Driftwood / Panj

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

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