth his own update.

Trying out aquaponics.

Aquaponics is something I have wanted to try for a long time. I have used watercress indoors growing in trickle-filters and in the stream on my pond, but would like to try to grow other plants using this method. It is also a practical idea because I have an overstocked aquarium (not my own doing, Guppies and cherry shrimp never stop breeding) and a pond full of fish. This means there is a lot of nutrient rich water available.

As a test with a look at making something larger for outside in the spring, I decide to make something small to fit on the top of my aquarium. I wanted something I could slot my existing 10cm self-watering pots into except instead of using pint glass reservoirs they would get aquarium water in a constant flow.

I started by buying a plastic trough tall enough to accommodate my 10cm pot, a gap and then enough of a reservoir to work. I then made polystyrene top out of a poly-box lid. this added another 2cm to the pot heights. I drew round the top of top of the pot and cut inside the line, to make three holes big enough to fit the pots but small enough for them to not fall through.

Lid with wholes cut and one plant installed

I used a drill to make a 22mm whole in the bottom of the trough. I bought a 22mm overflow plastic bulkhead fitting. I use this size because they are cheap being the standard fitting used on overflows on water tanks. the fitting stood just tall enough inside to leave quite a lot of room for water roots. it also had a cap that made it slightly taller. If I wanted to though I could always add always add a riser to make the reservoir deeper, as long as I leave some space above and don't dip the pot in the water.

Bulkhead drain

I made another whole in the side of the trough to act as both an entry point into the trough for the inlet pipe and air pipes, but also as an overflow if the bottom drain became blocked.

Inlet entry/overflow

I used a small aquarium filter (because i have many around the place) and a piece of tubing to pump water up into the trough.

 Once it fills the trough to the level of the top of the bulkhead fitting it overflows back into the aquarium. I added a couple of air stones on an air-pump because I had one spare and new it would help get oxygen around the plants roots.

Final view inside trough, showing air-stones, inlet and bulkhead outflow.

I Once all put together I have installed three of my Capsicum baccatum as they are two big for the grow areas and don't like the cold in the windows. I also picked plants that already had roots long enough to reach the water in the trough, also their wicks just reach the water. I have got a small light on there at the moment and they are near a window but I may swap some lights around and see if I can give them a bit more.

Whole tank with aquaponic trough installed

 (although I don't know where all the fish were hiding during this, there is masses in there).

I really look forward to seeing how the plants do in there and if they have any impact on nitrate/phosphate levels in the aquarium. if they do well, I will consider making a much longer version for the side of the pond in the spring.

Happy growing!

New year update.

At the start of the year I have been very busy. My pepper grow is progressing and there are chilli plants all over the house. Most of my wild species have germinated and are thriving. 

Capsicum Rhomboideum                 Capsicum eximium

The other domesticated species are all doing well, except for a few of the overwinters which I think I cut back too heavily. This does not matter too much as I have more than enough plants.

Capsicum baccatum Aji omnicolor            Capsicum Chinense Habanero Hawaii Beach

 Capsicum frutescens Tobasco      Capsicum Pubescens Rocoto Mini

 Capsicum praetermissum Cumari pollux     Capsicum annuum Tepin

My first batch of pepper relatives is in the propagator. Solonum uporo, Solonum topiro and lycium chinense have all germinated already.

Coming up to its first birthday my marine aquarium is messy but healthy. There are too many fish and some of them are getting a bit large, I would remove them but it involves taking the rocks out because otherwise I will never catch them. this means its a massive job and I haven't got there yet. My colt coral has reacted well to its haircut so much so that I will have to take more off soon. I have yet to successfully stick any of the frags down but I have some hopes for the bit in the refugium at the moment.

Reef aquarium

My newest inhabitant is my short-spine urchin. It eats masses of algae which It scrapes of the rocks.  Some people are worried about the short-spine urchin as it can burrow into rock, indeed my one does scrape rocks very clean, like it scrapes of the top layer of rock as well. This does not really worry me because of the sheer amount of rock in the aquarium.

short spine urchin

That's all for now but I will be back with some more detailed updates soon!

Seaside trip

I have not posted for a while because I have be so busy. This past weekend was the first holiday I have been on in a very long time. I thought it would be nice to do a post about what I saw and did, and show some of the photos I took.

We stayed In a cottage in Wangford in Suffolk. Wangford is a small village near Southwold. Southwold is a picturesque town centered around its lighthouse and brewery. The Adnams brewery was founded in 1872 and is and was the main employer in the town. I used to Visit Southwold on holiday as a child and can remember them delivering casks to the local pubs by horse and cart (they ended this only 2006).

On our first morning we visited RSPB Minsmere. Upon arrival, once we had traveled through the obligotery gift shop, we walked out into a beautiful sunny morning. We walked along paths through the marsh which was made up of areas of open water between tall reeds phragmities sp. and reedmace typha sp. Once we got nearer the coast and walked over a sand dunes I got my first sight of the sea. Along these dunes I spotted lots of sea kale Crambe maritima growing.

The flats at Minsmere

Phone photo over the dunes at Minsmere

Sea kale Crambe maritima

While walking along the shale beach I found a mermaids purse or "shark egg". From the shape and a bit of googling I think it is probably the egg of some variety of Skate Raja sp., So a ray rather than a shark or dogfish.

Mermaids purse

 The beach with better camera

On the way out of Minsmere I was lucky enough to snap a photo of a darter dragonfly resting on a handrail between hunting midges.

Dragonfly

I accomplished another one of the things I wanted to do later that day while at another beach near Covehithe hamlet. I went in the sea, to me a trip to the seaside is not complete without going in at least once, even if it is October. The sea was quite rough and the water pretty cold, but not as bad as I was expecting and I manged to wade out and swim a few strokes.

Getting in!

On the other side of the beach from the sea there was a marsh and this marsh i saw an egret searching food. a beautiful bird, I wish I had taken a photo. I also collected a piece of drift wood with some living algae on on this beach which I brought home and added to my refugium. I know this a risk of adding nasties to my tank but I wanted to do add it anyway. 

Driftwood - floating

On the second day we stopped to take photos at the field of pumpkins near the village.

Pumpkins, all ready for haloween

we then visited southwold pier and i got a photo on my phone of Southwold with the sun breaking through cloud and hitting the lighthouse.

lucky photo

Sunday was pretty windy, and a lot of foam from organics in the water was building up on the shore, like a giant protein skimmer.

Foam

The other place we visited on Sunday was Southwold harbor. The harbor is home to a reduced but still working fishing fleet. There was large amount of what looked like marsh saphire Salicornia europaea. 

Marsh saphire Salicornia europaea.

All in all I had a great time and it was very nice to go somewhere different with lots of new scenery and new species (to me) to study.