Update: Power Failure and Walstad Approach

[DarylF2]

I recent had a 23-hour power failure (Ernesto did a lot of damage to my area in southern Maryland) and lost NO fish. My first line of defense was APC SmartUPS 700s on my three tanks, which gave them runtime of 2.5+ hours (powering just filters/powerheads) or about 2 hours (powering heaters too). My second line of defense was a moderately large (6600 Watt) generator hooked up to the house power meter (via a GenerLink device provided by my power company for $10/month). I'm so lucky to be able to have these two options, and they saved my fish (and made the power outage much less inconvenient)!

Also, I've recently tried the "Walstad" approach to aquarium maintenance, which I call that because it is inspired by Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. I have increased lighting, added a lot of plants including several fast-growing varienties like Hornwort, and do minimal-to-moderate fertilization. So far its working well, and my last water change was on 2006-08-05! I'm doing thorough weekly testing using a Hagen master test kit, and so far all my levels are good and remaining stable!!!

 

[Mosaic]

That's great you have a back up! Glad to hear everyone made it through ok.

I do the strictly Walstad thing on an experimental tank too - natural sun (no algae, ever!), potting soil, etc. But for my other, more traditional tanks its kind of the same thing. Lots and lots of plants like hornwort and cabomba. My ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates always read 0 (or the nitrates are darn close). According to the book, you really don't need to add any extra ferts, just throw in some extra fish food, but I think it depends on your lighting. Works ok with 1.5 wpg, but not my higher light tanks.

I don't think everything she claims in the book is accurate, but there is some truth to it.

 

[DarylF2]

Agreed. My lighting is higher than she recommends (and the tank is located in a hall without natural lighting), so I add fertilizers (Seachem Flourish twice a week and Flourish Excel daily). I also have Cabomba (what a BEAUTIFUL plant) as well as Bacoba, Wisteria, various Cryptocorynes, various Anubias, Java Fern, and even some Anachris (which is doing okay despite the Flourish Excel). I have a little algae, but I'm adjusting lighting durations and fertilizer dosages and am reducing its growth slowly.

Overall its a real success so far. The best sign that my fish like it is that I've had quite a few Corydoras spawnings in the past month, as well as at least one Otocinclus spawning and at least one or two Zebra Danio spawnings! My loaches and flower shrimp are doing very well too, and all of the fish are very active and eating well.

The overhaul is detailed here.

 

[DarylF2]

I'm 4 months into my new "Walstad approach" aquarium maintenance plan, and I thought you all might like an update.

So far, 4 months without a water change! Scary, but my water parameters remain perfect and very stable (tested with a Hagen master test kit, not dip strips)! My fish and shrimp are all doing extremely well, and my Corydoras are laying eggs 2-3 times a week! My shrimp are all doing well, too. My Flower shrimp just successfully molted again, and my Amano shrimp are growing rapidly. I've also had several egg layings by my Zebra danios and at least one egg laying by my Otocinclus catfish since I started this experiment. I'll be doing a 25% to 33% water change soon, as recommended by Diana Walstad's book.

My water is stained like tea from the tannins leaching out of my driftwood, but it smells really nice (very fresh and loamy and almost a little sweet). I did finally lose my Anachris; I think the Excel finally got to it. My Wistera hates being planted in this tank, but is growing well floating. My Bacopa isn't growing well, but my Cabomba is doing brilliantly! My Cryptocorynes are a mixed lot: the Cryptocoryne crispatula "Balansae green" is doing very well but the Cryptocoryne retrospiralis keeps melting and re-growing; I may need to relocate it as its under a powerhead that runs during lights-out and it may not like that. My Hornwort is growing like mad, and the Java Fern has rooted nicely in a piece of driftwood. The Anubias is growing healthy new leaves, and seems to be doing better than before (it was growing more slowly before, and was developing holes in its leaves which has since stopped, probably because I upped my fertilization dosages a bit).

My latest pictures are in my .Mac web site listed in my signature.

 

[triazole]

great job DarylF2. the tank looks wonderful.
could you please list the equipment currently in the 38g?

 

[DarylF2]

triazole, sure! (and thanks for the compliment!)

My filter is a Tetra Whisper Power Filter 60. Instead of the standard Tetra filter media, I use the plastic frames and foam pads from Drs. Foster and Smith Bio3 filters, with simple nylon filter pads in place of the activated charcoal filter media. I clean the filter media and intake tube twice a week.

At night (lights-out) I run a Aquatic Gardens Power Head 601, which I clean daily using a turkey baster to "blow out" anything in its intake. I remove it for a more thorough cleaning as needed, usually every few months or so.

My heater is an Aquatic Gardens 13.5" 150 Watt Heater.

My lights are a Coralife AquaLight Single 36" 96 watt compact fluorescent (34" square pin base) freshwater (6700°K) light fixture with the Coralife legs, over an All-glass canopy.

The tank in an old (purchased in 1992 or so) All-glass (I think) 38-gallon tank.

My substrate is about 60 lbs of Eco-Complete. My driftwood is Swahala and Malaysian driftwood (from Drs. Foster and Smith). Rocks are a wide variety of slate/shale, granite, sandstone, and others (even a small piece of marble) all purchased from local pet stores for aquarium usage. This causes my water to be a little harder than I'd prefer, but my water hardness is VERY stable and my fish and shrimp are doing quite well. My water parameters have been extremely stable for the past 6 months or more.

My current water parameters are: pH: 7.8, KH: 120 ppm, GH: 120 ppm, Ca: 40 ppm, Phosphates: about 1.0 mg/L, Ammonia: 0 mg/L, Nitrite: about 0 mg/L, Nitrate: about 5-10 mg/L, Fe free: 0 mg/L, Fe chelated: 0.1 mg/L.

Oh, and in case you're interested here is my dosing schedule:

Monday: 8 mL Seachem Flourish Excel
Tuesday: 8 mL Seachem Flourish Excel
Wednesday: 8 mL Seachem Flourish (also filter cleaning day)
Thursday: 12 mL Seachem Flourish Excel
Friday: 8 mL Seachem Flourish Excel
Saturday: 8 mL Seachem Flourish (also filter cleaning and maintenance day)
Sunday: 12 mL Seachem Flourish Excel

I recently bought Seachem Flourish Trace and Seachem Flourish Potassium, but I'm not sure how/when I'll start dosing these... I want to start very gradually, but only if my plants seem to need it.

I top off the tank with distilled water, and I mix all fertilizer with about 125 mL of distilled water before I put them in the tank. I pour the water/fertilizer mixture in slowly over the whole length of the tank, too. I always try and fertilize in the morning to early afternoon (11am-2pm or so), and feed my fish around 5pm-8pm in the evening. Lights and power-head are on a Coralife digital aquarium timer/power strip, with lights on at 10:30 am and off at 8:30 pm. The power head is only on when the lights are off (at "night").

Let me know if you'd like info on my feeding schedule.