Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

AndEEss

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    253

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by AndEEss

  1. AndEEss
    If you can, find a bunch of plants from established aquariums, and put those in immediately. And, similarly, see if anyone near you could give you some well established filter media.
  2. AndEEss
    Serious question: How many people do you think are doing 50%+ water changes every day AND are capable of keeping a pH below 7, constantly? Based on the comments on this board, that isn’t a lot of people. I’d say less than a quarter. (Also, nitrite toxicity is the opposite of ammonia; worse below 7)
  3. AndEEss
    That’s a really strange mix of fish. Not saying every tank has to be a biotope but the parameters for those species are quite different.
  4. AndEEss
    The problem with fish-in is two fold: 1) A “hardy” fish is still being burned by ammonia and nitrite. It just doesn’t die as quickly as a less hardy fish. 2) You’re then throwing a live animal away or sending it back to the LFS so it can be tortured again. Or, if the fish keeper is bad enough at caring for the animals in question, the fish are tortured to death.
  5. AndEEss
    A single SDC 6.0 for a ~220g system? At the head you'll be using it at, that's like 800gph, running the pump at full gas. I'd probably get another one and run them at 80%, but that's just me.
  6. AndEEss
    To be clear, you should still dose prime when performing a water change to deal with any chlorine or chloramines in the water.
  7. AndEEss
    Prime consumes oxygen in water, so I think if you sealed it in a container right away, you'd have a bunch of water that has no dissolved oxygen in it. I wouldn't do that, personally.
  8. AndEEss
    I'd do something like this: https://waterandlens.com/planted-tank-automatic-water-change-overview/
  9. AndEEss
    I meant why are you replacing filter material at all. The point of a filter is to process biological waste; throwing it out eliminates the ability to do that.
  10. AndEEss
    Why did you buy disposable filter cartridges for a HOB?
  11. AndEEss
    My floor under my 143g tank is 5" wide hickory boards, with the planks themselves alternating and offset from each other so that they extend 3' on each side of the tank. Underneath, 2x8s at 16" spacing.
  12. AndEEss
    What are you doing to "clean" the sponges? What are these "changes" you are doing"? The only maintenance you should need to do with those filters is taking the sponge out, slapping it against a tree two or three times, and put back in the filter. If you're actively CLEANING your filter sponges, yeah, you're going to crash your cycle.
  13. AndEEss
    If you’re worried about otos starving, you shouldn’t be considering significantly larger fish that eat the same things. That makes no sense.
  14. AndEEss
    Just under 50 psi is about 15 psi too many, FYI…
  15. AndEEss
    Correct on both counts. I kill the power to both filters and get my hose going into the water, and dump Safe directly into the outflow. The OP didn't mention any fauna and as he said he just started it, I assumed he was in the process of cycling it.
  16. AndEEss
    Dechlorinator doesn't kill BB. I add it directly to the tank and fill the tank from a hose from my faucet. Also, you should be constantly feeding your BB with ammonia; you should be dosing 1-2ppm/day and seeing 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite the next day.
  17. AndEEss
    In one of your shots it looks like you have a lot of surface scum, which will inhibit oxygenation.
  18. AndEEss
    A 55 would be the absolute minimum, IMO. A 75 would be better, and larger tanks better yet.
  19. AndEEss
    I have to ask: why do you think you need to sanitize your tank? If you did do this, what would you do with your remaining fish?
  20. AndEEss
    I’d run two 850s. In addition to processing ammonia/nitrite, a filter also oxygenates your water, which helps break down organics. It also helps supply oxygen, obviously. Most filters put out about 50-60% of what the *pump* can do, with a 5’ head, filter material, etc. Check out the Fluval FX6 page for an example of them listing both.
  21. AndEEss
    Oh, I'm not saying don't use it. I'm saying that, alone, it's likely not enough filter. I'd add another one. A 600, at least.
  22. AndEEss
    An Oase Biomaster 350 is rated at 300gph. At zero head, with no filter material. So, in reality, with media in it, it's doing 50-60% of that. 150-180gph. Personally, that's way too low for a 75 gallon tank. 2x turnover is way less than I'd ever run. Even a Biomaster 850 would be underpowered if run by itself, IMO.
  23. AndEEss
    I'm confused. If you have high nitrate, as you indicate here, it indicates that you are nearly done cycling. Unless your tap water is high in nitrates, that is.
  24. AndEEss
    There are TDS meters for things like a Neptune Apex system that you could employ. But a $500+ system on a tank with a sponge filter might not be the best option.
  25. AndEEss
    I think you'd need just a single FX4 for a 75g tank. Just make sure that you perform monthly maintenance on it (take the foam out, slap it on a rock, return to filter) so the flow rate doesn't drop down with detritus accumulation. I don't run an air pump. There's a good amount of surface agitation and the many fish I have in there seem to be doing just fine.
×
×
  • Create New...