Aquarium Fish Hobbyist

aquarium fish hobbyist

Biological filtration is a must. Unless you have an "open" system with continuous flow through of "new" clean seawater, you will be re-circulating your "closed" systems aquatic medium along with livestock wastes and uneaten food. These materials are toxic to your fishes and invertebrates unless expediently converted to less noxious materials and/or filtered out. This is the realm of biological filtration for most of us; circulating system water through a matrix/substrate housing beneficial nutrient-cycling bacteria.

The simplest of these bio-filters are air-dri

As such, they can be made smaller to handle the same bio-load, and are indeed space saving. As submerged media, however, they are wholly dependant on the flow of water to bring food and oxygen to them. In some ways, they compete with livestock (for oxygen) and can contribute deleteriously to water quality if overfed (fast nitrate accumulation). In the event of a power or system failure, this submerged media is vulnerable as it settles and suffocates its tremendous colony of aerobic bacteria. At

Having true unions and flush type valves will allow you to take your pump and/or other gear out of line and inspect it, replace it w/o having to drain your tank, sumps... useful to you? Yes.

About Balancing Water Flows Twixt Uneven Containers:

"Oh, Ill have equal rated pumps just shoot the water from one tank to the other..." Have I heard about flow valves, shut-off switches, magical siphon loops? On yes I have... There are folks who try to "defy gravity" by seeking to pump "just enough" water twixt and tween parts of their system... Alas, these all ultimately fail. Dont rely on a "make-up" siphon to save you

Youll be very glad you did.

Dont lose your mind! Or sense of purpose here in working out the plumbing arrangement for your system. There are indeed "many roads" to Rome and getting the water about for your saltwater set-up. The very best advice (what I would do) is to visit shops, other aquarists, closely examine their rigs and ask them what they might do differently had they to do all over again.

Plumbing and Fitting Size:

There are tables of tubing/plumbing size recommendations per any given run (length) o

After setting up the tank, adding water, testing your gear and allowing it to run for a few days, such live material can be added to it.

"Old" Filter Media:

Another "pre-seeded" possibility is placing filter sponge, ceramic media, carbon, polyester/wool et al. from an up-and-running system in your new set-up. Such media can be easily transported damp from one tank to another. One proviso: Make sure the "donor" system has no r

Reply to tips for aquarium shots?

Photography is a still of life posted a reply:

Id say a dark room, no flash, and a wide aperture. Try using differe.

Gourami Attacking Other Fish
This Gourami owner is discovering that not all Gouramis play well together. Join the discussion and share your thoughts. "Hi I'm new to all this but I was wondering....

African Cichlids in the aquarium

african cichlids

Cyprichromis leptosoma

The most popular African cichlids come from Lake Malawi a.