Smaller type of surface skimmer

This blog has been stopped updating since 3 years ago, also no more any further upgrade of the tank since then. Day by days some of the plants already decease and algae growing fast on all over the glass wall, luckily the filter system is working good until now, the water in the tank still clear.

Last week suddenly in the mood of wanted to remove the ugly algae and redo a bit, it tooks me almost a day to clean, trim, and replace a new smaller type Taiwan brand surface skimmer. But after a week of using it, I can tell this small space saving product is as good as the huge surface skimmer, highly recommended to hobbiest.

I will try to update more in this blog to keep track of the so called new tank. Added in a new planet name Helanthium Bolivianum, hope fully is suits to keep in such a small tank like this.

Budget aqua light - partly DIY

I believe many of the hobbyist step into the world of aquatic plant will consider few things, such as setup budget, equipment cost, fertilizer, heath of the plants and etc. As I can share about this budget aqua light, because I have 2 used T5 12000K fluorescent tubes that kept in the storeroom. Normally once a year I'll change the tubes for lighting efficiency to grow some healthy plants.

The top photo is the China made double T5 tube housing ceiling light with electronic ballast just cost around US$18, but it came with the normal fluorescent tubes. What I do is replace the used 12000K tubes and place on top the tank, it works good for aqua light. But the back portion of this ceiling light need to cover with waterproof material, such as PVC, plastic, metal of others, that is to prevent the open case cause electric shock by water.

After tested for a day, some plants show the good sign of photosynthesis happening with add on extra wattage. Perhaps you can try it too, low cost high effective light fitting.

20" Tank Journal ( Step II )

Went to a few LFS to shop for the lights, finally I've got what I wanted, it is a the Aqua Zonic Super Bright double tube 24W T5 lamp with 12000K brightness, and it cost around RM160(50USD).

The new L60cm light fitting in the box.

Put up the light to test for the brightness. It is really a good workmanship, and I am highly recommended this light for a small tank.

This is nightmare, went back to my old house to collect all those full of algae driftwoods, the time I spent on washing it, was really killing my back. Tried to arrange it on the floor before put in the tank.

Still not the final arrangement, need some fine tuning. Meanwhile added some water to 1/3 of the tank.