# Aquarium on the Window



## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

I want to try to make a small plant low-tech aquarium.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Window


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Aquarium 30x16x20(h) centimeter 9,5 l


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

Batjok said:


> I want to try to make a small plant low-tech aquarium.


This is quite a reasonable goal... if your tank is small, smaller plants may lead to better aquascape than say planting an echinodorus amazonicus in a 10 gal.

NPTs can grow small plants, but I must say that generally the 'scape side is not yet fully explored to the extent as I have seen with high tech aquariums. Just an opinion, prove me wrong


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Forest soil 1 cm


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Welcome to APC!

You need to top the soil substrate with coarse sand or some other similar material. If you don't you get a big muddy pool when you add the water.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Welcome!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Thank You!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

hoppycalif said:


> coarse sand


Coarse sand 2 cm.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Water from the aquarium.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Where'd you get that sand at?


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

It's river sand. It is used in construction. I have selected fraction of 1-3 mm.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Temperature t + 15 C


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

zolteeC said:


> ...smaller plants may lead to better aquascape than say planting an echinodorus amazonicus...


Najas, Hemianthus micranthemoides, Echinodorus.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

nice, buy them or are they native?


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

They are not native. I think from the American biotope.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

nice  following along still. Cant wait to see it when it grows out.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Snails


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Nice


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Echinodorus is not afraid of cold. New sheet.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Corydoras


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

cool


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

do u have a full tank shot? really curious!


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

DutchMuch said:


> do u have a full tank shot? really curious!


Well, in Soviet Russia you don't take pictures from your NPT, the NPT takes pictures of YOU.

Didn't you know?

(I apologize for the silly joke, but the situation reminded me the "good" old times. This is just history, now YOU can obviously take a picture from your NPT  .)


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Who will find NPT in this shot?


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

nice fam photo! 

I couldn't find it though LOL!


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## zolteeC (Dec 26, 2017)

DutchMuch said:


> nice fam photo!
> 
> I couldn't find it though LOL!


Keep on looking. I have found it.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

zolteeC said:


> Keep on looking. I have found it.


darn! ill look again. I will notify you all when I find it


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

found it!!!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Bravo!


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

This is a treasure hunt. Thanks for a good laugh!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

My treasure


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

fwiw, its looking really nice!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Najas, Corydoras, Daphnia


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

oooooh nice


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

My Daphnia -


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

thats cool


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Heterandria formosa


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Looking great. I'm wondering about your Daphnia - how do you keep them?  Yesterday I received eggs of Moina macropa so looking for an inspiration.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Oh, that's another story


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

I think that the Daphnia will not live in the house - she needs a lot of water, light, air, and plant food.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Beautiful plant pond! Thanks for pictures.

Daphnia: Despite multiple attempts, I have had no luck growing daphnia (assorted wild species of all ages) in aquariums. And setting up tubs outside just encouraged mosquitoes and frogs. I gave up.

Daphnia do fine outside with cool/cold temperatures. This spring, I netted out a lot of daphnia from my pond.

However, for reliable feeding of live food, I've gone with hatching brine shrimp eggs and growing the shrimp out for a few days. (My baby guppies get live brine shrimp twice a day.)

A "How-To" article on hatching/raising brine shrimp is on my web site:

https://dianawalstad.com/aquariums/


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Yes it is, frogs are a problem.


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## Hobbylifeandpets (Mar 13, 2018)

Batjok said:


> I think that the Daphnia will not live in the house - she needs a lot of water, light, air, and plant food.


Daphnia when get to cold or to hot outside lay eggs wich cand survive fost or very high temeperatures, if u let pond substrate like it is now over winter in spring when its over 13 degrades celcius daphnia eggs wil hatch .

If you want to keep daphnia indors put them in a aquarium 25 liters with a airline that make very big bubbles ( reson is that fine air bubbles get traped under daphnia shell and can't swin for food and die), you feed with yeast or powder milk, u take small glass put water a little bit of yeast or powder milk give it a good mix and leave it 30min, then pour the mixture in were u keep daphnia until you clowd the water but you still can see through the water, daphnia will clear the water in about 1-2 days depens on how many they are, when water is clear make a other mixture a feed, what remains throw away.

Thank you!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

My fish are sick from yeast, so only fruit.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)




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## barongan (Jul 31, 2018)

Subscribed to this one


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

subscription on top


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

29х29х35(h) 29 l


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

You show us a picture, but there is no explanation. Are you pleased with how things turned out? 

(It looks to me like the tank is doing fine.)


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

I had a too small aquarium - now the aquarium is larger.
I did not like the nutrient under the sand - I washed the sand, now the sand is clean.
Fish are too finicky - they breed little, sometimes they get sick.
I want other fish, and put a filter.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

I put the filter. My filter.
I take a large plastic bottle so that the entire assembly in height is equal to the height of the aquarium.
I completely perforate the bottle with a hot nail.
I cut a hole in the cork under the pump.
The pump is selected at the rate of 10-15 liters of aquarium per 1 watt of pump power.
The filler must be non-porous (!) - glass balls or river pebbles.
I put three black filter socks on the bottle and fix it with a black screed.
I put the filter in a dark plastic glass, and I lower this whole pepelats into the aquarium.
The filter works so well on algae that the aquarium can be safely placed on the window.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Water flows through the top into the outer cup, and the trash, even if it does not stick to the filter sock, still remains in the cup.
Then the water from the outer cup passes through the filter sock and ends up in a bio-filled bottle.
Water passes bio-filler and the pump throws water into the aquarium.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Neat idea with the outer bottle, but wondering why do you insist on "inert" pebbles? Wouldn't ceramics media or sponge work better? Even if not as biological, but more efficient mechanical filtration.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

I tried a sponge, another plastic and ceramic - glass balls work better.
For mechanical filtration only filter socks.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Aquarium on the window


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

A month ago, I decided to try to switch to rare substitutions.
50% once a month.
Yesterday a month passed, the water also stood for a month - made a substitution.
Old zebrafish started spawning in a common aquarium, like young ones.
Plants seemed to like it too.
Continuing the experiment.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Aquarium on the window


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Formosa does not want to breed.
Therefore, I added rice fish.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Pretty fish. Looks like your tank is part of the family.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

True, it all started with the fact that I married a girl who had a tank. 
Since then, the tank became part of my window.


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Batjok said:


> Formosa does not want to breed.
> Therefore, I added rice fish.


Do you feed your Heterandria formosa live food? Mine Neoheterandria elegans didn't really want to breed until I started hatching artemia for them. Recently I switched to Grindal worms and these seem to be even better. Also what's the tank temperature? Heterandria likes it on the cooler side from what I read about them.

Although as you've added another fish species to the tank, formosa fry will probably have problems to survive, they are very fragile and easy snack for bigger fish.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

mysiak said:


> ...bigger fish.


What you write is very interesting.
The temperature is room, I do not specifically heat and do not cool - now t+24C.
In summer, I feed live Daphnia, in winter - Drosophila. 
I do not breed worms - it is very difficult.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

A livebearer not breeding? That sounds impossible 

Try https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/heterandria-formosa/


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Perhaps a livebearer breeds in other conditions. 
She needs thick thickets of grass, less often to change water ... 
And really, for me it is too small a fish.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Are you sure you have a male in there ? I don't see a male in your pictures.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

mistergreen said:


> ... a male in your pictures.


a male


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Batjok said:


> What you write is very interesting.
> The temperature is room, I do not specifically heat and do not cool - now t+24C.
> In summer, I feed live Daphnia, in winter - Drosophila.
> I do not breed worms - it is very difficult.


I have no personal experience with them, but read a couple of articles/first hand experience reports and from what I recall, they do best at about 20-22C. 24C should be still fine.

How long do you have them? Sometimes it can take a few weeks or even months for first fry to appear (the same applies to Neoheterandria elegans).

Breeding of Grindal worms is actually quite easy, the hardest part is usually to obtain a starter culture. After that and a couple of "learning weeks" you'll have a few boxes with stable colonies of worms suitable for daily feeding of adult fish and their fry.


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Those rice fish look nice. I'll have to get some. My only worry is the rice fish out compete the livebearers for food and eat any babies.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Formosa lives with me for a year.
I'll think about creating a more comfortable aquarium for formosa.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Changed the name of the topic.
Formoses in another aquarium gave birth to one fish.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Merry Christmas!


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Merry Christmas!


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## Stan510 (Dec 23, 2018)

I once did that using only garden soil..sifted so it was just the clay soils we have. No covering at all. By a window,with only one of the small bulb water lilies and a male Betta...So other plants that I can't recall.
What I remember most was that I would feed all my fish in multiple conventional tanks live worms and brine shrimp- cheap here by San Francisco bay. After he are all he could...I would put more in. A few hours later,the worms were half in the soil and half out..wiggling their red bodys. Sun by the window caused pearling.
That must have been the early 80's.
btw,The water with no filter at all..was semi clear. When it had no fish..rotifers showed up,daphnia.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Stan510 said:


> I once did that using only garden soil..sifted so it was just the clay soils we have. No covering at all. By a window,with only one of the small bulb water lilies and a male Betta...So other plants that I can't recall.
> What I remember most was that I would feed all my fish in multiple conventional tanks live worms and brine shrimp- cheap here by San Francisco bay. After he are all he could...I would put more in. A few hours later,the worms were half in the soil and half out..wiggling their red bodys. Sun by the window caused pearling.
> That must have been the early 80's.
> btw,The water with no filter at all..was semi clear. When it had no fish..rotifers showed up,daphnia.


This sounds like a wonderful and memorable tank. Nature at its best!

I have had dirt tanks without a gravel cover. They do fine. Garden soil is best for this, because the biofilms hold the small clay particles together. (Fresh organic soils will float to the surface.)


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Stan510 said:


> btw,The water with no filter at all..was semi clear. When it had no fish..rotifers showed up,daphnia.


 Tank with the clay soils and without a filter are very interesting.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Ouch! The forum has not been connected for three years - and now everything works! And I wanted to get into beekeeping.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Aquarium on the window - no lamp, no filter - najas guadalupensis, guppy fry, food live daphnia -


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

Batjok said:


> Аквариум на окне - ни лампы, ни фильтра - наджас, мальки гуппи, food live daphnia -
> View attachment 75169


Beautiful tank. Is there a Latin or scientific name for the plant?


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

johnwesley0 said:


> a Latin or scientific name


Sorry, corrected - najas guadalupensis


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## johnwesley0 (Feb 23, 2021)

Batjok said:


> najas guadalupensis


Oh, "guppy grass"! Of course. I have never seen such a magnificent specimen in a Walstad tank. Thank you for sharing your photos.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

Meadow, wolf and earth for Walstad tank


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

johnwesley0 said:


> I suspect "guppy grass" in a window leaves a lot of room for experimentation.


This experiment is already forty years old. 
The filter is only needed to fight algae. 
Algae in an aquarium? sick fish? - put a filter. 
There are no algae, the fish are healthy - no filter needed. 
That's all I know about the aquarium.


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## Batjok (Feb 5, 2018)

The first of September - the holidays are over, the children go to school.


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