My biotope aquarium
Technique in my aquarium
I have devoted a lot of time to technical solutions and I can say that I am satisfied with the result.
I started from the basic idea of preparing the whole system in such a way as to keep the conditions in the aquarium as stable as possible and so stress-free for organisms - to which I place great emphasis. Personally, I think that exchanging large amounts of water is stressful for all organisms (fish, snails, plants, bacteria, ...) that live in any closed aquarium system. Changing the water is necessary but stressful at the same time. Any changes that occur in the aquarium is desirable to be slow, from chemistry, temperature, nutrient content, time and intensity of lighting and so on.
Water preparation and replacement
The idea was to automate the daily change of a certain amount of water, a specific hardness.
Kind of like this - by mixing osmotic and tap water, a mixture is prepared that has kH-4 and gH-5, because dosing is slow and in small quantities it is not necessary to worry about identical temperature, nor identical pH, as its value regulates CO2 via pH. a controller that responds very quickly. In practice, however, the measured changes in these parameters are practically immeasurable, as the daily amount of new water does not exceed 4% of the aquarium volume. The whole replacement process takes almost 4 hours.
The wastewater drain is integrated in the middle chamber of the filter through the side glass. ( picture 1 )
The
The adjustable elbow of the drain pipe maintains the maximum water level in the aquarium to the last detail.
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The drain is not protected by anything, as there is no danger of any fish entering the filter and at the same time there is no possibility of clogging.
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The drain is led straight into the house sewer. ( Picture 2 )
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Figure 1
Figure 2
Two solenoid valves open the two inlets to the aquarium.
( Picture 4 )
One opens the osmotic water, the other the water supply. Through digital timer settings are very precise quantities (Figure 3) (para OPAn is not greater than 2 dl per day), this difference causes fluctuations in mains pressure.
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The pictures below show my version of the connection of all parts for smooth operation.
Everything works automatically except rinsing the membrane, I do this manually every now and then.
The whole thing is mounted under the kitchen sink and is completely invisible to the naked eye.
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Figure 3
Figure 4
Filtration
The water purification system includes 4 separate units.
1- two three-compartment 50 liter mechanical biological filters, 1500 l / h, (mechanical part 10 dm3 coarse mushrooms), (biological part approx. 30 l volcanic rock, aerobic and partly anaerobic processes)
2- Anaerobic filter, 15 l of volcanic rock
3- Execution of freshwater refuge (combination of thick peat substrate, plant plants and invertebrates)
Lighting and CO2
The concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) in aquarium water is related to the amount of fish, plants, light and also temperature.
1- Fish, invertebrates, bacteria, ... they consume oxygen all the time and release carbon dioxide into the water.
2- Plants consume oxygen and release carbon dioxide at night in the absence of light.
3- Plants consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen during the day in the presence of light.
CO2 is the most common gas in water, found in much higher concentrations than oxygen or nitrogen (70: 2: 1).
CO2 is to blame for the formation of carbonic acid in the water which lowers the pH.
The photo shows a system where CO2 is dissolved in an external reactor, which has a capacity of up to 1000 l of water and is driven by a pump with a flow of 1500 l / h. This ensures full gas efficiency without the slightest loss. In this aquarium, CO2 is not used as a fertilizer for plants, but only for the stability of the pH of the water. (+ - 0.04 pH)
The
In nature, the pH fluctuations are much smaller than at home in our aquariums, because there are other factors that affect the pH, which are simply not present in the aquarium. At night, the pH in the aquarium usually drops, as there is an increased concentration of CO2, after turning on the light, the plants begin to consume it and consequently the pH rises.
To avoid this inconvenience, I installed a CO2 system and connected it to an aquarium water pH controller. ( Picture 5 )
Everything together is nicely hidden in a wooden cabinet and is completely invisible.
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Figure 5
There is 15-18 mg / l of dissolved gas in the water, which is also shown in the attached table of the ratio of pH, kH and CO2, below which is also the formula for the calculation. The value of the dissolved gas in the water is just right for an average planted aquarium with medium-demanding plants, the plants in this aquarium do not need that much CO2, but it is not harmful.
The
The lighting in this biotope aquarium consists of a combination of three different sources.
2 * T5 Narwa HQ BioLight 960 - 54w
6000 K 4075 lm
Ra> 90
placed in the back of the aquarium.
2 * T5 Sylvania Aquastar FHO 54w
10000 K
2800 lm
Ra = 48
placed in the middle part of the aquarium
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1 * Led 6000K 20w, mounted on the front of the aquarium.
Many would say that there is too little light for such an aquarium, it is true, for a classic plant aquarium it is really too little. For the West African biotope, however, this is quite sufficient, both for animals and plants. Both fish and plants are adapted to shaded light, as natural riparian areas mostly lack sunlight due to riparian vegetation, where the sun rarely shines on the water surface. The maximum intensity is in the middle of the day and reaches 0.25w / l (approx. 19 lumens / l), part of the morning and afternoon light power is halved, and morning and evening light reaches barely 0.02w per liter of water.
