Fish Tanks Require Love And Care

From small one-quart bowls to 55-gallon aquariums and numerous sizes in between, these fish tanks all need proper care to keep their inhabitants alive and well. However, the success of your foray into fish tanks will depend on one thing; the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into them. The entire thinking about fish tanks has changed over the past few years with some aquariums now referred to as aqua furniture or aqua art. There are aquariums made to be recessed into a wall, or designed to fit into a corner. Fish tanks can even be special ordered in most shapes to fit your needs. Those in the wall, framed by wood, may appear to be a living painting. Materials used in fish tanks also changed over the years. Clear, molded acrylic is gradually replacing glass as the primary material since it has been developed not to become cloudy over time. This also reduces the danger of breakage that exists with glass and can add years of enjoyment to you fish tanks. Necessary Accessories Depend On Hobby Having one or two small gold fish in a bowl does not require a huge investment. Food for the fish and the willingness to change to the water when needed will usually keep the fish alive for the duration of their life span. Planning to raise more or bigger fish will require more accessories for your fish tank. With fish tanks holding ten gallons or more of water, you will need a water pump and filter set to keep the water clean and moving. Without them the water will need to be changed frequently as it begins to get dirty. An air filter will also be required to keep air flowing through the water. Fish require oxygen to survive and without fresh air being introduced, they may suffocate. Fish tanks also will need a light, usually a fixture that attaches to the top and provides light into the water to keep the fish from sleeping all the time. A heater is also a good idea for fish tanks as it will help maintain the water at a constant temperature ensuring your fish won’t be cooked if it gets too hot or lethargic if it is too cold. Bigger fish tanks will require bigger accessories, and if you have fish tanks special ordered in unusual shapes, the manufacturer of the fish tanks will most likely be your only source for accessories such as the bottom filter and lamp hood.

Where to Find a 20 Gallon Fish Tank

If you are looking for a fish tank, including that of a 20 gallon fish tank, it can often seem as a rather arduous and frustrating task simply trying to narrow down the multitude of options that ar. . .

just done it
Three buckets today. I really hope those snails arrive soon, the dreaded algae is taking over again, and poor old sammy on his own just doesn’t have a big enough belly! The bristlenose catfish who has no bristles on his nose (podger) should be eating it, and I think he is, but is just a baby so [...]

lazy fishblog?
Well yes, I have been a bit rubbish at updating recently. However, i just upgraded the wordpress install, and added a new theme so will try and get more posted now. I was browsing through the list of search engine referrals earlier, so perhaps i’ll make up for my lack of posting with a super-size one [...]

Found cracked impeller shaft on skimmer pump.
Drained out the EuroReef RC500 skimmer (holds about 8 gallons of water). Removed both SP4 recirculation pumps and inspected them. On the pump making the loud noise, I found the impeller shaft had cracked into two parts causing the magnet to bounce around.

This is the 4th impeller that has broke in this unit and they are expensive to replace. I'm going to consider swapping out the entire pump for a modified Eheim 1260 needle wheel pump instead. This is a very expensive upgrade but I'm hoping the impellers will last longer.

Replaced Kalkwasser Mixer Step Motor, Now on Shutoff Relay.
The step motor which mixed my kalkwasser operated at a low 8 RPMs to keep the lower water column saturated but upper column produced clear kalkwasser which was dripped into the sump. This motor was not on a relay, it ran 24/7 and got pretty hot. I'm assuming it was not designed to be run this way.

I purchased a replacement step motor off e-bay and hard wired it to the top off water bottle relay switch which controls the top off water pump. Now when my 5 gallon water bottle of RO/DI is empty the water float relay will turn off the return pump and the kalkwasser mixer.

Hopefully this will extend the life of the mixer.

Round of water tests shows everything is looking good.
Used all my test kits, and everything looks pretty good:

Temp: 78.5 F
pH: 7.92
Conductivity: 53.8 (35.5 ppt)
ORP: 300 (upward trend)
Calcium: 440 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.5 dKH
Magnesium: 1200 ppm

While the ORP looks low it started out in the low 200's, it is on an upward trend with peaks to around 320.

poor guppies
Another one of the guppies died today, they really do drop off with depressing regularity. Hopefully there isn’t anything that we’re doing wrong, water conditions seem normal, everybody else is fine it’s just the particular ones that has trouble.