Introduction
Maintaing a aquarium is for old men and nerds.
Until my son got his first goldfish to maintain as a responsibility project from school.
It soon ended up that daddy was cleaning the tank and was feeding the goldfish.
From that moment on the love for the aquarium started to grow and my view on people who kept a aquarium as a hobby changed.
Now i have become one of them and probably are one of those old men or nerd that keeps an aquarium. But he, who cares?
Background
A novice on aquariums but a fast learner.
Experimenting with this aquarium now for almost a year and getting ready soon for a larger tank, aquascape style.
Filtration
Good old "Eheim Classic 211 (150)" external filter.
24 hours a day.
Lighting
Easy Led 590.
17 hours light and 7 hours darkness.
Flow
No specific flow equipment besides the Eheim outlet pipe.
Only guppies here atm.
They are strong and easy to maintain.
Perfect for a experimental tank.
None. Keep the shit healthy.
Additives
At this moment i am using the Estimate Index methodoly to create a green and alge-free tank.
Maximum a week
-------------------------------------------
CO2: 25-35ppm
NO3: 20-30ppm
K+: 20-30ppm (often already in the nitrate or fosfate additions)
PO4 : 2,0 ppm
Fe: 0,5-1ppm or more
Micro supplements (e.g. Profito): Just a little more then the advised dose according the what's on the bottle
Makes the following dosing a day:
------------------ ------------------
CO2: 25-35ppm
NO3: 3-5ppm (5ml KNO3 stockoplossing represents 5ppm)
K+: 3-5ppm (often already in the nitrate or fosfate additions)
PO4 : 0,3 ppm (10ml KH2PO4 stockoplossing represents 0.5ppm)
Fe: 0,1 ppm or more
Feeding
"Excellent" guppy food only.
3 to 4 very small doses a day to achieve that the food has been eaten before it can sink to the bottom
Maintenance
Cleaning almost daily the substrate with the "Eheim Quick Vac Pro".
According to the Estimate Index methodology weekly water changes of 50% (30L)
Inspiration & Goals
Goal of this tank is mainly experimenting with all aspects of a freshwater aquarium: CO2, Dosing, Light, etc.
At this moment i am using the Estimate Index methodoly to create a green and alge-free tank.
Along the road of this experiment i buy all kind of Aquascaping stuff.
One's i feel i am experienced enough i'm gonna buy a larger tank and start an Aquascape experiment using all the nice gear i bought before plus new hardscape stuff like stones, Aquasoil etc.
Words of Wisdom
Take your time. If you try to do everything all at ones it will probably fail.
Besides there is nothing nice left todo for tomorrow.
Nature takes time, so let's give it time.
Disasters & Regrets
The first soil i bought was grint with a lot of lime in it.
The tap water in my area does have a rather high PH value(basisch).
Together with the lime stone soil this makes a terrible combination.
How could i now? Every day i am longing to my new tank with Aquasoil :-)
Acknowledgements
Thanks for visiting my site and enjoy your great hobby!