pomlady

Thank you. Our water is pretty soft too, spring water, 7ppm. Good to know.

Thank you. You mention fertilizing? I guess you mean something like Seachem Flourish that you put in the water? I will be changing water just not as often I hope. Right now doing it every third day. Sounds like a nice system you are planning.

Thank you. I am happy to hear you did Safe T Sorb, phew, kind of worried I made a big mistake although I did watch any you tunbes I could possibly find and there wasn't any real negatives. Do you have to dose your tank with fertilizer tabs? I have a bottle of Seachem Flourish here and not sure when to start using it? I live in Canada and could not find Laterite. Googling for any and all information I found a post regarding the Anoxic filters and was speaking to a person that had one up and running, 3 tanks actually and he said it worked great for him. He used kitty litter though. He said to replace the Laterite with a 500ml bottle of Seachem Iron. I had just been to town for supplies and purchased a 250ml bottle, so poured that over the Safe T Sorb. I have no idea if that is okay but what I did. All new to me! Then I put on about 2" of Aqu Natural Blk Quartz sand over that. We don't have blasting sand where I live so I ended up buying Aqu Natural. A lot more expensive but it does seem like very nice sand and I don't see or feel any sharp pieces like a few people have mentioned online. Tomorrow I am filling the tank. I am not relying on the anoxic filter to work by itself, kind of a supplement as I have a Fluval C4 that is on my small tank that has bio media in it, which is also going onto the 50. It is supposedly good up to a 75 gallon tank. Just not sure when to add the fish, I am thinking after testing for a few days and making sure the ph doesn't go nuts, then it should be safe? I am hoping with 4 fancy goldfish that eventually I won't have to do weekly water changes, even biweekly would be better. Hoping eventually for less algae and plants that grow well. Thanks for your replies

Hi I am wondering how things are going with this tank as I just set up similar. Filling my tank tomorrow and hoping it is going to work. I am using Saf T Sorb washed very well and put 250ml bottle of Seachem Iron over it as I could not find Laterite anywhere (someone on a group told me he did this to replace Laterite and it worked good and no worries about Iron), then Aqu Natural Blk Dianond quartz sand. I have a 20 gal going now, not long, maybe 2 months with 4 small fancy goldfish. I read that was over crowding them, plus bouts of algae but the tank is close to a window and have to put a towel over the side in the afternoon. New tank is in the same area but behind a wall so not actually in the window. Found Dr. Novak's videos, chatted with a number of people on different sites that said they had the system and said it worked great, so I took the plunge. I am hoping..... Thanks for any replies.

Hi an old post I know but looking for help if possible. I watched a few of Dr. Novak's videos and setting up an anoxic filter like he mentions. I bought the supplies to make the filter and Saf t Sorb yesterday. I can't find Laterite anywhere locally and wondering if liquid iron spread over the saf t sorb would work? Or can other types of things like trace elements with iron for hydroponic growing be put over the saf t sorb and if so "how much is too much?" I plan to cap it with Aqua Natural Blk Diamond. I have also seen a few videos where people have used saf t sorb without an underground filter and have had luck and really like the natural look of the stuff. Dr. Novak never mentioned the crashes and a few videos didn't either or I might not have gone down this rabbit hole! I have a 50 gal tank with 4 fancy goldfish to add and planted. I am hoping to add them once this is up and running and putting the old bottom substrate and Fluval C4 on the old 20 gallon tank in/on the 50. Would I just be better to forgo the Saf t Sorb and just do the Aqua Natural Blk Diamond, would that defeat the purpose of good plant growth, less water changes for the fish? Newbie here and just trying to do it right. Any help would sure be appreciated. Thanks

Hi I just joined, thanks for having me. I have 4 fancy goldfish, small ones and just purchased a 50 gallon tank. I was thinking of Black Diamond but read bad reviews on it regarding fish and plants dying, so I decided against it. I really want to set up a planted tank as my fish are fine right now with plants in their smaller tank. I have larger stones as a base in the small tank now but it is more messy with food getting in between them, plus they don't really hold the roots in as well as something smaller. I ended up buying 3 - 20lb bags of Aqua Natural Golden Pearl gravel substrate yesterday and now I am wondering if I should have gone for Black Diamond or some other sand in the first place? I am not a fan of white colored sand to be honest and the Golden Pearl has a really nice mix of colored gravel. So wondering how your goldfish are making out with Black Diamond? Wondering also if I should get something else besides the gravel because of the choking hazard? Thanks for any information.