Fishroom Fysics

"Physics" might have been a difficult subject in high school or college. Why do we need this in the fish-keeping? This is using the natural laws of physics to work for you. Yes, work for you - do some tasks for you. Since fishes live in water, these physics-related tips would revolve around water - specifically, water change. Here are four 'concepts' that I find most useful:
1. Gravity. Things from up have to go down.
2. Balanced level. Water balances out to one level. Higher "levels" of water will flow to lower "levels" of water until both sides have the same level.
3. Sealed systems. In a sealed system, water will continuously flow as it becomes one mass.
4. Density. It is easier to suck up air (light things) than water (heavy things). If air gets in your system, it is no longer sealed and flowing stops.
All of them are connected so it is beneficial to see how they work together. The first three concepts are essential in making water flow. The last one is important as a fail-safe. For example, if you forget you were draining a tank, not all of the water will be sucked away and your fish will survive. The following images are simple designs that uses these concepts.

My contraption of hoses, switches and Y-joints. These help create a long sealed system and allow water to travel from one end of the fishroom to the other.

The high end draining water from aquarium. Gravity dictates that things from higher places goes down.

The low end flushing water to a pond. The water level (at the end of the hose) will never reach a balanced level with the water where it's draining from. Thus, water continuously flows.

Overflow with net so fish don't escape.

A smaller example. Water drains from a fry tank to a bucket using an air hose.

The draining end uses an airstone to prevent sucking in fry. The airstone has holes all around. The higher holes will suck air and thus un-seal the system and not all the water will be drained.

The draining end.

The filling end. Gravity, Balanced Level and Sealed Systems.

Rubber strips are useful for wrapping and sealing leaks.

I hope you get some ideas about using physics in your fishroom. There are other applications that I have not explored or discovered yet because what you might need may be different from what I need. Apply your ideas to what you find most useful.

Happy Fish Keeping!
EESDA

Building a Betta Sorority Tank

It's been a long time (very, very, very long time) since I last posted. Only recently, I had the time again to get back into fish keeping. 99% of us don't have the whole day to spend for fish keeping. Time-saving, effort-reducing and productivity-increasing have become the rules of the game. Keeping in line with that, I decided to set up a betta sorority tank again. This was how I have always done it until I became very busy and had very few fish left.

So, what is a betta sorority tank? It is a tank of female bettas. Just google "betta sorority tank", "female betta community tank" and other similar keywords. You'll find article after article about setting one up. For this article, I just want something free-flowing. I'll simply list down my experiences and some points on how I do things.

Tank.
1. I don't use tall aquariums and I always choose horizontally-shaped tanks.
2. Gravel or no gravel, it doesn't really matter.
3. I make sure that there are many different hiding places for the females. These are places where they can retreat and rest between fights. Hiding places I've used are coconut shells, driftwood, pots, clay tiles and live plants. There are other things you can use.
4. I don't use any aeration or filtration for any of my tanks.

Number.
1. For me, the minimum number of females for a sorority is five (5). If it's less than that, keeping them separate is manageable too.
2. I allot 1-2 gallons per female.
3. I haven't read an article yet that says it's alright to add new females to the sorority but I have done so in the past. Yes, there is the fighting but I've seen it mellow down in a few days.

Tankmates. I've had placed different tankmates for my female bettas. These include corydoras, rainbow sharks, guppies, angelfish and even goldfish. The females get out of the way of the bigger fish and ignore the bottom feeders. They do show some aggression to the guppies. The long fins and colorful patterns remind them of other bettas. In my experience, this does some good - the female bettas get distracted and show less aggression to others of its kind.

On breeding. I have taken females out of the sorority to breed them and then put them back afterwards. There is not much fuss with the females. They do remember tankmates but there might be some nipping as a reminder. It is as long as the returning female is in good shape. If not, then she might not be fit enough for the tank.

Feeding. I feed my sorority tank as I would any other tank. I drop the food in two or three places (only one if I'm rushing). Leftovers are cleaned up by the bottom feeders and the snails in the tanks.

That's about it. I just wanted to share. I hope you can find this useful in addition to whatever else you've read in your research.

Happy Fish Keeping!

Tubifex Experiments (Day 13)

Here's the previous one: Day 3.

Well, I've been away on a family vacation. (By the way, if you want some tips about holidays and fishes, here's a post about it) I left my fishes with a relative.

What I forgot to tell you is that I bought a starter culture for my tubifex. I dumped it in the tubs containing gravel from my planted tanks. I never had the chance to take a photo (even now because the camera broke during the trip).

I want home today. I noticed that there are tubifex cocoons. This means that my tubifex are breeding and growing. I've seen a lot of them. But they still don't have the distinct red color (hence the nickname "bloodworms"). They're still a very light brown.

I continue the drip programme and refilling the 100gal tank every morning.

Tubifex Experiments (Day 3)

Here's from Day 2

This day is pretty much nothing.I refilled my 100gal tanks. I will cycle the tubs for at least a week. I also intend to adjust and get used to refilling the tanks everyday.

Sorry, no pictures for today.


Substrate
I am thinking for substrate. I'll use my coarse gravel found in my planted tanks as a base. That is the easiest solution. It is gravel straight from a cycled tank.

So, just wait until I update again!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 2)

Here's a link to Day 1

The pictures here are taken roughly 16 hours after I started my drip test. The big hose is too strong. It drained the tank to my minimum water level even before the 16-hour mark. The small hose is still dripping and I'll wait for the 24-hour mark. But, I think there is a chance that will also be able to drain the water to minimum level. So far, I plan on utilizing the small hose and if needed, adding a clamp to restrict water flow.

Here are some pictures:

The tubs have been filled and overflowing through the handle holes.

tub of small hose

tub of big hose

The effects of draining the 100gal tanks

effect of small hose

effect of big hose

One thing is for certain. The water change for the tub is more than 1; I am guessing around 7-8 times. This is due to the relatively strong drip and the small size of the tubs. I think this will work.

Thanks!
Keep checking!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 1)

I'm testing out how I could culture tubifex worms on my own. I asked around what I need to keep them alive:
1. Oxygen (aeration)
2. Running water (water change)
3. Substrate
4. Food

So, I came up with a no-work (I hope) system to solve #1 and #2. This is using a drip system design. I take water from my tanks to my tubifex. The movement of water solves the aeration problem. The water change is pretty much obvious. The excess water from the tubifex tubs will just overflow to the soil.

Here are some pictures of what I set up

"Sipping" from the big tanks

"Pouring" to the tubs
They've just been set up so the water is still really shallow

I chose two sizes of hoses: smaller (first picture) and bigger (second pictures). I did this for comparing which hose size would be more effective for tubifex.

Fingers crossed. I hope one (and hope more that both) would work. This could help my fish be stronger, healthier and happier.

So, I hope you keep in touch and watch for updates!

Terraphyte tank

Recently, I have been looking on terraphyte tanks. I found this simple one here on the Planted Tank Forum. Simply as they are, terraphyte tanks are simply tanks with plant roots for filtration. I have noticed that my tanks are "naturally" terraphyte tanks.

The plant

This is a millionaire's vine. It fits my set up perfectly. Being outdoor, I can have the vines growing with natural sunlight. The tendrils cling on to the wire, mesh and metal frame of my fish place. It takes root in my tanks and also the soil where I drain my tanks to. The waste water is poisonous to the plants but still nutritious to the plant's roots.

Obviously, it is a vine and it takes roots in water. I just took advantage of it and just let it be. Simplicity is best. Then, I'm planning to slowly convert all my tanks to terraphyte ones by directing the roots of the vine to my tanks.

How Low Can You Go?

At one point in our fish-keeping hobby, we aimed for high-tech and almost completely automated tank while at the same time, housing so many colorful fish of many different species. Maybe, some are still dreaming of it to this point. It is easy to get these ideas of technology and fish-keeping in planted tanks. There is a lighting system, a filtration system, a CO2 diffusion system and of course, fish and plants. There are also some fancy sounding items like rain bar unit, gravel jet, undergravel filter, etc. It is so easy to plan this high end tank with all its high end components. But, it is also easy to go beyond a reasonable budget.

So, let us start trimming down the tank system. How low[-tech] can you go? Remove the rain bar unit, gravel jets, CO2 diffuser and every other fancy apparatus. What's left? All that remains is the lighting system, the filter (or maybe an aerator), gravel (and maybe some decor) the tank, water and the inhabitants. This is considered as the "basic" system. But, how low can you go? Remove the lighting system and also the filtration (or aeration). Using natural light is fine for most hobbyists. However, some would say that taking out the filter might be too much already.

The "below basic" system would include the tank, the water and the fish. The plants and gravel are other components that can be explored. The "Below Basic Tank" (BBT) is maintained like any other more equipped tank. Feed everyday. Water change weekly or on any other schedule the hobbyist desires. Remove algae. Everything is the same. However, there are some adjustments the aquarist must make for a BBT.