Green

A green tinge has arrived - algae I presume...

Also very hazy with a white-ish scum on the surface. Probably due to overfeeding. I cut right back on the food, and next day it seems to have helped.

Also changed the fine filter pad as it was full of brown silt, and so slowing down the filter.

Tested the water for Ammonia, and it's up at 0.1 (pale yellow). Hopefully the filter will kick in and sort that out. Only one pinch of food per day in the meantime.

First Fish

It's clear! Now I'm impatient to add some fish. I know It's meant to be running a little while, but no organic load = no filter maturation right?
So next steps:
I tested the pH yesterday: 9ish - too high

The local garden centre has a franchise of Maidenhead Aquatics attached, and is reasonably well kitted out. I bought some ph-down, a bottle of safestart to kickstart the filter, and 6 golden barbs (fairly hardy, fairly cheap!). After the painfully slow process of floating, adding water, with lights out, they seem to be settling in just fine.


Hmm, taking pictures of fish isn't so easy. Better find the SLR...

Day 2

Super-keen, lights on at 8am to check if the tank has cleared.....

Um, no.

A few hours later...



It's a good job I'm happy to take my time on this one! After 24 hours it's improved a lot, but not clear by a long shot. My wife says it's brown, and will match the brown fish I want to get - apparently all the freshwater fish I like are brown :-)

Lynchford Aquatics

We got my new setup from Lynchford Aquatics in North Camp. I think it's a great shop - the best in this area that I've been to. It's not just the great range of kit, and healthy looking fish (both marine and freshwater) but also the staff/owners know their stuff, and are very helpful. I even recognise a couple from the last time I was there (15+years ago)!

New Water, Very Cloudy

Ever since my wife suggested buying me a tropical fish tank for my birthday I've been like an over-excited kid. I haven't had fish for over 15 years, and i'm fit to bursting with suppressed geekiness (I used to work in an aquatics shop).

So after numerous visits to garden centres / aquatics shops and poring over an issue of PFK I am now the proud owner of a Juwel Rekord 800. Choosing a decent tank without a cabinet or strange dimensions seems pretty tough these days. It seems the current trend is for tiny cubes, or massive bowed cabinets. The ads/brochures make the Rekord range look a bit plastik skuare korners, but in reality I think it looks elegant in a 'form-follows-function' kind of way, and is of a good solid construction.

Anyway, I've opted for some plant-friendly substrate with gravel on top. Filling it up was pretty straightforward (pouring into a bowl to avoid mixing substrates), as was setting up the included filter/heater kit. I put in a few plants, the obligatory piece of bogwood, and sat back to admire my handiwork.

It's cloudy. No, it's murky. Brown. But I'm convinced I can just about see a little bit of green through the circulating sediment.