EggShappedFish

March 7

The picture is black for me. I can't see what you describe. But personally i prefere multiple smaller filters instead of one large. Maybe you can add an air-stone or maybe even an air-filter in the dead area(s)?

Also, I would run the canister filter at full power, and find ways of reducing the current in the tank. Either by pointing the outlet towards the glass, or other hard scape.

March 6

Looking great! I am surprised that they keep parrot chiclids though! I haven't seen those in zoos before.

The closest aquarium we have here, is a "North Sea" aquarium, that displays the cold salt water fish of seas that lie between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands. Quite impressive, although, I'd rather see some tropical fish in them!

March 6

On 3/6/2024 at 1:08 PM, Tony s said:

Which is not good as its leaves will shed like dried Christmas tree needles and get everywhere

This is exactly what it did yeah!
I assume it eventually generates its own nitrogen this way, in a tank, but it was counterproductive (and ugly) for me. Also I have seen goldfish get hornwort stuck in their mouth. It has pretty rough leaves when you touch it actually!

March 6

On 3/6/2024 at 12:44 PM, Tony s said:

They can be glued directly onto any object in your tank, so no substrate required. They will need a minimum amount of nitrate, usually around 10 will work as they are very slow growers. Other micros will come from the new minerals at water changes. Unless you’re going to use RO. Then you would need to reminerize it.

You could use some of the very tall types and create sort of an Anubias forest as it were. Would look very cool glued to a large piece of driftwood.

Very good thanks.

Although I don't know the rate at which nitrates accumulate, I do water changes at approximately 20 So I would assume that it averages 10.
I will look into the tall types, but I mostly use them to add green colours, because the fish get stuck in them if I use too many plants. I was mostly concerned if they would get enough nutrients from the roots if the water was low in nutrients

On 3/6/2024 at 12:51 PM, Tony s said:

For a faster plant, you could try floating some hornwort. It may grow faster than they eat it. Or even duckweed at the surface. As long as you leave open ares for gas exchange. Duckweed would provide a food source as well.

Ah it's interesting that you mention those. I have tried hornwort, but it kept melting away for me. Duckweed has no chance at all in my tank. It gets eaten within a few hours! I did try some Red Root Floater that they didn't eat, but they also melted away. I do have some fairly strong surface agitation though, so this may be part of the problem

March 6

I am planning on only having Anubias in my tank, as goldfish tend to consider anything else, as "challenge-food".

My question is, do I need to fertilize them, when I actively try to keep nitrates, nitrites and phosphates low, with active filtration and regular water changes? Will this allow Anubias to grow at all?

Also, will they cope, with no or very little substrate?

March 4

On 3/4/2024 at 6:05 PM, Tanked said:

Were the 'sewage pipes' the entire filtration system?

Yes. The 9 pipes were either filled with filter sponges or bio filter media depending on what direction the water went. It was quite efficient and the plants grew pretty well!

I am pretty sure that I'll come up with some new way of growing plants in it. I am considering grow in elodea in trays at the surface so that the fish don't eat them

March 3

On 3/3/2024 at 5:07 PM, Tanked said:

I hope some of this is helpful. Post a picture if you can. Some of us may have more ideas.

Yes, it is true. I have too much light on, for too long. This is mainly because I am at home most of the time and enjoy watching the tank at all times!

This is the setup as it was, when I had algae issues:

It was mainly slow growing plants (anubias and cryptocoryne aponogetifolia) and a whole lot of plants growing off the top. Filtration was extreme, mainly because "goldfish" but only regula biologican filtration (no carbon and no phosphate/silicate filtration)

My current setup:

I have improved the filter, so that it looks better (no more sewage pipes) and it is even more efficient. Also, I have added phosguard to regulate phosphates and silicates, and plan on adding some activated carbon. I do water changes every 7-10 days but the nitrates stay bellow around 10. Some times they accumulate to 20 if i have experimented with some food that is more messy than normal

You may be able to see that the outer ligts are plant lights (5000k) and the middle one is a regular 2400k light.

I suspect that my initial issue was too high silicates and phosphates. I also suspect the sand to be the cause of especially the high silicates, as it was some sand that I got for free with a tank. Now i am filtering for both, and will keep an eye out for algae again. I used to have issues with diatom algae and later black beard algae.

March 3

I have a lot of DIY filtration, and I like running multiple filters instead of one large one.
My current setup uses 7 pumps (4 power heads to pull water through two custom filters and 3 internal filters). Each of them moves 1000 lit/hour (260 gal/hr).

This gave quite a lot of current in the tank, and my fancy goldfish aren't all so great swimmers. So I decided to slow down the current, without affecting the flow (not sure about the actual physics definition, but I wanted to circulate the same amout of water without my fish having to swim against fast moving water.

I came up with this contraption. I initially had designed a modular system that that I could 3D print, and would work the same way, but this is a bathtub tray that I had lying around, that fitted perfectly to what I wanted.

I have a layer of fine filter mat in the bottom, and a coarser sponge at the top. This is so that the fine filter does not get clogged too fast. The blue sponge i can wash quite easily. That said, I don't expect it to get clogged at all because most of the 6 outlets that pour onto it, are from filters, so the water should be cleaned for solid debris

This has effectively slowed down water movement inside the tank, but retains the original water flow through the filter media, adding an extra stem that also can assist with further filtration. I assume that the sponge will house beneficial bacteria, that will have enough oxygen to be super effective.

My next improvement, will be to spread the outlets more evenly across the sponge surface, to get even better bacteria growth in the blue sponge

March 3

On 3/2/2024 at 5:01 PM, Tanked said:

A 4000K plant light produces light in wavelengths that closely mimics sunlight. For general lighting a plant light is not needed, and it may help with algae growth. I would start with @knee's suggestions.

If you don't like the warm "terribly yellow" look, you need move up to 5000K-6000K , Bright- Daylight.

Thanks.
So the plant light that I have, has 5000K but I was wondering if a regular pulp that is not specifically made for plants, that also has 5000K would be the same or maybe less angled towards making things grow

March 2

On 3/2/2024 at 6:09 AM, Abby said:

200 I KNOW THIS IS BAD I'M WORKING ON FIXING IT!

Good news that you got it under control! We're all here to learn.

When it is this high, sometimes it is better to do smaller water changes so that the fish don't get a sudden shock due to the change, even though its for the best

March 1

On 3/2/2024 at 12:21 AM, knee said:

Raising the lights will lower the PAR values on substrate and will reduce algae issues

Yeah. It should but it didn't really change anything for me.

March 1

On 3/1/2024 at 10:16 PM, knee said:

You could but we won’t really know unless they put PAR values on the light or we check ourselves with a PAR meter. I’ve grown plants with regular cfl bulbs as well and those were just meant for indoor lighting. I would assume that lights specifically made for aquatic plants can penetrate the water better than regular lights but don’t quote me on that 😂

Do you have the lights directly on the tank lid?

They hang on chains and in use hooks to vary the length of said chain. I have had them hover right over the water surface as well as 70cm above it. This had no note worthy difference though.

March 1

On 3/1/2024 at 10:03 PM, knee said:

Lumens and light temps aren’t really the factors that you need to look for when growing plants. It’s PAR that grows plants and algae. Any light no matter the color/temp will have PAR values.

You grew algae because you have enough PAR with three plant lights and no plants to compete with algae for nutrients. You can remove the algae manually and raise your light to reduce PAR. If raising the light isn’t an option, you can also dim the lights if possible or use floating plants.

So if I get lights that have the same kelvin value as the plant light, bus is not plant light (just regular led of similar kelvin value) can I then assume that it will have less PAR and therefore less chances of algae growing?

March 1

TL;DR

Is 4000 kelvin regular light the same as 4000 kelvin plant light?

Explanation

So, I keep goldfish, and no plants, or at least plants that don't really need light (anubias and plan on some Elodea densa in the future). This means that lights are mainly used for lighting the tank up and to make it look pretty.

I have a pretty large open top tank, and have placed 3 large regular lamps on top of it, so that I can use regular LED light pulps for light.

MY DILEMMA:

I have up to now, used plant lights form IKEA called VÄXER . They are pretty strong LED lights, designed to make plants grow. 3 of these, lit the tank up quite well, even though they each were at approx 850 lumen. The light was at 4000kelvin.

Although the tank looked nice, I eventually ended up having algae issues. This is not because of nitrates though. I have super effective filtration, that keeps ammonia and nitrites at 0 and i do weekly water changes to keep nitrates bellow 20. That said, I have a suspicion that it may be due to phosphates and silicates. I have not installed SEACHEM phosguard and expect there should be no issues any more

Nonetheless, I thought running plant lights on a tank with no plants may be risky. So i got a few new pulps to try out. I now have 2 sets of 3. They are both at 2400 kelvin (warm white) where the first set is at 820 lumen, and the other is at 1500 lumen.
To be fair, I can not tell the difference between the two, but they both look terribly yellow. I will not be using them, but should i go back to the plant light, or should i get some other pulps with similar kelvin temperature, but that are not plant lights?

February 28

On 2/28/2024 at 8:32 PM, anewbie said:

Don't know if this is true but i've been told black silicon will last longer than clear.... and several custom aquarium companies refused to use clear for that reason - unfortunatley i don't know the specific item #.

Thanks!

Although this may be true, I don't think it's the case with this tank. The guy I bought it from has simply done a bad job resealing it. It was very cheap so I can't really complain, aside for the mess it ceased

February 28

RIP my quarantine tank! 🪦

Yesterday it started leaking quite heavily. I was able to empty it within 30 minutes but there was a lot of water on the floor nonetheless.

I assume it is the silicone seams that were bad. I had bought it used by a guy who had resealed it. It has worked well until yesterday. I don't thinknits worth the trouble and risk of sealing it once more

It is (was) a 530 lit (140 gal) that i used as a backup and quarantine tank.

February 27

You can check if the water color indeed is blue/green or yellow, by pouring it into a white bucket or white container. It may look blue/green due to the background of your tank

If it is brown/yellow then it is tannins like others say ☝️

February 27

+1 for running multiple smaller filters in your main tank, instead of one large one. This way you can very quickly setup a quarantine tank with an established filter in no time by simply moving a filter into the new tank. I even use the water from my main tank, to be as gentle to the nitrifying bacteria in the filter as possible

February 26

What beautiful babies you have! Good to see another fancy goldfish keeper!

In regards to the water color, what do you consider good water parameters? It's generally best, if possible, to specify the values, instead of good, bad, fair.
The color changes could be due to many things, including the wood/drift wood, but also free floating algae, or maybe even the lights! Still the water parameters would clear these guesses up.

A blind guess could be that you are experiencing a bacteria bloom, that clouds the water, but it looks blue due to your lights.

February 24

In the end, only the water parameters can answer this. It will depend on so many things, that it is mostly impossible to answer.
Keep an eye on your parameters, make sure that ammonia and nitrites are broken down instantly and monitor how fast nitrates accumulate. Its up to you how often you are willing to do water changes but in the end, these parameters are the most important factors that decide how well your tank works.

IMHO, I'd rather overdo filtration than have too little.

February 24

+1 for the concerns about your stand. There are plenty of videos explaining this, but mainly you want the weight to be carried by wood not screws.

You'll need to add wood beams in between the top and bottom frame, that will support the weight instead (ie get mashed in between the frames). As it is now, All the weight is on the screws attaching the top frame to the vertical beams.

The good thing is, that you still need the vertical beams you already have in place in order for your whole sand not so skew. Simply add some more beams next to them, but in between the top and bottom. Then you are much safer

February 22

On 2/22/2024 at 10:35 AM, madmark285 said:

PVC material from Home Depot

True! If it works it works!!

February 21

On 2/22/2024 at 12:41 AM, madmark285 said:

see a canister filter, what are those 3 pieces of PVC pipe hanging in the tank? Is that a DIY project or something you bought?

YES!

I actually had two cannisters at that point. They both pumped their outlet into a PVC rain gutter that I had mounted inside the tank, filled with filter media. This way I assumed that the water would be filtered even more, breaking ammonia and nitrites down faster.

In the video, from the same post, you may have notice that I had replaced the rain gutter, with multiple PVC sewage pipes! 5 of them were filled with ceramic filter media and the rest were "inlet pipes" filled with sponges. Basically I would pull water through the inlet pipes and pour it into the outlet pipes that were filled with the ceramics. On top of that the canister filters would now pour their outlets into one of those outlets too.

I have simplified this a lot now and have built some more elegant looking filters but it was good fun messing with this, even though it did not look too great. Also, my fish, being the clever creatures they are, would get hurt on this setup and get stuck behind the pipes, especially if one of the females was dropping eggs!

February 21

On 2/21/2024 at 11:32 PM, madmark285 said:

so what are your plans for your tank?

Oh I already have the fish! I keep fancy goldfish and have actually had them in that tank before

https://i.imgur.com/BHPEvts.mp4

Most of them are currently on the treatment tank that I've had them in for the past couple of months where I have been treating them for flukes.
I've moved 4 fish back into my larger tank and getting it cycled up using an established filter from my other tank. My plan is to slowly add more fish from my other tank every 3-4 days so that the filters can build up capacity

I want to get at few anubias lanceolata, to add some color to the tank but otherwise I think that I will keep it simple. It has been quite beautiful to start with, but my fish got hurt by getting stuck places that you wouldn't expect them to.

I eventually had to remove the drift wood, and even many of the plants because they would get stuck in them. I expect my current setup will be well spaced out rocks, a few plants and just the fish. I also plan on splitting them into good swimmers and not as strong swimmers. Some of my fish have gotten swim bladder issues, presumably due to bad genetics, so I am considering their fate at the moment.

February 21

On 2/21/2024 at 11:02 PM, madmark285 said:

otta love free rocks which can be hard to find for many of us. I got mine from a construction site along a high voltage transmission line right-away. No worries about nasty chemicals like round up, it's just overgrown weeds.

Have you painted or treated those rocks with something? They look glazed somehow! What fish will you be keeping in that setup? it looks very interesting and has loads of hiding spaces

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