Bioscape

About

Bioscape covers the small-tank end of the aquarium market: desktop and nano aquarium units, ultra clear glass tanks, clip-on LED lighting, and — the part that keeps an existing tank alive — the replacement cartridges, pumps and transformers for them. Lighting a small tank The clip-on LED range comes in four versions: a 3W broad-spectrum spotlight, 5W and 8W linears, and a 10W round. The clamp is the reason to choose one — it fits a rimless or open-top tank where a hood light has nowhere to sit, and it moves between tanks. Pick by shape as much as wattage. A spotlight throws a narrow pool and suits a single feature or a very small tank; the linears spread light along a length; the 10W round is the most output here and the one for a nano tank with demanding plants. Then put whichever you choose on a timer at six to eight hours a day. More light in a tank without the plants or the CO2 to use it grows algae, not plants — if algae appears, cut the hours before changing anything else. Spares for the Tropic Clearview The Clearview desktop range has three consumable or failure-prone parts stocked here: the three-stage filter cartridges, the replacement pump, and the dual transformer. The transformer is the one worth knowing about, because it runs both the light and the pump — when it fails, two things stop at once and people assume the whole unit has died. Light and pump both dead is almost always the transformer; a dead pump with the light still on is usually just a clogged impeller. Filter media in a small tank The cartridges hold most of a small tank's nitrifying bacteria as well as the dirt. Replacing everything at once restarts the cycle and gives the fish an ammonia spike — change one element, wait a fortnight, change the next, and rinse anything you are keeping in old tank water rather than under the tap. All fish supplies Filters and media Bioloark