Darko's Aquarium

Happy New 2012!

2011-12-28T22:52:00.014+01:00

Well, it's almost there...

Another year is passing by, and this is a perfect moment to summarize things. Finacially, this 2011. was harder then recent years. On the other hand, some good things happend, I guess things are still in some balance. You've probably noticed I was absent from blog this entire year, my aquarium was pushed into second plan due obligations at university, new job and finally to admit, my laziness. Let me summarize the most important events:

Late 2010: Disaster
My aquarium suffered mysterious desease last year and in matter of days all my fish perished. The cause? As you know, I use(d) Spirulina rich food on ocasion those days, all in good faith, and trouble with it are tiny, microscopic leftovers which form a thick Spirogyra clouds in you aquarium in matter of weeks. If you leave them untreated, with good conditions like lighting and food you will come to this stage in matter of days. One day I finally found time and determination to clean that. As it turned out, that was a shock for my fish, since those algae, no matter how harmless and ugly at the same time, acctually had a huge (positive) impact on water chemistry! My fish started vanishing couple of days later, one by one, luckily I had only couple of them since I don't overcroud my tank. I tried to cure early survivors with Furanol, carefully read about correct amount of water I should put in smaller quarantene tank, but 1 tablet for 9 liters was too much. The medication acctualy killed all my Tiger Barbs! What a sad day it was... and a shocking experience when I got home later afternoon to meet disaster. After that time I got 10 Amano Shrimps and up to this day almost all of them are still fine. They are real positive force in any aquarium, they really keep things under control, of course, with my little help.

2011 First Half
The very end of 2010 and early 2011 will be remembered as an episode of my Amano Shrimp breeding trials. As it happend, I had 7-8 males and 2 female shrimp (1 male was lost in the start by a complete mistery), and one female was older and very active. One morning I got up and saw a wierd behaviour of my shrimps. They were jumping and moving like flashes in aquarium (there were no fish inhabitants since disaster, so they were the kings and queens of 130 Liter empire alone). By the time I took my camera, they've stopped. It lasted only a minute or two. Later on, I discovered that was a love game for them, when female releases pheromones and males get crazy :)

So, every 2-3 months my older female was pregnant and I tried to raise little shrimps, read scarce resources on the web, even developed a LED Ring Flash and old lens mod for my camera in order to capture microscopic creatures, but it turned out they require special green food to survive first month. Unfortunately, green phytoplankton culture it is not available here in Serbia, and to import it from United States would cost as high as 100 EUR. Too much for that adventure I'm afraid, so I gave my best with alternative food. I tried egg yolk, yeast, Spirulina food... but after 15 days at most, my population of small Amano Shrimps would perished. After 4th trial I simply gave up :(

2011 Second Half
One day I received a call from my younger cousin asking me for an aquarium advice. It was out of the blue, since I thought he would never be infected by aquarium hobby. Turned out everything began with his father getting small aquarium (around 15 liters) with pump and couple of fishes for just 2 EUR! And so, for couple of months fish survived, but eventually population was down to one. Then his son got an idea to build larger 80 liter aruarium and from there things rolled pretty fast. He had nicer tank in just 8 month in comparison to my almost 3 years old! On the other hand, he likes to overcroud his tanks, in my opinion, having way too much fish for such a small tank. But, good thing is, he cleans it and changes water frequently, so the fish can survive. Anyhow, can you beleive he had 7 Angel fishes at the time with doesen of other, smaller ones!? So, I said to him, listen, in couple of months you will get into trouble, those fish will grow and they will be unhappy. So, he called me after a month and said he wants to give me 3 Scalars and if I was fine with it. After a thought, I said yes, after all, Angel fish was THE REASON to get my aquarium in the first place, but since then I was pushed by friends that 35-37 cm water column is below the recommended limit. No, the oportunity arised, and I had no choice but to help :) At the moment he owns two tanks, one larger 100 Liter is for the Angels.

Back to my place. After a month, one of mine Angel fish got sick and didn't survived, but the others 2 are fine so far. Last month, one got wierd behaviour, pushed into the corner refusing food with pale white colors (it's a tiger Angel kind), so again I got pannicked from that deja vu, immediatelly tranfered her into quarantine, went to store and bought green/blue medication with "icht" in the name as a general cure. Apparently, the fish was simply stressed for some reason (the other Angel was pushing sometimes towards first), but everything was back into normal the very next day.

So, that's the situation in the moment, still no plants in my tank, the tank was "plant-free" for a full year now. Plants require proper conditions and are much harder to keep than fish and shrimps. I had a misfortune with my aquarium lighting which I forgot to mention, so I was developing an idea for a solid-state (so popular word these days...) DIY LED Aquarium lighting. Trouble with white LED's is that the cold white ones look a bit greenish to my eyes in comparison to ordinary white CFL tubes, but that could be simply because I tested only 60-70 5 mm LEDs with 12,000 Candela.

But, that's a story for another time, I wish you all a good 2012 and happy holidays!

The Begining of Disaster

2010-08-31T00:00:00.000+02:00

Algae in aquarium: good or bad neccesary evil?

In this entry I'll try to summarize all the events that occured since my last post related to my aquarium.

Everything begun last October with my obligations at the university. First algae incident (diatoms or Brown Algae) due to low light intensity and initial lack of equlibrium in my aquarium turned out to be only a temporary menace. In the middle of last October I introduced my first fish inhabitants, 7 fish in total during the 3rd week. 6th day was the last one for my Sailfin Pleco (Gibicebs). 10 days after introduction I had another fish desease followed by death in several days (Green Barbus Tetrazona). About the same time I also got first instance of hairy green algae, that I tried to combat ever since. This was all typical and expected for my newly established tank and looking closely at my Aquarium Log (at least I was regularly logging every major change or event), I clearly had something in my aquarium that attacked more sensitive fishes.
One particular problem I was aware of was the fact that I never had enough plants for a start and when I eventually added more I was never saticfied either with available plant species, or with their position, so, I changed that in week after week, trimming, re-arranging, trying to create professionally looking aquarium over night, eventually started adding fertilizer that in the end only favored hairy algae! What a typical begginer's mistakes, and I read so many books before I've got first aquarium. Well, it seems I couldn't resist temptations after all...
Picture 1: The Disaster

So, in spite all the knowledge prior gained, I thought I can go my way, instead of Mother Nature's. I tryed various startegies that only temporarely worked: complete light cut-off for several days, siesta period and drastic food reduction, but algae didn't care.

Plants obviously started loosing battle, so my last chance was CO2 addition. I've built a custom CO2 reactor/diffusor, and plants did respond, alas, so did algae! Eventually I got lazy at aquarium maintenance and week after week I ommited regular water changes, wich eventually reached 4 weeks in a row in between! From January till April this year I switched to 30-50% water change per month. Next 4 months (untill August this year) I virtually hadn't touched aquarium, so it become a complete ALGARIUM insted.

Eventually, I was desperate and forced to try chemical weapon: Copper Sulfate, poisonous thing for shrimp and fish in mild and high doses, but I was cautious with only half-dosage printed on the package. Ofcourse, this was only a temporary solution. Algae still managed to survive.
Picture 2: Syphoning Algae

In August 2010, following a sudden death of one of my 2 Tiger Barbs who were very cute, I finally made time, energy and will to reverse the situation and do it right. Complete vacuuming of algae from the gravel, stones and sides, followed by rapid water changes 3 days in a row resulted in a pretty clean aquarium. I was acctually amazed how easy this job was, since algae after many months now formed a tick biofilm. They became tightly inter-connected, thus very easy to clean. Complete vaccuming was done in under 10 minutes!
Picture 3: Syphoning Algae

Alas, this was only the begining of new things to come. Algae was a pretty disturbing sight for many months in my room for myself (eventually get used to) and to my friends and family visitors. But, they were virtually a heaven to my fish inhabitants, since algae drained all the poisons from the water and kept it extremely clean! Biofilm acted as a HUGE biological filter, where my actuall bio-mechanical filter couldn't manage. Several times I've tested water parameters in such unpleasent conditions for the eye, and yet everything was p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y fine! This is a miracle of Nature at it's best: a natural way of self-cleaning in the works.
Algae removal (Operation X) took place on August 9, 10 and 11. On the first day only changed 30% water, second day removed half the algae throughout siphoning with 50% water change, and repeated the same on the August 11; followed by immediate introduction of 10 Amano schrimps (Caridina japonica) as perfect algae eaters. The algae removal apparently did a huge shock to my 3 fish survivors (2 Rasbora Heteromorpha and 1 Tiger Barb). First, one Rasbora started behiving strange 6-7 days after the removal. This monday morning I found her stucked between filter and heater swimming upright. My first thought was that she got stucked and i thought that was funny. Didn't took much to release she was sick, eather from a shock due major environmental change last week, or from some bacterial infection.
Picture 4: Rasbora

I immediatelly run into local store with intention of buying small quarantine aquarium with filter and some medicine, but I got a double-sword advice from a salesperson, so I returned empty hands home, hoping it was a shock that Rasbora will survive. Next morning Rasbora was motionless. I went again into store, took 9 liters aquarium, adequate filter and JBL Furanol (5mg Nifurpirinol), set-up everything very quickly: washed quarantine aquarium with KMnO4 and lots of hot water, filled it with water from main aquarium, run the filter, dissolved 1 tablet of Furanol and put 2 only survivors Rasbora nad Tiger Barb in the antibiotic bath. I left to work for another 8 hours and when I got home I had a saddest moment in my life! My two dear little friends were gone, pale, without color, without a sign of life!
Picture 5: 9 Liter Quarantine Aquarium

Did medicine, that supposed to help, acctually killed them!?
Picture 6: Poisone or medicine?

I had only the best intentions, alas, it all turned upside down. Lucky enough, I knew this medicine could be harmfull to Amano shrimps, so I left them intact in main aquarium. Now Amano's are alone active 24/7 cleaning and solving my initial algae problem.

Plan: what next? To introduce huge amount of new plants, and after another week or so small amount of new fish. All in good time and with little luck.

Tribbles and tribulations

2010-08-18T11:15:00.004+02:00

English:

Well, now it's perfectly clear, without a slightest doubt, this year was a pretty troublesome for my aquarium hobby. Too many obligations, too little time, lazyness and lost of interest to a point in conjuction led to my aquarium's current situation. At the moment I am trying to figure out my next moves and in a few days I'll try to summarize all the major events during couple of past months.

Srpski:

Sada je, bez i najmanje sumnje, potpuno jasno da je ova godina bila prepuna problema i prepreki za moj akvarijum. Previše obaveza, premalo vremena, lenjost i gubitak interesovanja zajednički su doprineli do stanja u kome se sada nalazi. U ovom trenutku razvijam strategiju novih poteza koje moram preduzeti i uskoro ću, čim ugrabim malo vremena, sumirati glavne događaje u proteklih nekoliko meseci.

Happy New Year! / Srećna Nova Godina!

2010-01-07T01:08:00.004+01:00

English:
I wish you all a Marry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year 2010. and a good health to your fish, plants and whole aquarium! :)

At the moment, my aquarium is still fighting a battle with green algae invasion, but situation is improving steadily. In few days/weeks I'll probably solve that problem. A bit of too much plant fertilizers and my wish to grow plants faster probably caused this situation, but it's geting under control...

Srpski:
Želim svim posetiocima mog bloga Srećan Božić i Srećnu Novu 2010. godinu, ali i puno zdravlja za vaše vodene stanovnike, ribice, biljke i čitav akvarijum! :)

U ovom trenutku još uvek bijem bitku sa zelenim algama, ali situacija se polako popravlja. Malo sam preterao sa dodavanjem đubriva i to je najverovatnije rezultat invazije algi, ali situacija će se dovesti u red...

DIY Automatic Gravel Vacuum Cleaner

2009-11-29T02:39:00.027+01:00

Automatic. No water change. Simple.

- Problems with algae?
- Yes!
- Regular water changes?
- Yes.
- Overfeeding?
- Of course not! Well, maybe a little bit.
- Gravel cleaning?
- Uhmm, what?
- How often do you vacuum your gravel?
- Am I supose to even do that?

Since I established my early (still growing) setup, I had a problem figuring out how to efficently and more conviniently clean the gravel from food and other debris, independently from regular water changes. No matter how many Plecos, Amano shrimps, Snails, Ancistrus and Siamensis Algae eaters with Plants as their compagnion you may have, you can never replace a good vacuum cleaning device from time to time. Very much like our homes that need regular fresh air and vacuuming.

I did use regular syphoning to do 2 jobs in 1 - while changing water I cleaned as much gravel surface as could, but soon realised that syphon drains water way too fast for such task, so either I had to re-pump portion of water back (slow) or invent something smarter.

Currently, there are many commercial solutions, but to tell you the truth I got a little bit tired testing (by which I mean buying) every possible gadget of this kind just to see it is a complete failure or over-priced product. Very time-consuming and expencive process.

So, it is time for yet another Do-It-Yourself. Inspiration for this device is obvious: SERA Gravel Cleaner which uses an air-pump (not included) to drive dirt above water surface level and gravity (free fall) to pass it through the filtering media and let the clean water return back into aquarium. Technical explanation can be found in physics, under section that covers fluid mechanics. In concept, it is the same principle as EHEIM Automatic Gravel Cleaner, but that model is a bit more advanced (and thus is the price) since it uses battery operated pump integrated into cleaner's body. SERA model is not expensive at all, it really works and if you want to save yourself any trouble, then by all means go ahead and buy it. On the other hand, since this device is essentially so simple, you can save a couple of bucks and spent it elswhere. It would be petty not to try to build it at least.

I used a cheap syphon (2$) I already had. I was very dissapointed at first when I bought it because it was almost usless for gravel syphoning, but later unscrewed few parts and figured it works better without them and can acctually be a very valuable tool with minor tweakings. From the video you can see a detailed process to make automatic gravel cleaner.

At the end, things to consider: wider sucking pipe requires stronger air-pump, but it will give you a wider cleaning area. Also, if you get a strong suction force that overfills your filtering section on the top try lowering air-pump position (e.g. put it down on the floor) or use cheap regulating valve to limit amount of air being pumped. On the other side, watchout for the fish and little organisms like snails and shrimps!

Now you can do your regular gravel maintenance. Happy vacuuming!

Aquarium Software Review

2009-11-22T20:03:00.022+01:00

note: click on pictures to load full-size animated sequence
Since aquarium hobby popularity rises each and every day due to various reasons (web talk, easier knowledge access, equipment availability, lower costs, increasing curiosity etc.) and as new technologies mature in their own way, it is "natural" to witness the inevitable fusion of these two worlds. Today I'll cover various software tools currently available for an average or advanced aquarium hobbyists.

FishKeeper
Something as a courtesy, I'll start my review with FishKeeper, simple example that reminds many of us how software looked one or two decades ago (no flashy graphics and bloated options, just a core industrial functionality). This tool even today has almost everything you'll need to keep track of events in you aquarium. Alas, navigating through these menus is very tiresome and this alone could be the very reason to avoid it. Other then this, it is ok, especially if you consider it's manufacturing date.

AquaLog
AquaLog is somewhat newer tool then a previous example and from the first look that becomes obvious. It is, in a way, just a little better organized Notepad with columns, nothing exciting about it, but it does look simple and descriptive. It has simple reminder of upcomming events (like filter cleaning or water changes), which alerts you at program startup. Considering it's price (free!), can I complain?

Aquarix
Now, Aquarix is a completely different beast then two previous entries. This software is around for many years, and since it survived the influence of time, it has evolved to an extremely versitile tool. It has many advanced options like tracking complete aquarium cost including electricity and water bills with automatic calculation (but, it has a flow I'll describe in a minute), many usefull tools (calculators) and graphical representation of all measured or calculated data. I want one copy, thank you very much!

From the screenshots (click to load animated .gifs) you can see that user has a vast variety of options, including units customisation, behaviour of some functions, up to customizing colours of different parameters. As if nothing is missing!

Since there is a beta trial available, there is no need for an in-depth review, go and try it by yourself. I'll note that calculating power consumption is a bit unrealistic (not so precise), for e.g., heater does not work all the time because it only maintains water temperature (so it is very hard to predict how much power this device acctually spends). But, to stop picking hairs, I'll stop here. Great thing is that several calculators are additionally included in a dedicated sub-menu like CO2 bubble counter, CO2-pH-KH table, water mixing with various temperatures etc. Nothing you cannot find with Google (read more below), but graphical representation with sliders is very convinient in contrast to common fill-in blank fields and formulas! I would like to see more of these tools in the future versions.

One of the greatest features of Aquarix tool is it's own database (demo comes with restricted version) that contains about 1200 most popular fish, plant and invertebrae species. Of course, you can add your own and make it more complete. Still, many pictures in the demo version are missing.

In one word, if you are in a need for a detailed logging tool with extremely detailed data inputs (including fish and equipment cost) then stop looking and try Aquarix. You will be surprised, since hardly there is a competition out there.

Other software:
There are several other programs I simply couldn't review because either there is no trial version or I could not register to download it. AquarioGuest and Aquarien-Planer are these examples.

Of course, I will mention free Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator that helps you mix your own plant fertilizers powders, but I won't review it since it is very well known tool to aquatic community. Also, there are several very interesting web calculator tools here The AquaTools including a 3D aid in your future aquarium design. Also, UK magazine Practical Fishkeeping has a massive range of availabale calculators. Please note, as with any of these calculators, take the results with a grain of salt.

At the end, for many hobbyists simple Notepad or Google/OpenOffice/Excel spreadsheet logging can be more than enough. Point here is, you should not spent too much time editing entries in software while your aquarium needs maintenace or just a relaxing look...

DIY CO2 System

2009-11-18T22:42:00.058+01:00

English: (scroll down for links and video)
CO2 (Carbon dioxide) is the main source of C (Carbon) for aquatic plants, element which is the main building block of all life on Earth. Yes, you can guess it right - it is found in aboundance in natural environment like rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, but it is very rare in our aquariums with non-soil based substrates (due to rich dissolved organic carbon any additional CO2 in soil-based substrates is often unnecessery and according to Diana Walstad soil-based aquariums guru not a wise thing either.)

There are several methods already developed in aquarium hobby durring last few decades, the most obvious one is a direct CO2 gas injection from a compressed container. The most expensive one for an average aquarist, I'm afraid. Other, more "disguised" products in term of both effectiveness and price are CO2 tablets which are only (if any) good for low-light aquariums below 50-60 liters or so (avoid at any cost, which is no cost at all) and deodorant-like mini canisters with compressed CO2 and diffusor kits. Third, more recently developed method for adding carbon is in its "liquid" form (note: this is not liquid CO2 which some reffer to by mistake). More precisely, an organic compound Glutaraldehyde has a property to act as a source of bio-available carbon for most (but not all) aquatic plants. Also, it is a potent chemical that has a negative effect on some algae species. Unfortunatelly, it is not prefered or ideal source of carbon plants are used to in their evolution cycle, so adding carbon in their natural CO2 form is still best. And this will hold the truth for another millenia or so (though, I do not want to underestimate modern science).

So, I come to the point of this writing, Do-It-Yourself CO2 generator. It is the most fun and educational way to learn more about nature and your aquarium, which is the point of this hobby in the first place anyway. I have to admit now that I would be seriously tempted to buy proffessional CO2 system just because of that fascinating and fun part missing in all that "hi tech" mechanics.

Where did I start? Bellow of this writting I gave a list of all usefull articles I found on the interweb in my quest for knowledge about DIY CO2. Sorry, no re-invented hot water in this entry. But I'll describe in short how I did it with few variations (so called "improvements") + including video will be enough, I hope.

In essence, I followed this instructable with a minor variations. Instead of silicone sealing I used plastic glue gun. In my first attempt I did try silicone, but later found this solution more easier, faster and effective to seal plastic. I also plan to try no-sealant version later. As for the recipe ("juice") I used the jello version modified from countless recipes: Mix 0.5 liters of 1-day old tap water (not fresh!), 300 grams of common suggar and 1 tsp. of baking soda. Use mixer to make it compact and dissolve suggar more rapidly, then boil all to 100 degree Celsius (212 Farenheit) with a bag of gelatine powder. Let it cool for a 15-20 minutes then put it in a clean 1.5 liter plastic bottle (you can scale this for bigger bottles, I started with this one). Put the bottle in the fridge and wait for at least 12 hours to allow gelatine to compact. Be patient, trust me. Afterwards, use 0,5 liter of lukewarm water (35-45 C/95-115 F) and mix 1/4-1/2 tsp. of instant yeast (for bread baking) plus one huge tbsp. of suggar. Mix it well and put it in the bottle. Shake it well, close it well and finally deploy the system.

Few notes here: do not use fresh tap water by any means to prepare the mixture, since it is probably rich in chlorine and yeast do not like it (it is a poison for those little guys, think of it the same way as for your fish). I had an idea to add a drop of SERA AquaTan conditioner prior making, but I later pulled off from it and just used one of the pre-filled bottles I use for my home plants. There are various gelatines on the market so you'll have to experiment a bit with this part to find the best. Also, after boiling the jello mixture do not pour it immediatelly into the bottle, since it will difform its shape. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes first. Use only lukewarm water (again, not fresh tap water!) for the yeast mixture, since it will speed up production process.

Final advice: Never block CO2 injection during night with a common regulating valves, this will put your bottle, check valve or silicon hose at a huge pressure test. If you want to disable CO2 injection during the night when plants respirate CO2 and not produce oxygen, simply untwist the cap of a bottle a little just to hear the hiss sound and release the pressure build-up; twist it again first thing in the morning. I come to this idea not just because of the fish own benefit, but since diffusing CO2 in a fashion as presented in the video is a little noisy, it irritaded me at night when I go to sleep. Coincidently, untwisting the cap, releasing the pressure and letting air get in also have a benefit for the yeast: alchohol (ethanol) can evaporate and extend their life (read about aerobic and anaerobic conditions of yeast fermentation in John LeVasseu's document below).

At the end, I connected everything to an existing internal filter which acts as a diffusor (or reactor if you like, still no DIY-Splitting-Atoms here). Due simple laws of physics it is paramount to break huge CO2 bubbles into smaller ones if we want to keep as much CO2 dissolved in water as possible. As you can see from the video, it works really great. There are more good stuff about yeast and DIY CO2 system you can discover if you read some of the links below. Happy and succesifull planting!

Srpski:
CO2 (ugljen dioksid) je glavni izvor C (ugljenika), osnovnog elementa u izgradnji proteina i amino-kiselina (tkiva i organa) svih živih bića na Zemlji (izreka "sve u svemu začin C" ipak ima naučnu pozadinu). CO2 postoji u izobilju u prirodnom okruženju kao što su reke, jezera, mora i okeani, ali je prilično redak u našim akvarijumima baziranih na substratu bez zemlje ukoliko ga na neki način ne dodamo (zemlja kao podloga oslobađa dovoljne količine CO2 u procesu raspadanja organskih materija).

Postoji nekoliko metoda koji su razvijeni u akvaristici poslednjih nekoliko decenija, od kojih je najočigledniji direktno dodavanje CO2 gasa iz kompresovane boce. Na žalost, ovo je i najskuplji način jer zahteva veliko početno ulaganje (150-200 evra minimum). Drugi način su CO2 tablete koje su efikasne samo u slabo osvetljenim akvarijumima malih zapremina do 50-60 litara. Treći, skorije razvijeni metod, je dodavanje ugljenika u njegovoj tečnoj formi kao i svako drugo đubrivo za bilje (napomena: ovo nije tečni CO2 kako ga mnogi pogrešno nazivaju). Konkretno, dodaje se organsko jedinjenje Glutaraldehyde iz koga većina biljaka (mada ne sve) mogu dobiti preko potrebni element. Ova hemikalija ima i propratni nus efekat da u povećanoj dozi ima negativan efekat na pojedine vrste algi (BBA ili končasta). Ipak, ovo nije najprirodniji način snabdevanja bilja koje su tokom svog evolutivnog procesa navikle na CO2, pa je dodavanje ugljenika u njegovoj prirodnoj CO2 formi ipak poželjan metod.

Dakle, "uradi sam" CO2 reaktor poenta je čitave ove priče. Ujedno, ovo je i zanimljiv način da naučimo nešto novo o prirodi i samom akvarijumu, što je uostalom i poenta ovog hobija.

Kako sam započeo projekat? U suštini, pratio sam ova korak-po-korak uputstva, uz izvesne modifikacije, normalno. Na primer, umesto silikona koristio sam plastični pištolj za dihtovanje otvora za crevo koje izlazi iz generatora (prvobitno sam probao silikon, ali mi je potom sinula ideja o topljenoj plastici kao logičnije rešenje). Što se tiče recepta, umesto klasičnog i uobičajenog šećera, kvasca i vode koristio sam žele-varijantu iz prostog razloga jer trenutno nemam puno bilja (to će se u skorije vreme, nadam se, promeniti) i što na ovaj način ekonomičnije iskorišćavam šećer kao pogonsko gorivo. Na primer, ukoliko reakcija stane na pola puta usled prevelike količine etanola, sve što treba da uradim je da zamenim mešavinu kvasca dok nerastvoreni žele (šećer) ostaje na dnu. Takođe, ovakav miks duže traje uz ravnomerniju i sporiju reakciju oslobađanje CO2.

Recept: u pola litre vode sipati 300 gr šećera, 1 kašikicu sode bikarbone i kesicu želatina (CentroProizvod želatin se pokazao kao solidan za ovu količinu). Mikserom umutiti ovu smesu da bi se šećer i želatin brže rastopili i bolje sjedinili, potom staviti na ringlu da proključa. Prohladiti obavezno 15-20 minuta i tek onda naliti u plastičnu flašu. Obavezno sačekati, jer vrela smeša na 100 C lako istu deformiše (ja sam koristio VODA VODA, može bilo koja druga, naravno). Flašu ostaviti u frižideru da odstoji makar 12h (poželjno 24h), dok se žele ne stegne. Potom napraviti smesu pola litre vode (obavezno mlaka, 35-45 C), 1/2 kašikice instant kvasca (opet CentroProizvod) i velike kašike šećera, dobro izmešati, naliti u flašu sa zgusnutim želeom, dobro izmućkati da se ubrza reakcija, zavrnuti čep i pustiti sistem u rad. Potrebno je nekih pola sata da krenu prvi balončići, a narednih 24h da se čitav sistem stabilizuje. Pre povezivanja na akvarijum možete postaviti crevo u čašu vode da biste prekontrolisali da li sve funkcioniše kako treba. Važna napomena: ne koristiti svežu vodu (česmovaču), već isključivo odstojalu 24h za pripremu "goriva" (kao za zalivanje cveća). Kao i ribe, kvasac je osetljiv na hlor. Nosio sam se mišlju da stavim kap AquaTan-a u vodu pre pripreme, ali sam odustao.

Važan savet: Nikada ne zatvarajte dotok CO2 tokom noći uz pomoć protočnih ventila! Ovo će stvoriti enormni pritisak u flaši, što u najboljem slučaju može izbaciti sigurnosni ventil i razliti deo mešavine po sobi. Ako ne želite dodavati CO2 tokom noći, prosto odvrnite čep flaše taman toliko da oslobodite nagomilani pritisak i pustite vazduh. Na ovu ideju došao sam slučajno i to ne samo zbog zdravlja ribica, nego i zbog sebe jer me je rad difuzora tokom noći iritirao. Kao dodatna korist, otvaranjem reaktora tokom noći omogućava da nagomilani etanol ispari čime se stvara zdravija atmosfera za napredovanje kvasca i proizvodnju CO2 narednog dana.

Na videu se može videti kako to sve funkcioniše u praksi, generator sam povezao na usisni deo filter pumpe koji sada igra ulogu difuzora (tzv. CO2 reaktora). Zbog prostog zakona fizike od izuzetne je važnosti izdeliti krupne mehure na što sitnije ukoliko želimo da efikasno rastvorimo i zadržimo veće količine CO2 gasa u vodi. Na linkovima ispod možete pronaći dopunske informacije i iskustva drugih kolega akvarista. Puno sreće u uzgajanju akvarijumskog bilja!

CO2 links (English)
DIY CO2 - John LeVasseu.pdf
DIY CO2 - Tarah Nyberg.ppt
CO2 General - TheKrib.com
DIY CO2 Injection - AquaBotanic.com
DIY CO2 (Jello) - TheGab.org
DIY C02 - PlantedTank.net
DIY CO2 - Hia G. Nguyen
CO2 - Why & How To - PetFish.net

CO2 linkovi (srpski)
DIY CO2 - Akvaristika.org
DIY CO2 - Akvaristika YU
Iskustva CO2 - Aqua-art.org
DIY CO2 Difuzor - Aqua-art.org
Prskanje DIY CO2 - Aqua-art.org
Iskustva sa DIY CO2 - Aqua-art.org

New status / Novo stanje

2009-11-18T07:49:00.023+01:00

English:
In the past few weeks I had a lot of adventure. After the first fish death and boom of diatoms (brown algae), I improved aquarium lightning which gave almost immediate result after 3 days: diatoms had practically withdrawn.

I had another fish loss after 15 days (green Barbus T.) with identical symptoms as the Pleco (denial of food and being idle for several days). This time, I doubt that the culprit was infamous Ammonia (NH3), because about the same time I got another visit from a friendly algae species - this time a sort of hairy algae (probably Staghorn Algae, as a beginner it is very difficult for me to precisely identify them) that took my plant leaves on Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) and especially Eusteralis stellata (which almost collapsed under them!). I also got a few Green Spot algae.

Other residents are good for now, but the situation with the algae was disturbing sight, so I started with intensive water change regime (30-50% per week), siphoning the bottom (has plenty of waste apparently), sieasta lighting regime (10-14h and 16-22h) and lower feeding of my fish, which is expected to contribute to the reduction of algae and raise water quality.

As an experiment and further measure in algae combat (which treatens to become a full featured war as it seems), from 14th to 16th November I introduced a complete light shut-off in hope that it would send a clear message to mr/mrs algae, but they were apparently not affected at all - and still act as a very, very dear uninvited guests in my aquarium...

In the meantime, I started studying DIY fertilizers for plants (KNO3, K2SO4, KCL, KH2PO4 and trace elements) and realized that it is not at all complicated to make those components at home, not to mention financial advantage over the brand products in store.

However, I avoided one extremely important nutrient for aquarium plants from the beginning of this hobby out of ignorance or fear from the unknown: C (Carbon). The easiest way for beginners to supplement it is in the form of liquid carbon (e.g. products like EasyLife EasyCarbo or Seachem Flourish Excel) that are added in small concentrations (because it is a very aggressive chemical) which provide plants with the basic building element in all organic life.

Since liquid carbon is not available at the moment in my local stores and it is not the most practical/economical/healthy solution anyway, I tried with another well-known approach. I shut down air pump/airstone (although I love those bubbles) to passively increase concentration of CO2 (carbon dioxide, from which plants naturally draw the necessary carbon). Lately I've learned that concentration of dissolved CO2 this way can be increased to a 4 ppm at most (also, fish respiration must be taken acount), so this was not very helpfull. For a regular photosynthesis dissolved CO2 must reach a value of at least 15 ppm.

As a last step, I decided to finally try a DIY CO2 reactor with yeast and sugar which I'll describe in my next blog entry.

Srpski:
Proteklih nekoliko nedelja bilo je dosta dogodovština, pa ukratko da ih pomenem. Nakon prvih ribica i buma diatoma (braon algi), unapređeno svetlo dalo je rezultat za svega 3 dana: diatomi su se praktično povukli.

Nakon gubitka Pleco-a usledio je još jedan gubitak nakon 15 dana (zelena Barbus T.) sa identičnim simptomima (odbijanje hrane i mirovanje nekoliko dana). Ovoga puta sumnjam da je krivac Amonijak (NH3), jer upravo tih dana snašla me je i invazija dlakavih algi (končasta ili Staghorn alga, kao počtniku teško mi je da ih precizno identifikujem) koje su se preko noći razrasle na listovima Hrasta (Hygrophila difformis) i posebno Eusteralis stellata (koja je i skoro propala usled istih!). Takođe, na zadnjem staklu pojavilo se i nekoliko zelenih tačkastih algi.

Ostali stanovnici su za sada dobro, ali je situacija sa algama bila uznemiravajući prizor, ne samo zbog vizuelnog izgleda. Krenuo sam sa intenzivnijom izmenom vode (30-50% nedeljno) i sifoniranjem dna (otpada na dnu ima na pretek), siesta sistemom osvetljenja (10-14h i 16-22h) i polu-gladovanjem ribica, što je trebalo da doprinese smanjenju algi i opštem povećanju kvaliteta vode.

Kao eksperiment i dopunsku meru u borbi protiv algi (koja očigledno preti da preraste u pravi rat), od 14.11. do 16.11 sam uveo kompletno odsustvo neonskog osvetljenja u nadi da će se povući, no alge se nisu previše uznemirile zbog toga - i dalje su moji vrlo dragi nepozvani gosti... :)

U međuvremenu, krenuo sam sa studiranjem DIY đubriva za biljke (KNO3, K2SO4, KCL, KH2PO4 i mešavinu mikro elemenata) i shvatio da uopšte nije komplikovano izraditi ih sam u kućnoj radinosti, a o finasijskoj prednosti u odnosu na kupovna da i ne pišem.

Međutim, jedan izuzetno važan hranljivi sastojak za akvarijumsko bilje izbegavao sam od samog početka svog hobija što iz neznanja, što iz straha od nepoznatog: C (ugljenik). Najjednostavniji način za početnike je tečni ugljenik (npr. EasyLife EasyCarbo ili Seachem Flourish Excel) koji se dodaju u malim koncentracijama (jer je u pitanju vrlo agresivan aldehid) i obezbeđuju biljke osnovnim graditeljskim elementom kod svih organskih stvorenja.

Kako EasyCarbo mesecima praktično ne postoji na našem tržištu, a to ionako nije najpraktičniji/najekonomičniji/najzdraviji metod, pokušao sam da pasivnom metodom kompletnim isključivanjem vazdušne pumpe i raspršivača (mada obožavam balončiće) koliko-toliko povećam koncentraciju CO2 (ugljen dioksid, iz koga biljke primarno izvlače neophodni ugljenik). To nije urodilo plodom, jer se koncentracija rastvorenog CO2 na ovaj način može povećati na maksimalno 4 ppm (a treba uzeti u obzir i CO2 koji se oslobađa disanjem riba), a fotosintezu moramo dostići vrednost od barem 15 ppm.

Kao poslednji korak, odlučio sam da se oprobam u DIY CO2 reaktoru sa šećerom i kvascem o kome ću pisati u narednom izdanju.

Good-by Gibby!

2009-10-21T23:05:00.007+02:00

English:
Sad day. Last night, soon after introduction of new fishes, my Gibby was normal as usual, but then started acting very strange. First he layed on his belly and stopped sucking glass and driftwood, and only when I touched him he would again swam to the glass like before, alas, not for long. Today he finally layed on the buttom motionless.

I can only put few theories why this happend. Either he ate too much algae or something bad (his belly was a bit round) or some bacteria overtook his imune system. He had some strange white area on his back, so this could be true. I did partial water change and some cleaning (no food this evening) and will closely observe other fishes next few days.

Srpski:
Tužan dan. Sinoć, ubrzo nakon ubacivanja novih ribica, Gibby se ponašao normalno, ali je nakon par sati počeo da se ponaša vrlo čudno. Okrenuo se na leđa i prestao da usisava alge sa stakla i panja, a tek kada bih ga dodirnuo okrenuo bi se i ponašao normalno, ali ne za dugo. Danas sam ga pronašao nepokrernog na dnu.

Mogu samo pretpostaviti zbog čega se ovo dogodilo. Ili se prejeo algi ili je pojeo nešto loše ili su ga napale neke bakterije kada mu je opao imuni sistem nakon transfera. Imao je nešto čudno belo na leđima iznad glave. Izmenio sam deo vode i malo sredio higijenu akvarijuma (nema hrane večeras) i pomno ću pratiti dalji razvoj događaja.

More Fish / Nove ribice

2009-10-21T09:25:00.005+02:00

English:
Oh, joy! Today I added 7 new fishes. Tetras are already "schooling" and occasionally fighting (hope they'll calm down in few days), while little Ancistrus is already "at work". I like that little guy! Video will explain all.

Srpski:
Radosna vest! Danas sam dodao 7 novih ribica. Tetre već plivaju u jatu, uz povremenu čarku između jedne zelene i jedne tigraste tetre (nadam se da će se smiriti vremenom), dok je malecki Ancistrus već prionuo "na posao". Video će objasniti sve.

1 x Ancistrus sp.
2 x Barbus Tetrazona (Tiger Barb)
2 x Barbus Tetrazona (Green Tiger Barb)
2 x Rasbora Heteromorpha (Harlequin Rasbora)

First Inhabitants / Prvi stanovnici

2009-10-17T14:38:00.004+02:00

English:
After 30 days of cycling I've got my first aquarium inhabitants - brown algae. This was clearly the sign of insufficient lighting in my tank, so I decided to upgrade it as a next step. Since water parameters were in normal range for some time, I also decided it was time to introduce first living organisms.

I got one Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps (Leopard Pleco, Sailfin Pleco) and 3 shrimps. Well... I really was excited about my little "Gibby" and while I was at the store I didn't ask about it's potential size. I simply assumed according to the name that was not "pleco" type of the fish, which I want to omit at any cost since my aquarium is too small (130 Liters / 34 gals). And what a surprise, it seems that this "little" guy can get up to 20 cm (8 inches) in just one year, and if I get lucky (or should I say "lucky") it can grow up to 50 cm! Now I am seriously considering the option to return it and get one of the Ancistrus variety instead as I planned from the start.

By the way, I've also planted few new plants: Eusteralis stellata (Pogostemon stellatus) and Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis) with couple of brown snails (Bladder, Physidae sp.) that arrived with those. I did not removed them for now, but I'll watch them closely since they can become a problem if they multiply excessively. Also, I got some Vallisneria Nana.

For upgraded light added another Sylvania Gro-Lux 18W tube and next week plan to add another AquaStar 18 W tube (totaling 72 W).

Here are some fotos...

Srpski:
Nakon 30 dana cikliranja pristigli su i prvi stanovnici mog akvarijuma: braon alge. Kako je ovo obično znak nedovoljnog osvetljenja, nabavka dodatnih lampi je sledeći logičan korak. Parametri vode su stabilni već neko vreme, odlučio sam da ubacim i prve žive organizme.

Nabavio sam jedan primerak Pterygoplichthys Gibbiceps (Gibicebs) i 3 rakčića "kozice". Dok sam razgledao ribice u radnji, nisam pitao o potencijalnoj veličini "malenog Gibija", već sam pretpostavio da nije reč o još jednoj vrsti plekostomusa, koje po svaku cenu želim da izbegnem zbog veličine akvarijuma (130 L). Nakon pretrage na internetu po dolasku kući čekalo me je iznenađenje... ovaj mališa može narasti čitavih 20 cm za prvih godinu dana, a u toku svog životnog veka i do čitavih 50 cm! Sada ipak razmišljam da ga vratim i nabavim par Ancistrusa koji su znatno primereniji raspoloživom prostoru.

Takođe, posadio sam nekoliko novih biljaka: Eusteralis stellata, Hygrophila difformis (Hrast) i Vallisneria Nana, a s kojima je stigao i par braon puževa (Bladder, Physidae sp.) koje nisam uklonio (za sada), mada ću ih pažljivo pratiti jer mogu biti problematični za biljke kada se namnože.

Nadogradio sam osvetljenje sa još jednom Sylvania Gro-Lux 18 W neonkom, a sledeće nedelje stiže još jedna AquaStar 18 W (ukupno 72 W).

Slede fotke...

Aquarium Moonlight / Mesečina

2009-09-22T09:36:00.048+02:00

English:
Moonlight simulation in aquariums can look pretty astonishing and it is mainly added as a visual effect. According to some research, it can also trigger corals and some fish to spawn, but, to be fair, according to my very experienced friend who is by profession biologist and very devoted freshwater, saltwater and reef aquarist, this fake moonlight effect with couple of LEDs does not have any noticable effect. But never the less, it still looks pretty cool. Well, that counts, too!

Simple moonlight effect can be added to an aquarium using few low-to-moderate brightness blue LEDs (Light Emitting Diode), resistor and a small AC-DC adaptor attached to separate timer. But, even simpler solution is to use factory made Flex LED module with integrated LEDs on a printed circuit board and resistors on a flexible self-adhesive strip. Flex LED strips can be easily shortened into smaller segments to suite your aquarium (the shortest segment is 4.5 cm with 3 LEDs in the model I have used below). In any number of segments we always use the same voltage output (12 Volts DC), which makes it ideal for easy Do-It-Yourself (DIY) aquarium project.

For small and medium home aquariums under no circumstances do not use popular high-power LEDs (few thousands of mili-candela intensity and several Watts in electrical power), since this type of lamps are used to replace regular aquarium lightning, not for moonlight or dawn simulation!

Since there are various types of Flex LED models on the market, your creativity will have to contribute to their variable implementation. I used a simple plastic rod from a drying rack to attach flexible strip to it. Also, you can use plastic circles or any other wave-shaped object. It is also possible to attach strips directly to the aqurium glass, whether from the inner or the outer side. It is really up to you and your taste (or imagination).

Another neat trick you can use thanks to variable DC voltage output from an adaptor is to lower the voltage via switch so you can dynamically adjust your moonlight intensity. No need for cutting segments! More exotic solutions can implement a microcontroller for simulation of moon phases, but as I stated above, all that effort could be a bit pointless.

In my case I used 21 LEDs strip (31.5 cm) which I got from my local electronics shop. They are moderately heated with nominal current supply of 150 mA @ 12 Volts. As you can see from a pictures below, they are very bright with each LED emiting around 200 mC (mili-candela) of light.

Beside Flex LED strip, you will need a cheap AC-DC adaptor for 12 Volts and a timer to program your dawn and moonlight effect. Altought this low-intensity LED light normally does not affect plants and fish population in a negative way, Flex LED with numerous LEDs could be conciderably brighter then few ordinary LEDs, so you should provide a period of complete darkness for a few hours. Below you can see a simple diagram how I did it.

Srpski:
Simulacija mesečine u akvarijumu može izgledati zapanjujuće i uglavnom se postavlja kao vizuelni efekat. Prema nekim istraživanjima, mesečina može doprineti razmnožavanju nekih vrsta riba i korala, ali da budem potpuno iskren, prema mom prijatelju biologu koji je pasionirani slatkovodni, morski i koralni akvarista, ova lažna mesečina sa nekoliko dioda nema gotovo nikakvog uticaja. Ipak, važi da izgleda efektno. I to se računa, zar ne?

Jednostavan efekat mesečine može se postići upotrebom svega nekoliko slabih ili umereno svetlih plavih svetlećih dioda (LED - Light Emitting Diode), redno vezanog otpornika i AC-DC adaptera koji se priključuje na poseban tajmer. Ipak, još jednostavnije rešenje je upotreba Flex LED modula u obliku fleksibilne (savitljive) trake na kojoj je integrisana štampa sa otpornicima i diodama. Flex LED traka se može seći po potrebi na manje segmente (najkraći segment je 4.5 cm sa 3 diode kod modela koji sam ja upotrebio). Bez obzira na broj segmenta, Flex LED se uvek napaja preko napona od 12 volti, što dodatno pojednostavljuje samogradnju.

Za manje i srednje kućne akvarijume nikako ne smemo koristiti popularne "high-power" diode (nekoliko desetina hiljada mili-kandela intenziteta svetla i nekoliko vati električne snage), jer se ove diode koriste kao zamena za regularno osvetljenje u akvarijumu, a ne simulaciju zore i mesečine!

Obzirom da na tržištu postoje različiti Flex LED modeli, vaša kreativnost treba da vam pomogne u njihovoj implementaciji. Ja sam, konkretno, upotrebio plastičnu dršku ofingera na koji sam zalepio fleksibilnu LED traku. Takođe, možete upotrebiti plastične krugove (tacne) ili bilo koju talasastu formu da biste pričvrstili diode i sprečili njihovo kidanje.

Da biste prilagodili intenzitet mesečine, ne morate nužno skraćivati Flex LED traku. Dovoljno je da na AC-DC adapteru smanjite izlazni napon i time ćete već postići slabiji intenzitet uz ravnomernu disperziju svetlosti duž čitavog akvarijuma. Egzotična rešenja mogu sadržati i mikrokontroler sa simulacijom različitih faza meseca, ali kao što sam na početku rekao, sav taj trud može biti nepotreban.

Konkretno, Flex LED za moj akvarijum sam nabavio ovde (može se naručiti pouzećem proizvoljna dužina trake tj. broj segmenata). Pri naponu od 12 volti 21 dioda zahteva 150 mA struje (ili 20 mA po segmentu), a to može zadovoljiti i najmanji AC-DC adapter koji se može uzeti na pijaci. Sa slike ispod se može videti da su vrlo sjajne sa svojih 200 mC (mili-kandela) intenziteta svetlosti po diodi.

Pored Flex LED trake, trebaće vam i tajmer kako biste isprogramirali simulaciju rane zore i mesečine. Iako plavo LED svetlo slabog intenziteta normalno ne ometa ribe i biljke u svom ciklusu, poduža Flex LED traka može sadržati poprilično dioda, pa je potrebno isključiti ovo osvetljenje i obezbediti period potpunog mraka. Ispod je dat raspored osvetljenja u mom slučaju.

New Setup / Nova Postavka

2009-09-21T10:00:00.015+02:00

English:
After several days of preparation, I finally got everything to complete a new setup. I used JBL Florapol as a base substrate, AquaClay as mid-layer and common gravel on the top. I decided to use layer structure, altought I could (or should) mix some Florapol with AquaClay at the bottom. Also, I got an advice from a friend to put some tiny amount of quality humus in AquaClay layer to lower the pH level, but since too many complications lately I decided to proceed without this time. If needed, I can easily introduce some humus as part of my filter media.

Srpski:
Nakon nekoliko dana priprema, konačno sam nabavio sve za novu postavku. Koristio sam JBL Florapol kao osnovu, AquaClay kao srednji sloj i obični šljunak na vrhu. Odlučio sam se za slojevitu strukturu, mada sam prema uputstvu trebao da izmešam deo Florapol-a sa AquaClay-om u sredini. Takođe, dobio sam savet od prijatelja da bi valjalo posuti malo kvalitetnog humusa u sloju sa AquaClay-om radi snižavanja pH (zakiseljavanje sredine), ali usled previše komplikacija u poslednje vreme odlučio sam da ovoga puta idem sa prostijom postavkom. Ukoliko kasnije bude potrebe, postaviću vrećicu humusa u sklopu filtera.

STEP 1

* First I moved aquarium into bathroom, put it in the tub and washed inner side with KMnO4 solution (Potassium Permanganate). Afterwards I showered it with hot and cold water

* Prvo sam premestio akvarijum u kadu kupatila i isprao unutrašnje zidove rastvorom KMnO4 (Kalijum Permenganat). Nakon toga sam ga detaljno istuširao toplom i hladnom vodom

STEP 2

* Second step was adding JBL Florapol at the bottom. I decided to put it as a base layer because Florapol clay has tendency to congeal over time and I want to prevent AquaClay clogging.

* Drugi korak je bio postavljanje JBL Florapol-a na dnu. Odlučio sam da Florapol postavim na dnu iz razloga što se glina tokom vremena steže i može zapušiti AquaClay

STEP 3

* Third step was adding plastic net to prevent Florapol from raising up

* Treći sloj je plastična mreža (za komarce) koja sprečava podizanje Florapola i zamućivanje vode

STEP 4

* Fourth step was AquaClay which I previously rinsed in hot and cold water sequentially. I advice you to rinse it to remove fine red dust particles and to make AquaClay absorb water more easily. According to manufacturer I should put around 15 liters of AquaClay, but that was a bit too much for me, so I put only 5 liters (around 2 cm)

* Potom sam postavio AquaClay koju sam prethodno isprao redom u toploj i hladnoj vodi. Savetujem vam da obavezno isperete AquaClay kako bi uklonili finu crvenu prašinu i postigli brže potapanje u vodi. Po preporuci proizvođača za moj akvarijum bi trebalo oko 15 litara podloge, ali to mi je ipak bilo previše na uštrb litraže vode pa sam postavio svega 5 litara (oko 2 cm)

STEP 5

* Another layer of plastic net to prevent AquaClay accidental resurfacing
* Novi sloj mreže koja sprečava isplivavanje AquaClay-a

STEP 6

* 20 Kg of common gravel with 3-5 mm granulation
* 20 Kg šljunka granulacije 3-5 mm

STEP 7

* Finally some rocks, driftwood (previously cured in water) and tap water treated with SERA AquaTan

* Konačno kamenje, panj (prethodno prokuvani) i voda tretirana SERA AquaTan kondicionerom

STEP 8

* After 2 days water temperature was stabilized so I returned Cabomba Caroliniana and Echinodorus plants

* Nakon 2 dana temperatura vode se stabilizovala pa sam vratio Cabomba Caroliniana i Echinodorus-e

STEP 9

* Next few days I'll add some new plants. This is my new setup at night with moonlight effect turned on (I'll describe this DIY project in my next blog entry)

* Narednih dana dodaću još neke biljke. Ovo je igled trenutne postavke noću sa efektom mesečine (o kojoj ću pisati u narednom izdanju)

AquaClay

2009-09-13T22:00:00.039+02:00

English:
Part of the puzzle for my new aquarium setting is completed. I've acquired australian AquaClay substrate which is very popular in the world. AquaClay in Europe is mainly imported from Germany, where it's produced under a license.

First thing a good substrate absolutely must provide is a good water flow (e.g. must not be too dense) and good oxigenation. Second thing, it has to be rich in micro and macro elements if you plan to be succesfull in plant keeping, which in turn will provide more natural and healthier environment for your fish. AquaClay seems to acomplish all of this tasks pretty effectively.

If we look at the main chemical composition of AquaClay, at a first glance we can see that there is no some special "component X" in this substrate.

AquaClay Ground chemical composition:

- SiO2 (Silicon dioxide) .............. 56 %
- Al2O3 (Aliminum oxide) ........... 19 %
- Fe2O3 (Iron (III) oxide) ............ 14 %
- CaO (Calcium oxide) ................ 2 %
- Chloride ......................... < 0.05 %
- Soluble Acid Sulphate .......... < 0.20 %
- Total Sulphur ................... < 0.40 %

SiO2 (silicon dioxide) is well known to all aquarists, it is basically sand or fine gravel, and is the main component of glass. Other components such as aluminum, calcium and iron oxides are there as supplements to alter structure and melting point of SiO2. Iron, for example, is an extremely important element for plants, and it's supplied in a form that isn't freely available to algae. What makes AquaClay so special is a production process that achieves a high CEC (CEC = Cation Exchange Capacity), parameter that shows us how a substrate can bind to itself other molecules or simply "nutrients" in translation to average Joe. Common clay, such as JBL Florapol, has a micro and macro elements, but has a relatively low CEC compared to AquaClay. High porosity, which is achieved by optimal grain size and baking at 1200° Celsius enables the smooth circulation of water through the substrate, free exchange of nutrients (and toxins), development of beneficial bacteria in the surface (for filtration and decomposition of ammonia and other harmful substances), prevents the decay of plant roots, etc.

However, AquaClay inherently possesses one trait that is a direct consequence of its physical structure (high porosity), which means that AquaClay substrate can float in water, at least in first couple of weeks in aquarium. This means that if you have some lively fish in aquarium that like to dig your substrate, AquaClay could easily surface. The solution to this problem is very simple: when you put AquaClay substrate (usually as a base substrate), put a fine plastic net over that layer, next you should put some clay and peat or other substrate, then again fine net as a security precaution, and finally few inches of some nice decorative pebbles. Another trick to try in order to AquaClay more quickly absorb water is to put it in a very hot water and immidiatelly afterwards place it in cold water.

This would be the story about AquaClay, my new substrate for aquarium. In the next few days I will prepare the other ingredients and proceed to the next stage...

Srpski:
Deo slagalice za novu-staru postavku je popunjen. Nabavio sam australijsku podlogu AquaClay koja je u svetu, a i kod nas koji znaju, izuzetno popularna. AquaClay se na našim prostorima uglavnom uvozi iz Nemačke, gde se proizvodi po licenci.

Prva stvar koju dobra podloga mora apsolutno ispuniti je dobra cirkulacija vode (drugim rečima, ne sme biti previše nabijena) i dobro snabdevanje kiseonikom. Dalje, mora biti bogata mikro i makro elementima ukoliko želimo biti uspešni u gajenju podvodnog bilja, koje će nam za uzvrat stvoriti prirodniji i zdraviji ambijent za ribice. AquaClay izgleda ispunjava sve ove zahteve prilično efikasno.

Ukoliko pogledamo osnovni sastav AquaClay-a, na prvi pogled videćemo da ova podloga i nije ništa specijalno.

AquaClay Ground hemijski sastav:

- SiO2 (Silicon dioxide) .............. 56 %
- Al2O3 (Aliminum oxide) ........... 19 %
- Fe2O3 (Iron (III) oxide) ............ 14 %
- CaO (Calcium oxide) ................ 2 %
- Chloride ......................... < 0.05 %
- Soluble Acid Sulphate ......... < 0.20 %
- Total Sulphur .................. < 0.40 %

Nema tajne hemijske komponente "X" koja je ključ njenog uspeha na tržištu. SiO2 (Silicijum dioksid) je dobro poznat svim akvaristima, predstavlja u osnovi pesak ili fini šljunak, a i osnovna je komponenta stakla. Ostale komponente poput aluminijum, kalcijum i gvožde oksida su tu kao dopunske komponente koje menjaju strukturu i tačku topljenja SiO2. Gvožđe je, na primer, izuzetno važan element za prehranu bilja, a nalazi se u formi koja nije slobodno dostupna algama. Ono što AquaClay čini tako posebnim jeste proces proizvodnje kojim se postiže visok CEC (CEC = Cation Exchange Capacity), parametar koji nam pokazuje koliko neka podloga može za sebe vezivati ili otpuštati druge molekule tj. "hranljive materije" u prevodu za nas obične smrtnike. Obična glina, kao što je JBL Florapol, poseduje hranljive mikro i makro elemente, ali ima relativno nizak CEC u poređenju sa AquaClay-om. Tu ova podloga upravo stupa na snagu. Visoka poroznost zrna koja se postiže optimalnom veličinom i pečenjem na 1200° C omogućava neometanu cirkulaciju vode kroz podlogu, razmenu hranljivih materija (i otrova) kroz čitav ekosistem u akvarijumu što doprinosi napredovanju bilja, razvoj korisnih bakterija u podlozi (koje obavljaju filtraciju i razgradnju amonijaka i drugih štetnih materija), sprečava truljenje korenja kod bilja itd.

Ipak, AquaClay inherentno poseduje jednu osobinu koja je direktno posledica njegove fizičke građe (visoka poroznost), a to je činjenica da je zrno AquaClay-a pozitivno plovno. To znači da vam se lako može desiti da ukoliko imate neke živahnije ribe u akvarijumu koje vole da rovare po dnu, iskopaju sloj šljunka i deo AquaClay-a ispliva na površinu. Naravno, vremenom AquaClay će se "napiti" vode i ostati prizemljen, ali u početku to mnogima može zadavati glavobolje, posebno kod sadnje bilja sa plitkim korenom ili bez korena. Rešenje ovog problema je vrlo prosto: kada ređamo AquaClay, preko njega stavimo plastičnu mrežu za komarce, preko toga slojeve gline, treseta ili neke druge podloge, a nakon toga opet novu mrežu i preko toga sloj ukrasnog šljunka. Još jedan trik da AquaClay brže upije vodu je da ga pre postavljanja u akvarijum isperemo vrelom vodom, a potom odmah postavimo i naspemo hladnu vodu.

To bi bila pričica o AquaClay-u. Narednih dana ću pripremiti i ostale komponente i krećem sa novom postavkom...

Aquarium Glass Crack (Epilog)

2009-09-09T12:00:00.003+02:00

English:
Exciting days. At the end, this was not a crack in the glass at all, it was just a little deeper scratch - that's all! With a laugh, owner of the shop from which I bought aquarium (check earlier blogs), enterd my home and immediatelly through the closed top lid said this. With few moves of his fingers, scratch was almost gone! I was in shock again... I dismentled everything for the second time for nothing? Oh, the life goes on, I guess. Good thing in this bumpy episode is that I found a good fellow aquarist who will give me a great plant substrate that is not normally availabale in my local stores.

Srpski:
Kakvi dani. Na kraju, ovo uopšte i nije bila pukotina na staklu, u pitanju je samo malo dublja ogrebotina - to je sve! Sa osmehom na licu, vlasnik od koga sam kupio akvarijum (pogledati ranije blogove) došao je kod mene i kroz zatvoreni poklopac akvarijuma odmah konstatovao kvar. Sa nekoliko pokreta njegove ruke, ogrebotina je skoro nestala! Bio sam ponovo u šoku... Rasformirao sam i ovaj setap (po drugi put za nepunih mesec dana) ni zbog čega? Život ide dalje. Dobra stvar u čitavoj zavrzlami je da sam konačno pronašao dobar substrat za bilje od prijatelja akvariste koja inače nije dostupna u našim radnjama.

Aquarium Glass Crack / Pukotina na staklu

2009-09-07T22:00:00.004+02:00

English:
Sad day for my aquarium. Today I conducted regular maintenance with 10-15% water change and some inner glass cleaning with sponge, when I noticed 3 cm long vertical glass fracture on the right corner glass at the top. I was shocked! Aquarium was carrefully brought to my home just over a month ago, it was in fine shape apparently, it was finally cycling and Cabomba Caroliniana was really enjoing its new home. I was planning to introduce first fish inhabitant sometime next week. Unfortunately, that must be postponed untill I resolve this problem with the shop owner where I purchased aquarium...

Srpski:
Tužan dan za moj akvarijum. Danas sam sproveo regularno održavanje u vidu zamene 10-15% vode i čišćenje zaprljanih unutrašnjih delova stakla, kada sam primetio pukotinu od 3 cm na desnoj zasečenoj ivici pri vrhu. Bio sam u šoku! Akvarijum je pažljivo prenet od radnje do kuće pre nešto više od mesec dana, bio je u dobrom stanju na prvi pogled, do danas je uredno cikliran i Cabomba Caroliniana je zaista uživala u svom novom domu. Planirao sam da krajem sledeće nedelje stavim prvu ribicu. Nažalost, sve sada moram da odložim dok ne razrešim nastalu situaciju sa vlasnikom radnje u kojoj sam ga uzeo...

JBL Florapol Substrate

2009-09-01T01:38:00.032+02:00

English:
I do not know how I came to this idea, especially after the experience with the soil as a base substrate, but it tickled my conscience because of the lack of nutritious substrate for plants. Looking at photos I've made with my mobile phone during the last visit to the local aqua shop, I spotted a product that did not belong to liquid and solid fertilizer group I was focused then: JBL Florapol.

Price for this substrate was extremely low, which was just an additional plus. I researched the internet about some of the experiences (the Aquatic Plant Central and Aquatic Quotient, and on some local forums) and realized that this product is probably good. Of course, there are pro aquarists who are not so impresed with it (for e.g. SeaChem Fluorite is more advanced substrate), but to cut a long story short, I decided to try it.

AquaBasis vs Florapol
According to the official statement of the manufacturer I got from an email communication with JBL representative, AquaBasis Plus is used in the new tank if we didn't plan any other substrate at the bottom (eg, gravel with fine granulation or similar), while Florapol is used when we wish to mix it with a base substrate of our choice. Florapol is a sort of clay rich in minerals and other nutrients necessary for plant growth, and has the ability of re-absorbing and releasing nutrients as needed. AquaBasis Plus is nothing but Florapol mixed with another substrate. However, in both cases we should put thicker 4-6 cm layer of gravel with larger granulation (2-3 mm) to prevent water clouding. Both substrates are rich in chelated Iron (Fe), which means that it is in a chemically bonded form not available to algae, but readily availabale to plant roots via enzyme reactions.

Procedure:
Since I already have completed aquarium setup that was cycling for some time, I naturally did not have intention to go from the start again. I simply took out this procedure to remove water, reallocate gravel at the buttom and put Florapol as a base substrate:

1) I took a package of Florapol (700 grams) which is sufficient for aquariums of 100-200 liters in volume

2) I pumped out old water from the aquarium, took out all the plants and ornaments (driftwood and rocks)

3) Then I shifted all the gravel to the left pile and poured half the content of Florapol bag down to the bottom (electrical pump with hose of course failed to remove a small amount of water) which immediatelly created big milky/brownish cloudiness similar to one I saw with the soil, but much finer at touch. I've become slightly desperate, because I thought that this muddy water would not settle down for the next few weeks. As it turned out, my concern was not in order.

4) After finishing the left side of the aquarium base, I repeated the whole procedure for the right half

5) While ornaments (driftwood, rocks) and plants were still outside, I ran a couple of water changes filling the aquarium up to 1/3 volume, wiggle the upper layers of gravel to "rinse" it and create as more cloudiness as I could so I could pump the dirt at upper gravel layer out. After the third time of water change I planted herbs and returned dritwood, rocks, filter and heater and again filled whole aquarium with fresh water. I added SERA AquaTan conditioner, 10 ml Tetra PlantaMin liquid fertilizer, inserted 7 JBL clay fertilizer balls (as a boost to Florapol) and plugged entire system with maximum aeration. The water was crystal clear like just few hours earlier before I started the whole procedure. By the way, I also planted several new stalks of Cabomba Caroliniana.

Behold, the procedure is completed in 3 hours. I did not mixed Florapol with part of the top gravel as recommended in the manual, instead I've spread it directly on the bottom. Plants will have to find the way. They always do.

Of course, Florapol alone is not enough, especially for plants that feed themselfs via water colum (e.g. absorbing nutrients directly through their tiny leaves), so liquid fertilazires are still required to maintain healthy growth.

Srpski:
Ni sam ne znam kako sam došao na ovu ideju, posebno nakon iskustva sa zemljom kao podlogom, ali uhvatila me je griža savesti zbog odsustva hranljive podloge za bilje. Listajući fotke koje sam načinio mobilnim telefonom prilikom poslednje posete lokalnoj prodavnici primetio sam jedan proizvod koji nije pripadao klasičnim tečnim i čvrstim fertilizerima: JBL Florapol.

Cena za ovu podlogu je bila izuzetno niska, što je bio samo dodatni plus. Istražio sam internet o nekim iskustvima (na Aquatic Plant Central i Aquatic Quotient, kao i na nekim domaćim forumima) i shvatio da proizvod nije loš. Naravno, ima i profesionalnih akvarista koji nisu preterano oduševljeni ovom podlogom u odnosu na neke konkurente (npr. SeaChem Fluorite), ali da skratim priču, odlučio sam da ga probam.

AquaBasis vs Florapol
Prema zvaničnom stavu proizvođača, AquaBasis Plus se koristi kada u akvarijumu nemamo ili ne planiramo nikakvu drugu podlogu na dnu (npr. šljunak fine granulacije ili nešto drugo), dok se Florapol koristi kada u akvarijumu koristimo podlogu prema sopstvenom izboru (laterit, fruge komercijalne podloge i slično). Florapol je praktično vrsta gline (clay) bogata mineralima i drugim hranljivim materijama neophodnim za rast bilja, a ima i sposobnost njihove re-absorpcije i otpuštanja prema potrebi. AquaBasis Plus nije ništa drugo nego Florapol izmešan sa drugim substratom. Bez obzira na izbor, u oba slučaja treba staviti i deblji sloj šljunka krupnije granulacije (2-3 mm) kako bi se sprečilo zamućivanje vode usled aktivnosti na površini. Obe podloge su veoma bogate hemijski vezanim gvožđem (Fe), što u prevodu znači da nije dostupno algama, ali je spremno za absorpciju bilja putem enzimskih reakcija u predelu korena.

Procedura:

Kako sam već imao kompletiranu postavku koja je ciklirala nekoliko dana, prirodno nisam imao volje da sve ponovo rasturam i krećem ispočetka. Zbog toga sam primenio ovu proceduru kojom sam ispumpao vodu i premeštao deo šljunka sa jedne na drugu stranu i postavljao Florapol kao osnovu:

1) Uzeo sam pakovanje Florapola od 700 grama što je dovoljno za akvarijume od 100 do 200 litara.

2) U rekordnom roku sam ispumpao vodu iz akvarijuma, izvadio bilje i ornamente (panj i kamenje)

3) Prebacio sam sav šljunak na levu polovinu akvarijuma na gomilu, postavio 1/2 sadržaja vrećice koji je formirao mulj (pumpa naravno nije uspela da izbaci manju zaostalu količinu vode) sličan onom koji je načinila zemlja, ali dosta finiji na dodir. Već sam postao blago očajan, jer sam mislio da će se voda mutiti narednih nekoliko nedelja zbog toga, ali kako se kasnije ispostavilo, brigi nije bilo mesta.

4) Potom sam zatrpao levu polovinu šljunkom, ponovio postupak za desnu polovinu akvarijuma

5) Dok su ornamenti (panj i kamenje) i bilje još uvek stajali napolju, izmenio sam nekoliko voda punjenjem akvarijuma do 1/3 zapremine, mrdanjem gornjih slojeva šljunka dlanom kako bih ga isprao i stvorio što veći mulj koji bi potom ispumpao. Nakon trećeg puta zasadio sam bilje, vratio panj, filter i grejač i dopunio akvarijum svežom vodom. Dodao sam SERA AquaTan, 10 ml Tetra tečnog fertilizera i uključio čitav sistem uz maksimalnu aeraciju. Voda je bila kristalno čista kao i pre svega 3 sata pre nego što sam dodao glinu. Usput, zasadio sam i nekoliko novih stabljika Cabomba Caroliniana-e.

Eto, procedura je obavljena. Nisam mešao Florapol sa delom šljunka, kao što se savetuje u uputstvu, već sam ga direktno postavio na samo dno. Bilje će već pronaći put. Uvek ga pronađe.

Naravno, Florapol nije dovoljan za biljke koje se prevashodno hrane putem vodene kolone (tj. bilje koje upija hranljive materije prvenstveno preko svojih tankih listova), tako da se tečna đubriva i dalje moraju povremeno dodavati za uspešan rast.

Plant Fertilizers / Prehrana za biljke

2009-08-28T22:45:00.017+02:00

English:
The situation with plants, unfortunately, is not good. Echinodorus and Cryptocorynes are still holding, but the other two species are struggling for their lives. Entire parts of plants are falling, because their stems obviously became very weak by the time I kept them in quarantine (after I took out the soil and preparing the new setup). Although it is not recommended to add nutrition products in the very beginning when the plants are still adapting to the new environment and very little growth is acctually hapening, I decided to help them with small doses of liquid and solid fertilizers.

Although the selection of brands and products in my local market is not bad, the price of some products are not very cheap when we take into account the amount and frequency of re-aplication. I haven't found smaller 250/500 ml packagings of EasyLife ProFito (liquid fertilizer), so I opted between Sera and Tetra brands. I got Tetra Crypto (tablets for plant roots) and PlantaMin (liquid fertilizer).

For now, I will not apply the dose recommended by the manufacturer, instead I will start with a lower dose (5 tablets halved and placed under the area of plant roots and 10 ml PlantaMin for the entire volume). I expect results...

Srpski:
Situacija sa biljkama, na žalost, nije dobra. Echinodorus-i i Cryptocoryn-i se još uvek drže, ali se druge dve vrste bore za život. Čitavi delovi biljaka opadaju, jer im je stablo očigledno toliko oslabilo za vreme dok sam ih držao u karantinu (nakon što sam izvadio zemlju i pripremao novu postavku). Iako se ne savetuje prehrana preparatima u samom početku kada se biljke još uvek prilagođavaju novoj sredini, odlučio sam im ipak pomognem sa malim dozama tečnih i čvrstih prehrambenih proizvoda.

Iako izbor na našem tržištu nije loš, cena preparata nije baš povoljna kada se uzme u obzir preporuka proizvođača za količinu i učestalost kojom ih treba dodavati. Nisam uspeo da pronađem prikladno pakovanje EasyLife ProFito preparata (tečni fertilizer), pa sam nakon dvoumljenja između Sera i Tetra kompleta, prevagnuo ka ovom poslednjem.

Uzeo sam Tetra Crypto (tablete za prehranu korena bilja) i PlantaMin (tečni fertilizer). Za sada neću primenjivati dozu koju preporučuje proizvođač, već ću krenuti sa manjom dozom (5 tableta prepolovljene i postavljene u pojasu zasađenog bilja i 10 ml PlantaMin preparata na celu zapreminu. Očekujem rezultate...

First Setup / Prva postavka

2009-08-24T22:00:00.014+02:00

English:
For the past few days I slowly purchased the rest of the equipment and decorations for my first setting. After driftwood, I've got few rocks and I took additional 7 kg of quartz pebbles that will replace the previously removed soil and sand.

I also took heater JBL ProTemp S150 (150W), another fluo lamp Sylvania AquaStar (10000 K), 10m PVC hose and Atman AT-303 submersible pump that will help me to more easily facilitate exchange of water. Sylvania AquaStar really shines bright and white-coloured light in contrast to Gro-Lux version which is slightly dimmer and red in colour. I plan to add another 18W AquaStar or Gro-Lux lamp to get to around 0.5W/liter ratio.

Also arrived a few new plants whose names, unfortunately, I did not remembered, but I will try to identify them in upcomming days. Since I obtained the chemical preparation EasyLife NITRO (I also plan to get EasyLife POSPHO and EasyLife ProFito). Although manufacturer SeaChem is far better in my opinion, this products are simply unavailable on my market, and even in West Europe they are difficult to obtain.

For start, I took JBL Novo GranoMix food for fish, and DajanaPET BioFilter tablets for initial start-up cycling in the tank, which are placed directly into the Atman FL-102 filter.

Of course, this is not the look of the final setup, plants are still adapting to a new environment (therefore they should not be immediately nourished with micro and macro elements). Driftwood is now being soaking with water (for this reason a decorative stone is temporarily placed above). Depending on how plants thrive, I'll determine the day when to add first fish resident (the popular "cleaner" pleco presumably). This gradual sequence is extremely important, because it is not desirable to burden the system with large number of fish at the start. Beginners very often make mistakes because of their impatience or ignorance. If the cleaner is fine, soon there will be some room for others.

Srpski:
Prethodnih nekoliko dana postepeno sam nabavljao i ostatak opreme i dekoracije za prvu postavku. Nakon panja, na red je došlo i kamenje, a uzeo sam još i dodatnih 7 kg kvarcnog šljunka koji će nadomestiti prethodno izvađenu zemlju i pesak.

Uzeo sam JBL ProTemp s150 (150W) grejač, još jednu neonku Sylvania AquaStar (10000 Kelvina) sa novim postoljem, zatim 10m PVC creva i Atman AT-303 potapajuću pumpu koja će mi olakšati zamenu vode. Sylvania AquaStar zaista sija prodornim belim svetlom za razliku od Gro-Lux neonke koja sija crvenkasto i nešto prigušenije. Kasnije planiram da dodam još jednu neonku od 18W i doteram osvetljenje na oko 0.5 W/litri.

Stiglo je i par novih biljaka čije nazive, na žalost, nisam upamtio, ali ću pokušati da ih identifikujem narednih dana.

Od hemijskih preparata nabavio sam EasyLife NITRO (a planiram da uzmem i EasyLife POSPHO, kao i EasyLife ProFito). Iako su preparati proizvođača SeaChem znatno bolji, njih jednostavno nema na našem tržištu, a i u zapadnoj evropi se teže nabavljaju. Za početak, uzeo sam JBL Novo GranoMix hranu za ribe, a za početno startovanje ciklusa u akvarijumu DajanaPET BioFilter tablete koje se postavljaju u sam filter.

Naravno, ovo nije izgled finalnog setup-a, biljke se još uvek prilagođavaju (stoga ih ne treba odmah zatrpavati mikro i makro elemntima). Panj se za sada natapa vodom (iz tog razloga je jedan dekorativni kamen privremeno postavljen na isti). U zavisnosti od toga kako biljke napreduju, odrediću i dan kada ću u akvarijum uneti prvu ribicu (popularnog "čistača" po svoj prilici). Ovaj postepeni redosled je izuzetno bitan, jer nije poželjno opteretiti sistem velikom količinom riba u samom startu. Početnici upravo u ovome često greše zbog nestrpljenja ili neznanja. Ukoliko sa čistačem sve bude u redu, biće mesta i za ostale ribe.

Driftwood / Panj

2009-08-18T20:00:00.015+02:00

English
I purchased this beautiful piece in one of my local stores. A piece I originally planned to get was already sold and it looked like a red stump with a few very short thick branches. This one, however, has a lot thinner stature, but equally possess unique beauty. Particularly interesting is the lower circular branch that will act as a bow below which fish can pass :)

Next day I will cure it with washing and boilng for several hours.

Srpski
Nabavio sam ovaj prelep komad u lokalnoj prodavnici. Primerak koji sam prvobitno planirao da uzmem je prodat, a izgledao je poput panja sa par debelih kratkih grana. Ovaj primerak ima dosta "mršaviji" stas, ali jednako odiše posebnom lepotom. Posebno interesantna je donja polukružna grana ispod koje će se provlačiti ribice :)

Narednog dana me čeka priprema panja (prokuvavanje i ispiranje u vodi) i postavljanje u akvarijum.

Filter Atman AT-F102 mod

2009-08-14T14:48:00.030+02:00

English:
In my previous blog entry I mentioned how I was trying to solve the problem with "organic" bloom and how I applied a new type of filter media (a combination of zeolite and activated charcoal, perlon and ceramic rings). In this short edition with a few pictures I want to show how such modification looks.

Atman AT-F102 is an internal submersible filter which consists of an electromagnetic pump (completely casted in plastic), and 2 separated filter sections with two quite coarse sponges. In other words, the filter is not the last word of modern technology, but in normal conditions for small and medium-sized aquariums with proper biological activity it can serve well its purpose.

The lower (input) chamber is vertically splited and in first (frontal) half is filled with perlon behind which are ceramic rings. The upper chamber was first filled with a small amount of perlon (to prevent the passage of coal and zeolite to the output section), then active zeo-carbon, again perlon and factory supplied sponge piece. Note that zeolite is not recommended in freshly setup (cycling) aquariums, since it removes ammonia (NH3) that feeds usefull bacteria thus prolonging the cycling period. Otherwise, it can be a fish saviour if something goes wrong.

Srpski:
U prethodnom postu naveo sam da sam u pokušaju rešavanja problema sa "organskim" bumom primenio nove vrste filter medija (kombinaciju zeolita i aktivnog uglja, perlon vate i keramičkih prstenova). U ovom kratkom izdanju kroz nekoliko slika želim da pokažem kako izgleda dotična modifikacija.

Atman AT-F102 je unutrašnji potapajući filter koji se sastoji iz klasične elektromagnetne pumpe (potpuno zalivena u plastiku, iz koje izlazi samo napojni mrežni kabl), kao i iz 2 sekcije sa dva poprilično šupljikava sunđera. Drugim rečima, filter nije poslednja reč tehnike u domenu filtracije, ali u normalnim uslovima za manje i srednje akvarijume završava posao.

Donja (ulazna) komora je ispunjena perlon vatom duž ulaznih vertikalnih otvora iza kojih susmešteni keramički prstenovi. Gornja komora je prvo ispunjena malom količinom perlon vate (kako bi se sprečio prolazak uglja i zeolita do izlaznog dela), potom aktivnim zeo-ugljem, perlon vatom i ostatkom fabričkog sunđera koji se isporučuje uz filter. Napomenuću da Zeolit nije poželjno koristiti u tek postavljenim akvarijumima jer usporava razvoj korisnih bakterija uklanjanjem amonijaka (NH3) koje ove koriste kao hranu. U drugim situacijama može biti spas po ribe u slučaju nepredviđenih nepogoda.

Lower (input) and upper chambers
Donja (ulazna) i izlazna komora filtera

Deja Vu All Over Again...

2009-08-08T20:00:00.030+02:00

English:
To cut story in short, I lost patient with red water and decided to clean the tank and start all over again. This time - without soil. In order to remedy the situation, I even tryed to upgrade simple Atman FL-102 filter with new filter media (see picture below, details about this modification in next blog entry). Results were not good. From this point, I should also tryed bacteria treatment, but it's late for that anyway. I realised that I made a mistake (listening wrong advice, obviously) in the first place. I should have boiled the soil for couple of hours and left it for 6 weeks in water according to this great article. Also, sand should have been boiled, too.

What I also realised was the fact that soil particles could easily make water cloudy when cleaning the gravel or (re)positioning plants. All this gave me a great experience and I am certanly not regreting anything.

Srpski:
Opet je pala poseta Pet Centru, nabavio sam prvi par Echinodorus-a i nekoliko Cryptocoryne-a. Na žalost, u prodavnici ni jedna biljka nije precizno obeležana, tako da je na osnovu mog upoređivanja sa podacima i slikama iz jedne enciklopedije akvarijskog bilja, najverovatnije reč o Echinodorus parviflorus i Cryptocoryne walteri var. lutea.

Iako me je crvena voda (koja je iz dana u dan postajala praktično sve tamnija tako da se svetlost neonke jedva nazirala) poprilično zabrinula, odlučio sam da dodam prve biljke i vidim da li će se situacija makar malo promeniti na bolje.

Nakon svega dva dana pala je prva žrtva - jedan usamljeni list Cryptocoryne-a se osušio i otpao! Pošto je bio usamljen koren (Cryptocoryne se tako i umnožava - vertikalnim odvajanjem korena sa stabljikama, a u kupljenom busenu bilo ih je više komada), optimistično sam pretpostavio da ga nisam lepo zasadio. Čekao sam reakciju ostalih, koji su u tom trenutku još uvek "izgledali" dobro.

Opet sam posetio aqua shop i odlučio da izmenim deo Atman AT-F102 filtera. Nabavio sam perlon vatu, potom mešavinu aktivnog uglja i zeolita (aktivni hemijski čistači organskih i neorganskih materija koji upijaju i korisne i štetne materije istovremeno), kao i keramičke prstenove. Skratio sam obične sunđere u Atmanovom filteru, a umesto njih po dužini uz pregradu postavio perlon vatu i prstene u prvoj (ulaznoj) komori, a aktivni zeo-ugalj u drugoj. Takođe, uzeo sam i sredstvo za postizanje čiste vode (iako sam znao da moj problem na ovaj način neće biti rešen, bio sam voljan da čak i to probam). Nadao sam se da će ovo popraviti situaciju...
Na žalost, nakon par dana počeo je još jedan list da se suši i otpada, a voda je i dalje bila sumorno crvenkasto-braon boje. To je bio konačni alarm da sa mojim akvarijumom definitivno nešto nije u redu. Potražio sam pomoć u člancima na domaćem forumu i jednom izuzetnom članku (na engleskom) i shvatio da sam napravio ogromnu grešku: poslušao sam savet prodavca da zemlju samo potopim u vodu i ostavim da malo odstoji (pogledati raniji blog).

Umesto ovakvog naivnog postupanja sa zemljom, istu je obavezno trebalo prokuvati, kako bi se amonijak pretvorio u nitrate, a potom je ostaviti natopljenu u vodi nekoliko nedelja (optimalno 6). U tom periodu se iz zemlje oslobađaju organske materije i otrovni gasovi, čime bi se sprečila katastrofa u mom akvarijumu. Sada mi je jasno da su se - umesto u loncu - te reakcije odigrale u mom akvarijumu, što je i sama boja vode i stradanje dela Cryptocoryna oslikala.

Ipak, u ovoj fazi mi zaista nije palo teško da sve povadim iz akvarijuma i uradim stvari korektno iz drugog puta. Akvarijum je imao tek poneku biljku i podlogu, a glavni stanovnici nisu ni bili u planu upravo iz ovakvih razloga.

U sredu, 12/08 sam izbacio svu vodu iz akvarijuma, a narednog dana sam povadio šljunak i zemlju (trudeći se da ih što bolje razdvojim). Dok sam ispirao šljunak i odvajao sitne čestice zemlje (deo po deo), razmišljao sam o komplikacijama koje donosi zemlja. Bio sam spreman da je ovoga puta prokuvam i ostavim da odstoji nekoliko nedelja, ali sam potom shvatio da čak i tada mogu očekivati probleme ove vrste. Drugim rečima - ovaj posao rasturanja polu-fromiranog akvarijuma bi se ponovio. U tom trenutku sam odlučio da za sada odustanem od zemljane podloge i bilje prehranjujem eksternim putem. Dakle, isprao sam kvarcni šljunak koji sam potom objedinio i ostavio da se krčka tokom noći.

U četvrtak 13/08 sam ispravio još jednu grešku koju sam načinio (iz neznanja ili loših saveta) pri prvom formiranju akvarijuma. Umesto običnom vodom, ovoga puta je i neophodno bilo da ga "okupam" u rastvoru hipermangana (Potassium Permanganate, KMnO4) čiji je efekat poput hidrogena (H2O2), dakle oksidacijum dezinfikuje predmete i organske materije.

Akvarijum je sada spreman za novu prvu fazu - postavljanje šljunka i "sadnju" bilja. Nadam se da ću ovoga puta imati više sreće...

Soil Substrate / Zemlja (2)

2009-08-03T00:18:00.005+02:00

English:
In the early morning hours the situation was like this: the soil was obviously releasing nutrients and other organic matter, humic acids and iron (and hence the reddish color that dominates - particularly from red peat). According to the literature, this is normal for now, the situation should stabilize in few weeks, with regular water changes.

During the evening, the situation was unchanged, except from the fact that small soil particles were settled down.

I decided to conduct the first water test with JBL strips (the previous day I added about 20 ml AquaTan-and before I went to sleep). The test must be read after 60 seconds after sinking the test-strip for a period of 1 second (photo was taken several minutes after the test, therefore, it is not quite relevant). The results for NO2 and NO3 were practically zero, GH is a high (I know that water in my country is hard, but did not expected this much!), while the KH was at upper limit. PH is approximately in the middle (7.0-7.5), which is fine.

In the upcoming days I'll look for some plants, and driftwood that will represent a central element of my aquarium.

Srpski:
U prvim jutarnjim časovima situacija je bila ovakva:

Iz zemlje je očigledno krenulo otpuštanje hranljivih materija, humusnih kiselina i gvožđa (otud i crvenkasta boja koja dominira - posebno sumnjam na crveni treset iz Amazone ;). Prema literaturi, ovo je normalna pojava za sada, a stanje bi trebalo da se stabilizuje narednih dana (nedelja) uz redovniju izmenu vode. Tokom večeri, situacija je ostala nepromenjena, osim što su se čestice zemlje sada slegle (ili prečistile preko filtera). Osim boje, voda deluje bistro.

Odlučio sam da sprovedem prvi test (prethodnog dana sam dodao oko 20 ml AquaTan-a pre nego što sam otišao na spavanje). Test se mora očitati posle 60 sekundi nakon potapanja test-trake u trajanju od 1 sekunde (fotografija je uzeta nekoliko minuta nakon testa, nije stoga sasvim merodavna). Rezultati za NO2 i NO3 su praktično na nuli, GH je zabrinjavajuće visok (znam da je naša voda tvrda, ali nisam očekivao baš ovoliko), dok je KH na samoj granici. pH je odprilike na sredini (7.0), što je u redu.

Narednih dana me očekuje odabir biljaka, kao i panja koji će predstavljati centralni element akvarijuma.

New Accessories / Nova oprema

2009-08-02T22:08:00.013+02:00

English:
This time I went to some new stores for another set of accessories. I bought Sylvania Gro-Lux fluo lamp, cheap vacuum siphon, air stone diffuser (I know it is not so healthy, but I like bubbles), air pump valve and 5-in-1 JBL test strips.

Later that evening I filled my tank for the first time. The water was a bit muddy, I hope it will become clear in next few days.

Srpski:
Pronašao sam jeftina ugradna kineska postolja (nosače) za neonke od 250 dinara za standardne T8 18w cevi sa elektronskim starterom, kao i dvostruka za dve neonke od 400 dinara, oba modela bez ugrađenog napojnog kabla za 220V. Skuplje (i bezbednije) varijante sa ugrađenim kućištem, kablom i prekidačem koštaju od 600 dinara na više. Odlučio sam se za jeftiniju "modularnu" varijantu. Naime, nosač modela za jednu neonku je izrađen od metala (model za dve neonke je od plastike) koji je ofarban u metalik plavo (ta boja igra ulogu električnog izolatora - potvrđeno instrumentom), a i krajevi od plastike poseduju proreze sa otvorima u kojima je smeštena elektronika (elektronski starter tj. balast) pa to može predstavljati problem usled kondenzacije koja se javlja unutar haube. Na žalost, nisam o svemu ovome razmišljao ranije, nego sam se rukovodio niskom cenom i lepim izgledom...

Ipak, da je ovaj sistem lak za proširenje - stoji. Jednostavno se na neku letvicu jedno do drugog prišrafi niz ovih postolja i proširi osvetljenje u akvarijumu. Jedna neonka za moj akvarijum je preslabo, akvarijum je nedovoljno osvetljen i boja bilja i riba ne dolazido punog izražaja.

PET CENTAR
Ovo nije moja prva poseta jedinstvenoj robnoj kući na našim prostorima (pa i u regionu), prvi put sam bio upravo u periodu koji opisuje moj INTRO blog, kada sam samo razgledao i razmatrao različite varijante za akvarijume i skoro odlučio da uzmem jedan kineski model od pleksiglasa (60l). Odustao sam od te ideje iz nekoliko razloga (staklo vs. pleksiglas, prednosti i mane itd.).

Da li se asortiman shopa u međuvremenu toliko proširio ili sam ja stekao potrebno znanje, upoznao brendove i naučio u šta da gledam, tek, prijatno sam se iznenadio odmah po ulasku u sekciju za akvaristiku. Počev od sitnica tipa: nekoliko modela toplomera za svačiji džep (još nisam uzeo/odlučio), razdelnici i osigurači za vazdušne pumpe, raspršivači od presovanog peska, liveni, gumeni itd. i sve to po prilično niskim cenama! Grejači svih poznatih brendova (Jewel, TetraTec, SERA, JBL, Atman i još po neki), sredstva i kompleti za čišćenje. Deo sa neonkama - počev od najnovijih T5 generacija (T8 su 16 mm debele, poseduju znatno bolje karakteristike i trajnije su u odnosu na T8 26 mm). Sylvania, Osram, JBL, Tetra itd. Vazdušne pumpe TetraTec, SERA, Elite, Champion. Test-kitovi za proveru ispravnosti vode, power-kanister filteri itd. Naravno, akvarijumi, ribice i bilje... Ipak, dosta toga nedostaje da bi se, makar što se aqua dela tiče, poredili sa svetom. Različite hranljive podloge za bilje, pojedini proizvođači poput SeaChem-a i proizvodi dobro poznatih gore-navedenih firmi jednostavno ne (po)stoje na policama Pet Centra...

Šta sam pazario ovog dana:
- Nosač za T8 18w neonku
- Sylvania Gro-Lux 18w

Vrlo je interesantno da u Pet-Centru prodaju pojedine modele neonki u običnim kartonskim kutijama (od recikliranog papira) po nešto nižim cenama u odnosu na fina pakovanja koja se nalaze na polici do njih. Poredio sam oznake za gore-prikazanu Sylvania-u Gro-Lux i stvarno su identične lampe. Uzeo sam jeftiniju ("OEM"), mada razlika u ceni i nije prevelika (660 dinara je regularno pakovanje). Sada bih vas podsetio da je u radnji gde sam uzeo akvarijum cena za kinesku kopiju "Growth Lux" bila 400 dinara!

- Raspršivač vazduha

- Ventil za kontrolu protoka vazdušne pumpe

- JBL 5-u-1 test kit

- Vacuum Gravel Cleaner

Ovo je bilo veoma rizično testiranje, ali nisam mogao a da ne isprobam neonku i nosač (kao i tajmer koji sam posedovao od ranije). Napomena: tajmer ipak propušta neku struju čak i kada ručno pritisnete OFF (naučio sam ovo na teži način) - stoga, oprez!

Konačno je sve spremno za punjenje vodom!

Čak i uz upotrebu tanjira preko ga sam nežno nalivao vodu iz đezve (u početku), deo vode se ipak zamutio sa sitnim česticama zemlje. Voda je poprimila žuto-zelenkastu nijansu. Ok, slede prvi teški momenti koje treba preživeti :)

Nakon mukotrpnog posla, vazdušnu pumpu sam isključio tokom noći, dok je filter ostavljen da radi...

Soil Substrate / Zemlja

2009-08-01T21:03:00.016+02:00

English:
Today I went to yet another store in search for a good soil. Since I've read Diana Walstad's book 'Ecology of the Planted Aquarium' I decided to try Natural Planted Tank system, in spite the very fact that this substrate is not recommended for beginners like myself.

Anyway, I got 7 kg of solid potting soil and 5 kg of fine sand. According to an advice I got in the store, I left the soil submerged in clean water for a couple of hours and in the meantime completely rinsed the sand. Later I mixed up all together and filled the bottom of the tank. Top layer was covered with 15 kg of quartz pebbles.

Epilog: The result was not good, as you can read further in my upcomming blog entries (here and here), since there was a huge organic bloom in my aquarium. My first plants were diying and ammonium levels were probably very high. I should cure the soil prior putting it in the aquarium (e.g. to boil it in water for an hour) and let it soak in water for 6 weeks so all the ammonia could dissolve. Anyhow, this was at least a good experiment, since I gathered more insight about soil and all the obstacles this substrate could bring in a beginner's aquarium.

Srpski:
Danas sam krenuo u potragu za zemljanom podlogom. Kako sam pročitao knjigu "Ekologija biljnog akvarijuma" (Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad), odlučio sam da isprobam prirodnu postavku. U brojnim literaturama klasična baštenska ili saksijska zemlja se smatraju nepogodnom podlogom za akvarijume jer poseduje ogromne količine organske materije i aditiva nepoznatog sastava koji su nepodobni za podvodni svet. Upravo iz tog razloga mnogi u startu i odustaju od zemlje kao podloge, jer se sve svodi na kupovinu "mačke u džaku" (tj. zemlje u džaku).

Prema savetu koji sam dobio u radnji, treset treba solidno nakvasiti i ostaviti da odstoji nekoliko sati a potom pomešati sa peskom. Odlučujem se za 7 litara zemlje (mala rezerva) i 5 litara peska. Pesak se mora dobro isprati i procediti, za šta sam upotrebio gazu koju sam koristio za ispiranje kvarcnog šljunka.

U međuvremenu započeo sam fazu detaljnog čišćenja akvarijuma. Rasklopio sam haubu, uklonio kičastu pozadinu i krenuo u brisanje običnom vodom (nikako ne smete koristiti hemikalije za staklo i slično). Da ostaju fleke - ostaju, ali to neće biti bitno kada se nalije voda.

Napravio sam mešavinu treseta i peska, a potom postepeno dodavao deo po deo u akvarijum. Podlogu nisam slagao ravno, već sam pravio mala uzvišenja u ćoškovima. Usput, shvatio sam da je vreme da montiram i raspršivač vazduha i pripremim njegovo sakrivanje. Na samom kraju, dvoumio sam se da li da upotrebim i crvenkasti treset za bilje nabavljen u Amazoni. Odlučio sam da samo površinski raspem jednu kesicu (od ukupno 4 koliko sam uzeo). Možda je bilo bolje da sam je u startu izmešao sa druge dve komponente, ali sada je već kasno... Vreme će pokazati.

Epilog: Rezultat nije bio dobar, kao što možete pročitati u sledećim epizodama (ovde i ovde), voda je bila tamno crvena bez izgleda da će se skorije pročistiti, bilje je počelo da umire i sve je ukazivalo na eksploziju amonijaka i drugih organskih materija. Trebao sam prokuvati zemlju i ostaviti je potopljenu u vodi narednih 6 nedelja, kako bi se razgradio amonijak i eliminisao deo organske materije. Ipak, ovo je bio vredan eksperiment iz koga sam uvideo mnoge probleme koje zemlja može doneti početniku i njegovom akvarijumu.

Substrate preparation / Priprema podloge

2009-07-31T20:51:00.007+02:00

English
Quartz gravel was completely washed and then boiled for about an hour. Then it was percolated and left to self-dry.

Srpski
Šljunak je dobro ispran, zatim ostavljen da ključa u vodi oko 1h. Na kraju je proceđen i ostavljen da se suši.

Shopping / Kupovina

2009-07-29T22:00:00.025+02:00

English version
Since this post basically describes my first venture into a local fish store, it won't be much of an interest to read all the borring details. The important thing is that by this time I picked an appropriate 130 liters (34.34 gal) tank for my room and some basic equipment you can see on the pictures below. By the way, several months before I've constructed custom stand from steal profiles and MDF panels (again, custom solution was a living space constrain). Of course, many things were still missing (e.g. heater, lights and so on), but I was cautious and did not wish to rush.

Shopping list:

Aquarium 130l (34.34 gal) net volume [80 x 40 x 50 cm]
Quartz gravel [15 kg]
Peat [ 4 packs ]
Quick Aquarium setup guide
Atman internal filter AT-F102
Atman Champion CX-0078 Air Pump
SERA AquaTan 50 ml
Cleaning magnet
Polypropylene buttom surface
Fish net
Cleaning kit (sponge & rasor)
Air stone

Srpska verzija
Konačno malo slobodnog vremena (vredno se radilo i štedelo prethodnih nedelja). Obzirom da sam u jednoj beogradskoj radnji pre nekoliko meseci već video model akvarijuma koji mi se dopao i prema kojem sam unapred već projektovao i izradio policu (o samoj polici pisaću u nekom narednom izdanju), već sam znao gde ću ga kupiti.

U pitanju je model sa zasečenim prednjim ivicama (kod nas ga pojedini zovu "kotobuki") od 130 litara sa haubom. Od ostale opreme u istoj radnji uzeo sam kvarcni šljunak kao gornju podlogu (15 x 1kg) i 4 pakovanja treseta za bilje. Uzeo sam ovaj treset, iako sam planirao da uzmem i zemlju kao osnovu. Zemlja - za ili protiv - ima dosta rasprava i podeljenih iskustava, posebno za nas početnike, ali sam na osnovu nekih knjiga i zdrave logike ipak odlučio da rizikujem i postavim nju kao osnovu.

Filter-pumpa Atman FL-102, Champion vazdušna pumpa i presovani raspršivač vazduha, obični magnet i set za čišćenje, mrežica za ribice su sitnice koje sam pokupio ovog dana. Iz kupovine sam namerno izostavio lampu, obzirom da su u dotičnoj radnji imali samo jednu vrstu kineskog nosača u kompletu sa običnom T8 18W neonkom od 59 cm koji je koštao 1.000 din! + na tu cenu je trebalo dodati kinesku "akvarističku" lampu od 400 dinara pod imenom "Growth-Lux" (parodija na Sylvania Gro-Lux) ili Sylvania model koji je koštao impozantnih 1.100 dinara! Kako sam pre par nedelja na pijaci video solidnu ponudu jeftine (identične) opreme za neonke (nosači sa oklopom, bez oklopa itd.) po dosta nižim cenama, odluka je bila sasvim opravdana.

Iz kupovine je izostavljen i grejač (u ponudi su bili Atman i SERA modeli), iz prostog razloga jer se nalazimo u sred tropske sezone. Za mesec-dva pašće odluka, po fensi izgledu i dizajnu birao bih TetraTec ili Jewel modele, dok se cenovno i po renomeu SERA nameće kao logičan izbor... ali otom-potom.

Nabavljene stavke:

Akvarijum 130l [80 x 40 x 50 ]
Šljunak [15 x 1 kg]
Treset [ 4 x ]
Priručnik za akvariste
Atman Filter AT-F102
Atman Champion CX-0078 Air Pump
SERA AquaTan sredstvo 50 ml
Magnet
Polipropilenska podloga za akvarijum
Mrežica za ribice
Kit za čiscenje
Raspršivač vazduha

Utisci: Izrada samog akvarijuma je na prvi pogled (laički) odlična, upotrebljen je crni silikon, spojevi su dobro izvedeni, bočne i gornje strane su od stakla 6 mm (pretpostavljam da je dno izrađeno od 8-ice). Gornja hauba je solidna, jedino je nosač centralnih kliznih stakala malo klimav, ali uz pažnju, ništa se loše ne može desiti. Dizajn je vrhunski, iako sam se dvoumio između ovog i modela sa zakrivljenim prednjim staklom (od kojeg sam kasnije odustao, što zbog skoro 40% veće cene, što zbog izobličenja pogleda koje takvo staklo unosi). Posebno mi se dopalo što je uz zadnju desnu ivicu crnim silikonom već montirano crevo za vazdušnu pumpu i raspršivač vazduha, tako da ne moram da se brinem o njegovom prikrivanju.

Obzirom da su prateći elementi kao npr. vazdušna pumpa i kompleti za čišćenje nešto na šta zaista nisam obraćao dovoljno pažnje tokom istraživanja akvaristike kao hobija, njihova kupovina je bila impulsivna i oslanjala se na savet prodavca. Kada bih ponovo kupovao vazdušnu pumpu, uzdržao bih se od ovog kineskog modela i potražio bolja rešenja (italijanskih ili nemačkih proizvođača). Champion model je prilično čujan i proizvodi snažne vibracije kada se drži na otvorenom prostoru (delimično se utišava kada se postavi na nižoj visini uza zid iza akvarijuma -- uz obaveznu montažu zaštitnog ventila protiv slivanja vode niz cev u slučaju nestanka struje), ali to i dalje nije prihatljivo! Srećom, eksperimentom sam utvrdio da je hauba akvarijuma i samo staklo zaista izvanredni izolator, tako da kada vazdušnu pumpu postavim u unutrašnjost, ista postaje apsolutno nečujna. Za sada će služiti (ipak je koštala samo 400 din), a za kasnije ću razmotriti neke bolje modele (SERA, TetraTec, Elite). Moj favorit je TetraTec zbog svog futurističkog dizajna, ali ne i cene...

Dalje, komplet za čišćenje je skup jeftinih sunđera i plastike sa nosačem za žilet vrlo jeftine izrade. Ne sećam se tačne cene (oko ili ispod 300 din), ali i to ću prežaliti. Kompleti renomiranih proizvođača su višestruko skuplji, neusmnjivo su i bolji, ali za sada mi to i nije prioritet.

Intro / Uvod

2009-07-29T10:00:00.025+02:00

English version
Therefore, the matter was [again] rolling late last year when I took upon my long-ago concieved, but never realised wish: owning an aquarium. While I was a kid, fascinated with its colors and beauty, I wished to grow fish of my own at home. Different kind of obstacles prevented me from doing so: absence of any knowledge in the field of forming and maintaining an aquarium; lack of financial, but also more important moral support from my parents; and already limited living space. And, perhaps the following fact many of us simply do not want to admit, but all the great things in life require good will and responsibility from us - something, despite all listed circumstances above, I was not ready for.

Thanks to the internet revolution, which inevitably affected my area, knowledge about what I need and how to properly embark into succesfull fishkeeping made myself confident and more closer to the moment of long-standing dream realisation. I have read several books of foreign and domestic literature "from A to Z" (book and useful links in the special blog edition), studied the ecology of the closed system and realized that it was much more than "beauty and diversity" that originally attracted me.

Of course, it still holds good old saying - the theory and practice are completely different matters. While everything may just look perfect on paper, in practice it is not always so. However, I've made my final decision and after several months of planning sailed into a new adventure...

Srpska verzija
Dakle, stvar se [opet] zakotrljala krajem prošle godine kada sam se ponovo "uhvatio" za svoju davno začetu, a nikad ne ostvarenu želju: posedovanje akvarijuma. Još kao mali, fasciniran njegovom lepotom i šarenilom, poželeo sam da i ja gajim kućne ribice, ali su me nekoliko stvari u tome sprečavale: nikakvo znanje iz oblasti formiranja i održavanja akvarijuma; nedostatak finasijske, ali i moralne podrške od strane roditelja; recimo da je i nedostatak životnog prostora u svemu igrao značajnu ulogu. I možda sledeću činjenicu mnogi ne žele sebi da priznaju, ali za sve velike stvari u životu je neophodna dobra volja i odgovornost sa naše strane - nešto na šta, pored svih navedenih oteževajućih okolnosti iznad, ja nisam bio spreman.

Zahvaljujući informatičkoj revoluciji, koja je neminovno zahvatila i ovdašnje prostore, neophodno znanje o tome šta vam je sve potrebno i kako pravilno zaploviti u vode akvaristike učinile su da, pre svega, otklonim sumnju i strah od čitavog hobija i samu ideju još više približim trenutku realizacije dugogodišnjeg sna. Pročitao sam nekoliko knjiga inostrane i domaće literature "od A do Š" (o knjigama i korisnim linkovima u posebnom izdanju), prostudirao ekologiju zatvorenog sistema i shvatio da je to znatno više od "lepote i šarenila" koje me je prvobitno privuklo.

Naravno, i dalje važi ona dobra stara izreka - teorija je jedno, praksa drugo. I dok sve može izgledati savršeno na papiru, u praksi to nije uvek tako. Doduše, važi i obrnuto. Ipak, prelomio sam i nakon nekoliko meseci planiranja (tzv. visinskih priprema) krenuo u novu avanturu...