Steve A
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Posts posted by Steve A
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Howdy from a fellow Texan
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I received my fist plants today, I got them in the tank and fed them. In a couple of days I will take them out of the pots.
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Have you tried a thin O-ring on the water side of the tank?
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I was out and about today and when I got home these were in the back of my truck 😁
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On 6/30/2021 at 12:36 AM, Fish Folk said:
^^^ "Now, see, this is how we got here" you'll be explaining to someone someday . . .
Yep
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On 6/30/2021 at 12:03 AM, Fish Folk said:
How many tanks are you running now? What would you plan to do with a new 10 gal? I want to believe that I've leveled out . . . that I'm back on the wagon . . . that MTS treatment has successfully seen me buy my last tank . . .
I want to believe so bad . . .
I have (1) 80 gallon now but I would use a 10 gal for a QT and 3 more for some fancy guppies.
🙂
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I just saw where one of my LFS has 10 gallon tanks for 9.99, guess I need to take the coolers out of the back of my truck in the morning 😁
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On 6/29/2021 at 8:10 PM, Isaac M said:
@Steve A ok I see, yeah that is a good idea, I have always just kept sponge (mostly coarse but sometimes fine if I want to keep the water a little more clear but they will clog up faster) and some bio media in my filters. In this case, even purigen could help remove some of the organics.
But I would stick to the water changes and cleaning the filters one at a time for now. The plants will help long-term with keeping your aquarium stable and healthy. I think you are on the right track to success.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Thank you Sir, great advice 👍
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On 6/29/2021 at 3:53 PM, Griznatch said:
Fill that big boy with plants! Any that you put in there will help.
Short term, you could do as mentioned and hang a pothos out the back. That'll help with the water column. If there's nitrate build up in the HOBs, then mucking them out one at a time -maybe waiting a few weeks between each one should work.
Thanks, I do plan changing them out one at a time. I don't want to go to drastic all at once.
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On 6/29/2021 at 11:01 AM, ARMYVET said:
Once the filters are taken out of the water the bacteria will die off. Your sponges on the intakes have plenty of bacteria on them to keep the tank running without having to worry about any ammonia spikes.
You ordered some great plants You have tons of room to add more and still keep an open layout if thats what your looking for.
You have gravel vacced the heck out of it and did water changes...now clean the filters and convert them to sponge if you wish and your nitrates will start to come down.
Yes i have given it a good cleaning, Candi at the Co-Op said I should do that before I start planting it. I did it over a 2 week time span doing between 10 - 20 gallons at a time.
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On 6/29/2021 at 2:55 PM, Isaac M said:
@Steve A thank you, that is all very helpful information. I would do 15 gallon water changes twice a week until you reach your goal of below 40 ppm nitrates, maybe around 30 or so.
For the plants, the nitrogen I was talking about is in the form of ammonia and nitrates that the plants consume. That is a great selection of fast growing plants that you chose, I think they will help you for sure!For the filters, I assume you are meaning the video where Cory removes the sponges they come with and customizes them by adding coarse foam and such? Or do you mean you are taking out those filters that hang on the aquarium and switching them out for sponge filters?
As far as trying to keep the bacteria alive for future use, I have never really heard of anyone doing that. Bacteria in most of our aquariums are aerobic and therefore need oxygen to survive, vacuum sealing them would likely cause them to use up all the oxygen and then die. Your new sponges will eventually be full of bacteria as well so if you need some for another tank, just take it from the new sponges.
Thank you, I am talking about taking the little flimsy insert things out and replacing them with coarse foam blocks that fill up the chambers. The stuff I am using in the chambers is not quite as coarse as what the pre filter ones on the water pickup tubes in the picture.
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On 6/28/2021 at 11:09 PM, Isaac M said:
ello @Steve A, it sounds like you may have had old tank syndrome. Do you know what your tap water nitrate level and gh is? Also, just going based off of your nitrate readings you are giving, I am going to assume you are using the api test kit. The 40 ppm and 80 ppm nitrate chart color is very similar so it may be that it has gone down and it is some color inbetween but is very difficult to differentiate. It is also a lot faster to get down from 160 to 80 than from 80 to 40 if the same amount of water is being changed.
If you could give us a picture of the aquarium and the size, it would be very helpful. I would continue doing water changes at the rate you are going, if it is old tank syndrome, you want to get the levels back down gradually, not all at once or as fast as possible.
As far as your plant question goes, yes, plants would eat at your nitrates and ammonia. However, it could have a nutrient deficiency if the nitrogen is high but it is limited in something else like carbon dioxide, potassium, phosphorous, etc. I would try to use a floating plant or riparian type plant like pothos (roots in the water but leaves outside of water) to remove the nitrogen as they will grow the quickest given they have access to the atmospheres carbon dioxide.
If you want to clean your filters, you can just clean one of them while keeping the other one dirty. That will help clean out some of the sludge but still keep your system going more stable than cleaning both at once.
I hope that helps!
Yes I am using the API test,
Here are my numbers
Tank Tap Target
PH 7.6 7.6 7.4
High PH 7.4 7.4
Ammonia 0 0.25 0
Nitrite 0 0.5 0
Nitrate 80 0 <40
KH 71.6 125.3 190
GH 143.2 143.2 150The tank is 80 gallons, 48x18x18
There is no nitrogen and I am not sure about the other things, I did order some Water Wisteria, Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, and Water Sprite last night.
When I pull the 3 dirty filters I am changing them to foam like in Cory’s video. I have done one and plan on doing them one at a time. As the old filters are full of BIO mass can I vacuum bag them or freeze them and then vacuum bag them to use in the future?
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On 6/28/2021 at 9:28 AM, Guppysnail said:
Hi I don’t know what kind of filter you have but I read a post Last week on canister flow lines....I normally don’t use cans but got 2 last year for the current it produces. I was shocked at the amount of goo I got out of the hoses after I read the post...before it never occurred to me to clean them...duh. My nitrates plummeted and have stayed lower and do not rise as quickly since I did this. Just wanted to share in case it helps.
Thanks, I am running 2 Penguin 375 bio filters. I filled one compartment with foam on one of them but the other 3 compartments have pretty dirty filters I was hoping to leave in until I got it all stabilized. I guess I could pull them out and bag them with water in them and then see if I can get my count down? I will do that on my water dump tomorrow.
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On 6/28/2021 at 8:34 AM, HH Morant said:
Sometimes high nitrates are caused by overfeeding. If there were a group called Overfeeders Anonymous I would probably be a member. I think most people feel the urge to feed too much because fish always behave as if they are hungry and we don't want our fish to be hungry, I combat this tendency by measuring the food each day with a measuring spoon and by having a fasting day each week. This also helps improve water clarity. Water changes every 3-4 days will solve the problem in the short run, but you don't want to do that forever.
Thank you, there may be a bit of excess food but with just 1 fish right now he is just fed a small pinch of flakes. I have got the count to come down from 160 to 80 but it has stayed at 80 for the last week even though I have changed out about 35 gallons in that week.
I will try a bigger dump of water at a time starting tomorrow maybe 30 gallons at once.
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On 6/28/2021 at 1:15 AM, Yanni said:
The plants will definetely help but they won't get rid of it completely. I would just use the plants and also try to do some big water changes
Thank you, I have been doing 10 - 15 gallons every 3 - 4 days so I might step that up to 25 - 30 gallons instead.
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I just finished a 2 week process of deep cleaning my substrate but I still have nitrates showing 80.
Will plants handle this high of nitrates and help use it up?
Another problem is that my GH is still over 190 ppm -
On 6/25/2021 at 5:05 PM, Colu said:
Nothing jumping out at me am not familiar with pH balances I just use crushed coral maybe someone else can chip in
I have been using it for years, about a 1/2 thimble for every 5 gallons
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On 6/25/2021 at 4:56 PM, Colu said:
I have you add any new rocks
No, I have not added any thing to the aquarium in over 3 years except water with Chlorine remove and PH balancer but my PH was low so I have not used the balancer in the last 3 cleaning and the PH is up to about 7.5.
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In getting my 80 gal tank ready to plant the folks at the Co-Op said to do a deep clean of my substrate as this tank has been in use for 18 years. I have done 3 cleanings of about 12 gallons and my nitrates are coming down from 160 to 40.
The issue is that my GH has jumped from 89.3 nine days ago to over 214 today. I checked my tap water and it is 143.2.
Any ideas as to what might have happened? The only additive I used was Chlorine remove.
TIA
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On 6/24/2021 at 4:08 PM, Fish Folk said:
I refer to this algae guide from Green Aqua: https://greenaqua.hu/en/alga-tajekoztato
Might be a mix of Green Fuzz algae and maybe diatom (?)
Thank you, that is a great link.
I think what i have is Green Beard Algae as it grows on plastic, cermacis and rocks, and is tough to get off. I have scrubbed some stuff with a brush that took some of the finish off but not all of the algae.
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I have tried google to figure out what this is but so far they don't show to many picture of all the different types
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When I do it I put one end in the tank and stand up with the other end, you should have a half loop in the hose. Now suck on it and as soon as water gets to the bottom of the loop stick it in the bucket.
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On 6/24/2021 at 1:58 PM, tonyjuliano said:
The prevailing opinion is 4-5 times tank volume per hour. In the case of heavy bio loads, like a tankful of African cichlids, then 10x per hour is desired.
I prefer more filtration as opposed to less.
That's good to know, that would let me run them at 1/2 after I get everything in it, right now there are no plants and just one clown loach in it.
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On 6/24/2021 at 1:00 PM, Patrick_G said:
I think it depends on the stocking level. I have a planted 75 gallon with one 300gph HOB set on low flow. I have a medium level of planting and a small stocking level. It’s only three months old but so far water parameters are great.
Thank you, so if your filter numbers are like mine you are cycling your tank about every 2 hours. 👍
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Hello from Scotland
in Introductions & Greetings
Posted
Howdy from Texas, beware of getting stream water from up north, you fish may get a Balvenie hangover 🙂