December 2008 Newsletter

After all of the "basics" type of information that has been presented,  it's now time for a construction article. We will be discussing CO2 generation and injection systems.

CO2 generation systems can range in complexity from simple yeast and sugar water generators to as complex as compressed CO2 tanks with electronically controlled flow solenoids. Unfortunately, the cash outlay for the latter, more complex system, is quite high - generally in the order of several hundred dollars! This is a lot of money to invest in a system, especially if you've never seen the benefits of CO2 injection.

To overcome this investment barrier, We will  present the simple yeast and sugar water solution. It may not be as elegant and as maintenance free as a high-tech system, but then I think most of us entered into this hobby not just because we like fish, but also because we like to tinker with aquarium gadgets.

Dan Cole wrote about CO2 generation several months ago in his column, and so we won't go into extreme construction detail. Please refer to his article which can be found at www.mops.on.ca. To build the generator, you'll need the following items: 2 litre plastic pop bottle, some air line tubing, sugar, baker's yeast, baking soda, and some silicone or hot glue. Drill a 1/4" hole in the centre of the bottle cap. Insert the air line tubing so that it sticks through the inside of the cap by about one inch. Then using either hot glue or silicone, thoroughly seal the tubing to the cap.

The CO2 is produced by half filling the pop bottle with warm water no hotter than 40-45C. Using a funnel, add 1/2 cup of sugar, and about 1 teaspoon of yeast - mix well. Some people add a teaspoon of baking soda to this solution to extend it's life, you may want to experiment with this.

There are numerous ways of injecting the CO2 into your tank. Simply letting it bubble out of an airstone will work, but this method isn't overly efficient since most of the CO2 bubbles escape to the surface. The ideal injection system would allow all of the CO2 to be absorbed by the tank's water without letting any of it escape to the surface. To achieve this we need to build a CO2 reactor. I've experimented with several reactor designs, and the system which seems to be the most efficient at dissolving the CO2 bubbles involves using the impeller of a pump to smash the large CO2 bubbles into a fine white mist of CO2 'bubbletts'.

This CO2 reactor works by using the impeller of a powerhead to smash the relatively large CO2 bubbles into millions of tiny "bubbletts". These tiny bubbletts must be held underwater long enough to allow them to be completely absorbed by the tank's water. This is accomplished by feeding the output of the powerhead into a cylindrical bottle. Inside the bottle the water swirls around in a cyclone-like manner which causes almost all of the CO2 to be absorbed by the water. The output of the bottle is then sent through some 1/2" tubing down below the substrate and to both ends of the aquarium.

To build this reactor you'll need the following items:

• small aquarium powerhead
• plastic bottle
• 1/2" black poly tubing (thin-walled semi-rigid)
• 1/2" poly 90 degree elbow (x2)
• 1/2" poly "T"
• hot glue or silicone
• sandpaper

The powerhead can be obtained form your local pet store or favourite mail-order aquarium supplies place. The plastic bottle is the type used as a hamster water bottle. It should be about 4-6cm in diameter, and have straight walls approximately 15cm long. The inside of the mouth of the bottle should be about 1/2" in diameter so the poly tubing will snugly fit inside. The remaining items can be obtained from your local hardware store. Be sure to buy only aquarium-safe silicone.

Using a carpenter's knife or a sharp pair of scissors, cut a 1/2" diameter hole in the wall of the plastic bottle. The hole should be within 1cm of the bottom (ie the end without the opening) of the bottle. Use the sandpaper to roughen the bottle's surface around the hole. This will help the glue to stick to the plastic.

With the carpenter's knife cut the end of the 1/2" poly tubing at an acute angle of about 20-30 degrees. Roughen the tubing's surface around this angled cut. Next, cut the tubing to a final length of about 8-10cm.

Push the tubing into the hole in the bottle. Orient the poly tubing so that the water entering the bottle will spin, thus forming a cyclone. Attach the poly tubing to the bottle using hot glue followed by silicone to ensure it remains in place.

While the silicone is curing we can plumb the tank. Cut two pieces of poly tubing approximately half the length of your tank. Attach the two pieces with the poly "T", and insert the elbows in to the opposite two ends. Hide this piping under you substrate near the back of the tank. The "T" should be pointing up, and the elbows should be pointing forward and slightly up.

Next cut a piece of tubing to connect the output of the plastic bottle to the "T" connection. The end of the bottle, with the poly tubing glued to it, should be about 2-4cm below the surface of the water when finished (this will be dependant on the type of powerhead you have - since the output of the powerhead needs to be fed into the bottle).

Connect the output of the powerhead to the input pipe of the plastic bottle. Properly mount the powerhead (don't just let it hang from the pipe). Using an elastic, strap the 1/4" output tubing of the CO2 generator to the intake of the powerhead. Mix-up some CO2 brew and you should be up and running as soon as the yeast becomes active.

One final thing which is helpful is to drill a small hole in the top of the cyclone chamber (this is actually the bottom of the bottle - confused yet?). The hole should be plugged with a small plastic screw which can be removed to vent any air out of the bottle - useful initially, and after water changes.

;

Our Featured Aquatic Plant For The Month.

.

Cabomba

Carolina Fanwort, Green Cabomba
Cabomba caroliniana

   Cabomba is a very common and beautiful aquarium plant that is great for beginner aquariums!

   Cabomba will root if the shoots are buried in the gravel. The stems will grow up to 50 cm (20 in) and so in an aquarium they will need to be trimmed periodically. They are also easily propagated by simply planting cuttings from the present plants. Cabomba will do great in almost any aquarium environment, including harder water and minimal light. However, the brighter the light the better it will grow.

Distribution:
   Cabomba can be found in Central and South America

Water conditions:
   Temperature: 72-82° F (22-28° C)
   pH: 6.5 - 7.5
   dCH: 2-12°

Lighting:
   Light level: Moderate to bright

Propagation:
   Cuttings and side shoots.

Availability:
   Cabomba is readily available.

The Fancy Tail Guppy

The various forms of the Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish are the best known and most popular aquarium fish. This species offers a large selection of colors and shapes with no two fish every exactly alike. Guppies are an all time favorite of both beginners and experienced fish keepers!

    The active Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish form loose schools and are always on the move. Though they are peaceful community fish and easily kept with other livebearers, they may chase fry and will often nip the fins of the Betta or Siamese Fighting Fish.

   These fish will appreciate an aquarium with fine gravel that is heavily planted along with some floating ferns. This type of vegetation will provide a bit of food for them as well as hiding places for the fry until they are large enough to not be eaten. Most Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish are very tolerant of a wide variety of tank conditions, though the highly inbred specialized species can be more delicate and require more attention.

   Typical of livebearers, The Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish, appreciates the addition of 1 to 1.25 teaspoons of non-iodized salt added to the aquarium water. They are capable of adapting to brackish or saltwater conditions.

Care and feeding:
   Since they are omnivorous the Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms as a treat.

Distribution:
   The Guppy or Millionsfish are native to Central America and Brazil but now are almost exclusively captive bred.

Selectively bred, they come in all colors and combinations of colors:
   There are far too many varieties of Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish to list here, but let it be said that they come in every color of the rainbow, and often have every color of the rainbow in them!
   There are a lot of different shapes to the fins also. Some of the more common fins shapes are: rounded, pintail, swordtail (upper, lower, and double), flagtail, veiltail, fantail, and triangletail.
   There are fancy guppy organizations that breed and show guppies all over the world.

Size - Weight:
   These fish get up to 2.5 inches (6 cm).

Social Behaviors:
   The Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish are a good community fish, however they will chase and eat fry, and they are known to nip the fins of the Betta or Siamese Fighting Fish.

Sexual Differences:
   The female is larger, more drab in color, and will have a spawning patch at breeding time. The male is smaller, will generally have a longer more colorful tail, and has a gonopodium.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Hardness: 10-30° dGH
   Ph: 7.0 to 8.5
   Temp: (64-82° F) 18-28° C

Breeding/Reproduction:
   The Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish is easily bred in the aquarium without special attention if well fed and cared for. Provide hiding places or breeding traps for the fry as the parents may chase them. See the description of how to breed livebearers in Breeding Freshwater Fish - Livebearers.

Availability:
   The Guppy, Fancy Guppy, or Millionsfish is readily available.

And last but certainly not least, some entertaining video for your enjoyment.