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Widgets

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Everything posted by Widgets

  1. Widgets
    I believe that any significant Ammonia coming from the waste collected by a sponge filter would be a sign of overfeeding. The excess food getting caught and breaking down. I would expect there to also be excess food on the floor of the tank. In normal situations there should not be much food trapped by the sponge, and I see my fish and shrimp doing a pretty good job of cleaning the surface of the sponge.
  2. Widgets
    Normally, the mulm that collects in the gravel can be wonderful food for plants, but without real plants, they are just waste products. The usual guides for water changes will monitor the Nitrate build up to determine the volume to change and the frequency. Again, this guidance is aimed for planted tanks. I would suggest dividing the tank into thirds or quarters. You would do a thorough vacuuming on one section each water change, moving the decorations in that section. Any really dirty pieces could be removed for later rinsing in the duscard water, the other can be temporarily shifted. This can be done before you start vacuuming so you don't feel as rushed when vacuuming. In addition to the deep vacuuming, you would do light surface vacuuming of the entire tank. This, along with the technique in the video linked by @Guppysnail should help you get the most from your vacuuming.
  3. Widgets
    Here is an answer I put together yesterday: A few posts up on that thread are some pictures and a link to a recent discussion. Let us know if you have specific questions.
  4. Widgets
    My biggest water change mistake was back in my early days. As a kid I kept wild caught native fish in an tank on a picnic table under a tree in the back yard. They never really got any water changes, and often were overflowing with rainwater, nature's water change. When I got my first tropical tank I didn't know about water changes, so I didn't do any.
  5. Widgets
    Carbon is used for chemical filtration. It removes some organic and inorganic toxins. It does not do anything for Ammonia, Nitrites, or Nitrates. It will fairly quickly absorb what it can, then it can only provide surface area for the beneficial bacteria to grow on. The best use for carbon, if you choose to use it, is as a quick cleanup after treatment with medication, or for tannin removal (it the colored water bothers you). Here is a link to more information on carbon. https://www.thesprucepets.com/activated-carbon-in-the-aquarium-1380929
  6. Widgets
    Here is another take on the plumbing using two powerheads to provide linear flow for a river tank. https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/the-secret-to-setting-up-a-better-river-aquarium/ @Ken Burke We want a video of the solo shopping trip.
  7. Widgets
    Whatever you do with the stocking, I would take it slow and let the tank ecosystem react and adapt after each addition. Also, after you add the Tetras you may decide you want even more Tetras or something else instead of the White Cloud Minnows.
  8. Widgets
    I typically use a piece of foam. I always seem to have scraps around, maybe because I am always buying more.
  9. Widgets
    This article indicates that it is useful to manage an Ammonia spike, but shouldn't be used full time. There is also disagreement on using it to help start a cycle because it keeps the Ammonia from the bacteria. It also states that a salt solution is needed to release the Ammonia. I don't think it will do what you want. I do remember years ago the carbon inserts for filters were often a mix of carbon and zeolite. https://www.thesprucepets.com/using-zeolite-in-aquariums-1380937
  10. Widgets
    I remember editing files on dumb terminals connected to a mainframe, where each keystroke was sent back to the mainframe for processing and the updated display was then sent to the dumb terminal. Then there were smart terminal where the editing was all done locally on the terminal and the end result was sent back to the mainframe. Now there is a whole industry of "smart" devices that send everything back to the corporate server for processing. That is the very definition of a "dumb" device, but corporate marketing folks have convinced folks that this was a good or necessary thing. George Orwell predicted this in his book, "1984", but could never have predicted that instead of the government forcing these eavesdropping devices on everyone, companies would convince people to pay to have the eavesdropping devices in their home.
  11. Widgets
    To correct a misstatement made above, my tank pictured in the thread linked by @Guppysnail has only been running for 4 months. The UGF design will trap the wastes in and below the gravel, breaking it down to Nitrates to feed the plants. There are so many variables in how they can be setup, and therfore a wide range of performance. The amount of waste generated in the tank is a big factor. This includes the stocking level, the amount of feeding (or overfeeding), and the amount/size of fish poop generated. Too much waste can overwhelm the UGF and result in waste accumulating on the surface of the gravel, or even clogging the gravel bed. Also, fish that rearrange the gravel themselves may dig enough to expose the UGF grate and limit the filtration due to the partial bypass. The size of the gravel and the depth of the gravel bed will impact the amount of waste that the UGF can process. Smaller grained gravel can handle more waste. Deeper gravel beds can handle more waste. You can have too fine a gravel that drops through the slits in the grates and doesn't leave the needed water channels below the plates. The flow of the water through the gravel bed will also greatly impact the amount of waste that can be processed. The default setup uses airstones to push water to the surface. The size and quantity of bubbles will impact the flow rate. The more lift tubes used will increase the flow. For even more flow, a water pump can be used. This can be a power head that sends the output as user configurable flow in the tank. It can also be a HOB or canister filter, using the surface area of the gravel bed much like you would use a sponge prefilter. You can also setup a reverse flow UGF where the output from a canister filter is pumped down through the uplift tube. This configuration is not providing mechanical filtration, but is using the large surface area for beneficial bacteria growth. There are also some that are using extremely low flow rates through the UGF, trying to consume the oxygen in the water and produce an anoxic condition to consume Nitrates from the water. There are strong opinions on both sides of this practice. Some will say that you cannot have plants with UGF, but my plants have always done well when their roots make it to the nutrient rich mulm under the UGF plates. The only problem I see with plants and UGF is the difficulty in moving plants around once the roots go into the plates. It takes more time to extricate the plants and you loose some roots, but I usually trim some roots to promote growth when I plant new plants that I have purchased. Why should replanting be any different? If the UGF is collecting too much waste for it to process (or more than you are comfortable with) you can vacuum the gravel. It is best to do this in sections, only doing a portion on each water change. If you vacuum too much at one time , you could disturb too much of the beneficial bacteria. You can safely vacuum away any waste that accumulates on the surface of the gravel. Also note that a heavily planted tank like my Community Therapy tank is impossible to do much gravel vacuuming because of the plants everywhere. There are some folks that will send a hose down the uplift tube to siphon off as much of the collected mulm as possible.
  12. Widgets
    A sponge filter is a great biological filter, but can be a poor mechanical filter. It time the clarity should get better. In my opinion, it is best to have two forms of filtration, like your other tank that had multiple filters. A HOB would be a good pairing with the sponge filter.
  13. Widgets
    I am still getting at least one Least Killifish fry in the main tank every day. The mesh cover I was using is pushing up the grate allowing the smallest ones to escape from the holding box. I cut a piece of the foam that came with my AquaClear 100 filter to use on the output.
  14. Widgets
    I am glad that you are happy with the UGF. They are not for everyone. If you didn't like it, I would feel bad having lead you astray. Other than the bare bottom QT, I have UGF in all my tanks. I think more folks would enjoy the UGF if they actually tried one instead of listening to the stories.
  15. Widgets
    Yes, a magnetically driven piston is self limiting. The old piston pump that I had years ago (and gave away when I got out of the hobby) was driven by a shaft that always went full stroke. Running without a pressure relief valve would reduce the life of the leather gaskets on the pistons. I wish I still had that pump.
  16. Widgets
  17. Widgets
    Here is an excerpt from the link below: Driftwood – Many aquarists experience a white to greyish film or "fur" growing on newly installed pieces of driftwood. This is usually a fungus (but sometimes bacteria) and is harmless to you and your fish. You can remove it with a toothbrush, but it may return a few times before disappearing permanently. Another option is to bake or boil the wood or soak it in a mild bleach solution. If you choose the bleach method, rinse and soak the wood in fresh water and cure it outside in direct sunlight before returning it to the aquarium. Nerite snails, Otocinclus and bristlenose plecostomus are known to eat this mold as well. Avoid the use of chemical treatments, as they may have unexpected side-effects. https://www.aqueon.com/articles/maintain-planted-aquarium
  18. Widgets
    Not just phones. Think about all the corporate data mining devices that the big tech companies have convinced people to pay to have in their houses, monitoring and tracking them 24/7. How "smart" is that?
  19. Widgets
    I haven't seen any Cholla where the core channel was not hollow. It sounds like the collector/seller did not do a thorough enough job cleaning it, leaving it for you to deal with. I think you will be fine now that you cleaned it out.
  20. Widgets
    High porosity sponge would also work. But, if you are using a UGF for the tank, it would serve as the pressure relief plate.
  21. Widgets
    Some sort of pressure relief valve is needed. I would think you would need finer control than the bsll valve would give, but maybe the airflow is large enough that it will work fine. Think of it this way, if the pump is running continuously and is generating more air pressure than is needed to run your airlines, the pressure will continue to increase, building up stresses on the air handling system, generating heat, and reducing the operating efficiency. You are already seeing this with the increasing pressure causing air leaks that go away when you slightly open your ball valve. The building pressure will increase the air through your airlines and into your tanks, until equilibrium is reached. You may need to reduce the airflow with the valves which will increase the pressure and find a new equilibrium. I have often wondered if a larger system might benefit from using an air compressor with a secondary pressure valve. The compressor tank would pump up to a high pressure and shut off. The secondary pressure valve would feed the air system at a constant lower pressure. When the main tank looses enough pressure the compressor would pump it back up. Would a heavy duty high pressure pump running on a shorter duty cycle be more efficient than a lower pressure pump running continuously?
  22. Widgets
    I keep thinking of this:
  23. Widgets
    I don't know much about them, but I have a Nimbus Natural Sound sampler CD. They only record in a single take with a single binaural microphone. They record outside the studio in church halls and such. The sound team surveys the hall to find the sweet spot to place the microphone.
  24. Widgets
    I have two. An old home depot one that is general use (it if full of dirt right now) that is used for dirty water, and a white food grade bucket that is only used for fresh water.
  25. Widgets
    I picked one up for my Least Killifish and fry. I needed a place to temporarily house them while I reset and move my QT. I picked the large and am using it without the dividers. I had to find 5 fry that slipped through the outflow grate before I noticed. Hunting them down in the mixed fry in the tank was like playing "Where's Waldo", and I didn't know how many had escaped. I only have coarse sponge, so I used a spare filter media bag. I inserted the grate into the bag, then slid it into place. It is ugly with the majority of the bag sticking up, but it works. I'll have to get a small piece of fine sponge to fix it up right.
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