Understanding Planted Aquaria

Upcoming on the RH Fish Tank blog...
Project "Understanding Planted Aquaria" by Dank.

The multi-part Planted Aquaria informative series will cover:
1) Mechanics of a Planted Aquarium
2) Chemistry in a Planted Aquarium
3) The Fishies, Shrimps and Snails
4) The Greens of a Planted Aquarium
5) Aqua-Scaping a Planted Aquarium
6) Maintaining a Planted Aquarium
...and more!

Tune in to this series over the following weeks/months to find out more in order to further understand Planted Aquaria, and ultimately the RH Fish Tank. Hopefully it will enable you to appreciate the RH Fish Tank to a greater extent as you pass it by each day...

Is this a good idea? Should Dank do it? Would you want to read it?
Leave your comments

Filter Changed!

The filter was changed today... albeit only temporarily.

Some of you might have seen someone this morning sitting on an overturned pail in front of the RH Fish Tank in the company of two black-coloured filters and a small puddle of water... that was Dank changing the filter. He took leave from work today (he needed a break, and the RH Fish Tank required a filter change) and spent 3 hours replacing the old Eheim 2217 to a second-hand Jebao 615. The Jebao 615 was kindly donated by Cheng Yewkam. The old Eheim 2217 was beginning to get inefficient due to old age, it's flow rate weakening, thus providing insufficient filtration to the RH Fish Tank. Thus it had to be changed.

The Jebao 615 is intended as a temporary filter, and will be replaced with a new filter once we have sufficient funds. The reason we are not using the Jebao 615 premanently is because in the event it breaks down (it is quite old), the whole RH Fish Tank ecosystem will crash, killing the fishes and shrimps within a day. Thus the Jebao 615 is only a temporary solution.


(Click to view previous post on RH Fish Tank equipment)
(Click to view all the equipment on Flickr)

Donations Drive, AY2005/6 Sem1

Dear Friend of the RH Fish Tank,

The constant little donations that you have made ($15 for the past two months) have been invaluable in the upkeep of the RH Fish Tank, and we thank you for it. However the amount of donations collected thus far is only sufficient for the normal upkeep of the day-to-day necessities (purchase of fish food, fertiliser for plants, etc), and is insufficient for major repair/replacement purchases required every year...

Thus, we would like to appeal for your kind donations towards the RH Fish Tank for the following:
1) New Filter, Estimated cost $120
2) New Surface Skimmer, Estimated cost $12
3) New Food Timer, Estimated cost $30
4) Refill of CO2 canister, Estimated cost $15

Why Do We Need These?
1) Filter: the old one is inefficient and almost not working. Continued use of the old one could be a time bomb 'cos when it dies the whole ecosystem might crash (ie: fishes all die).
2) Surface Skimmer: the old one is broken (old age) and it does not skim filter the surface as efficiently due to the broken slates. This leads to the possibility of big pieces of dirt/leaves getting sucked into the filter, disrupting the function of the filter.
3) Food Timer: the old one is prone to ant-invasion. A better-made model would better prevent ants from getting to the food.
4) CO2 Canister: Periodic refill.

A donations drive would be initiated soon to facilitate your donations, and every donation would be recorded for audit purposes and transparency.

The RH Fish Tank Team would like to thank you in advance for your generosity...