One 4 two. A family affair.

[Dabryan]

Son 2: Dad, I want my own aquarium in my room.
Dad: … Say again?
Son 2: Can I have my own aquarium, with fish and plants! In my room. Pleeeeease!!!
Mom: Of course you can. Dad!
Me: Yes darling. Ok Son 2, where shall we put it?
Actually, I wasn’t that hard to persuade. So after some joint, ahum, effort we ended up with this. Ok, so I did most of the hardscape. But junior did almost all the planting by himself. Impressive!

Glueing hardscape.

Short break. Sometimes you just need a popsicle and enjoy your work.

and some more.

Done!

to be continued… 😀

 

[Courtneybst]

I can't wait for my kids to ask for an aquarium and for me to act burdened, but to actually be relishing it! 😅

Looks great!

 

[Dabryan]

@Courtneybst, Thanks! Ahhh… the struggles of being a good and caring parent 😂.
Well, son 3 came running the other day and declared that he also should have his own tank. Maybe he could keep it in the living room…

 

[_Maq_]

Well, my son is 16 already, and today he expressed willingness to assist me with my aquarium chores.
Not because he cares a bit about the hobby, just to help me because he's a good son. Good guy, really, but this hobby is completely beyond him...😞😍

 

[Musicmanryann]

Ok, you win all the internets for the day. So adorawesome! 🤩

 

[Dabryan]

CO2 question.
Does this look ok? Just before lights off.

I suppose the Tropica System Bio might not be the End All-system for controlling CO2 supply. But is this within acceptable range? This is the first time I use co2 and I’m not quite shure of how to read the drop checker.

Also, should I use an Air Stone when the light are off to increase oxygen levels?

NO2 levels still a bit high. #canweaddsomefishtoday?

/D

 

[MichaelJ]

What a great setup! An aquarium is such a great educational tool. Kudos! 👍

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Andy Pierce]

With no animals in the tank you have a lot more flexibility on how high you can go with CO2. It's hard to tell from the picture but from the colour and how transparent the drop checker solution is I'd guess you're a little on the aggressive side of CO2 levels for a tank if you had livestock to factor in, but perhaps not excessively so, maybe in the 40 ppm CO2 range. The usual guidance is 30 ppm CO2 but there seems to be a pretty wide range of CO2 levels where you can have good success. I would just keep on with whatever it is you're doing for now and see how things shake out with time and then adjust gradually from there if needed.

 

[Dabryan]

With no animals in the tank you have a lot more flexibility on how high you can go with CO2. It's hard to tell from the picture but from the colour and how transparent the drop checker solution is I'd guess you're a little on the aggressive side of CO2 levels for a tank if you had livestock to factor in, but perhaps not excessively so, maybe in the 40 ppm CO2 range. The usual guidance is 30 ppm CO2 but there seems to be a pretty wide range of CO2 levels where you can have good success. I would just keep on with whatever it is you're doing for now and see how things shake out with time and then adjust gradually from there if needed.

Thanks!
The drop checker was beyond all doubts yellow tonight. Plants seem to be doing alright so far. The problem is that this is an yeast based system bubbling at about 1,5-2 bubbles/second. And from what I can understand unfortunately there really is no way to controll how much CO2 is produced, or adjust the bubble rate.
Since the rooms main occupant is a curious 6 and a half year old my gut feeling tells me a pressurised system would be a really bad idea.
I was thinking maybe you could put the diffuser closer to the surface. Or am I just having bad luck thinking, again.

/D

 

[plantnoobdude]

Thanks!
The drop checker was beyond all doubts yellow tonight. Plants seem to be doing alright so far. The problem is that this is an yeast based system bubbling at about 1,5-2 bubbles/second. And from what I can understand unfortunately there really is no way to controll how much CO2 is produced, or adjust the bubble rate.
Since the rooms main occupant is a curious 6 and a half year old my gut feeling tells me a pressurised system would be a really bad idea.
I was thinking maybe you could put the diffuser closer to the surface. Or am I just having bad luck thinking, again.

/D

Increase the surface agitation! Either move the filter outlet up so it agitated the surface, Or have an air pump. That'll lower your co2 levels

 

[Dabryan]

Increase the surface agitation!

Of course!
Done!

 

[Dabryan]

6 weeks. Everything seems to be alive so far. slow growth on the background stems. Ludwigia Palustris and Murdannia Keisak. ShouldI tell son #2 to add more fertilizer?

CO2 levels is a bit of a challange though. Tropica Bio system. From what i understand it’s a yeast based system. levels climb really high when i put a refill bag in. Which basically means adding more yeast to some kind of sugar gel. COw levels then slowly drops over the following weeks so until it is time to refill again.
Any ideas how to have a more consistent levels without going the preassurised route.

Flowering bucephalandra.

First inhabitants. Three Endlers. Sex yet unknown.

To be continued