New status / Novo stanje

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(brown algae), I improved aquarium lightning which gave almost immediate result after 3 days: diatoms had practically withdrawn.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.

First Inhabitants / Prvi stanovnici

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...