Chick-in-of-TheSea journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Did a water change on the 10 gallon today. Parameters are looking good. I plan to wait a little while more to be sure before the baby snails will be moved in. Got some algae going on in there. I wonder if snails will eat it. Lights off today.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The Anubia on the right side of the tank melted! I think there is one puny leaf left on it. Most plants spring back, so I left the roots with leaf in there and removed the dead stuff.

Also I believe the algae is from the plants being too small to use up all of the Easy Green. The water change would have diluted some of the Easy Green, so that should help. I am embracing the algae though. It means the tank is alive and algae does a great job at controlling nitrates.

[Solstice_Lacer]

Staghorn algae likes to grow in a disc/clump at the top of my airline in my shrimp only tank. That's the only place, so I leave it for a while for them to graze on, then eventually pull it. It comes off easy. Then the cycle begins anew 😅

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I moved the baby snails in, and all went well. I've been posting updates here.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/25/2022 at 4:04 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Did a water change on the 10 gallon today. Parameters are looking good. I plan to wait a little while more to be sure before the baby snails will be moved in. Got some algae going on in there. I wonder if snails will eat it. Lights off today.

I don't think that's algae.  Might be just bacterial blooming.

I would try to manually remove it, if it's really easy to remove then it's likely a mix of muck, mulm, and bacteria just random stuff.

If it's a real pain and it's stuck on then it might be some weird form of algae but it's the wrong color from what I can see.

I'll check back in the thread, but my only concern seeing this would literally just be flow.

On 6/18/2022 at 1:43 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 I’m told they might be salvia minima.

legitimately, best one you can get in my mind. I might have to beg you to send me some!

This is Salvinia minima

Edited July 9, 2022 by nabokovfan87
added photo

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 3:45 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I don't think that's algae.  Might be just bacterial blooming.

After the snails moved in they ate every last bit of it. Tank is spotless! Took them 2 days. 31 baby snails.
 

All the salvia minima either died or came out in water changes, not sure. Bummer.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Filtration woes (for the 29 gallon tank)

I’m discouraged. This year I changed to sand. It was looking good but I can’t seem to keep it clean. I think I figured out why. Filtration. UGH! My least favorite thing to deal with. 
 

To put it into perspective, I will vac the detritus, and the next day, this again.

A month or so ago, I had a filter problem. My filter died and I switched to an AquaClear. I cut my media to fit the AquaClear. It was fine until power failures occurred, and the AC would dump all its water and run dry when the power came back on (often when I was at work and couldn’t prime the filter). Meanwhile @nabokovfan87 helped me fix the Penguin.

Took the AC back. Now here’s where I think the problems started. I put the chopped up media into the Penguin. So, chunks of sponges and floss instead of properly fitting media. I did this for fear of losing my beneficial bacteria.
 

I didn’t put 2 and 2 together; I knew the mega snail was a waste factory and figured it is what it is. But now I’m not sure. That much waste overnight? Everywhere? I think not. What I think is happening is that detritus is flowing through the sponge chunks and not really getting filtered.
 

So today I did a big water change in order to vac a lot. Maybe like 40% water change. It made a huge mess. I cut the filter off during this because of water level, and a lot of the detritus fell back down on the sand. 
 

I cut fine floss (the green and white stuff) to PROPER size (6” x 7”). I don’t have enough coarse sponge to cut to size but I did my best and filled the gaps with the coarse sponge chunks. 

If any filter NERMs are still with me up to this point, I could use some help. I want to optimize the filter to prevent all this gunk from going out into the tank. I know I need to pick up another coarse sponge so I could cut to size. I want to preserve my nitrogen cycle as much as possible. Today I took out half of the seeded chunks in order to fit the new stuff. 

I also added a 29g sponge filter to help. (Thanks CARE package!)

The filter shown in pics is the Penguin biowheel 200. No wheel is in it though. The wheel had a tear, and I had to retire it. Hence the outflow sponge.

Also should note that I removed the pre filter sponge but it’s still in the tank to preserve the bacteria. I just need to get a lot of these floating particles cleared up after the recent vac. There was quite a bit.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I got some plants at the LFS today. I believe these are hornwort and water sprite, and I got a bonus plant. I also like this graphic they drew.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/22/2022 at 3:21 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I didn’t put 2 and 2 together; I knew the mega snail was a waste factory and figured it is what it is. But now I’m not sure. That much waste overnight? Everywhere? I think not. What I think is happening is that detritus is flowing through the sponge chunks and not really getting filtered.

I think there's a few things going on, but I wanted to ask if you see a ton more snails at night?  Maybe there is that many hiding?
 

On 7/22/2022 at 3:21 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The filter goes from right to left as well as bottom to top in terms of flow.  This is similar to the Aqueon with how the flow is and it's slightly difficult or weird to setup.  I used to use a half height sponge in the rear and then have a full height sponge to try to take the majority of the muck out.  Here is how I would try to set it up in future.



I don't think there's an issue with where you have your ceramic media, but that would also be a good place to stuff your seeded media and just let that flow into the entire cavity.  There might be added muck in that input section, but that's difficult to know without having it on hand.

Hopefully this helps with the detritus a bit!

The gaps you're mentioning could be allowing bypass and allowing the detritus you're seeing to flow right back into the tank.  It's so frustrating when filters bypass like this.  I've wasted a lot of sponge because it was slightly off.  If you're doing it by hand, always try to go slightly over and test fit.  Easier to trim very small bits at the end.  It's definitely not easy when you have weird shapes and stuff to deal with as well.

 

 

On 7/22/2022 at 3:21 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Keeping sand clean definitely isn't easy, especially when it's new. Eventually you will find a balance.  I would use the tip of the siphon to get stuff in the water and then try to vacuum it out.  You can see the separation here where the red particles from the food are going into the sand quite a bit.  Having a longer siphon (the rigid siphon inside the tank being wider in diameter and longer) and using the method Cory demonstrates of crimping the tube and stopping flow is really going to help.  Because you're going into the substrate to remove the food from a little bit deeper than just the top surface, I would try to plunge it in about 1/2" deep and then see if that helps.

EDIT: This post might be helpful as well for setting yours up. 
 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

On 7/22/2022 at 6:21 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I think there's a few things going on, but I wanted to ask if you see a ton more snails at night?  Maybe there is that many hiding?

I don’t have the types of snails that burrow. I just have 2 mystery snails and 1 nerite that stay out and about.

 

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Here is how I would try to set it up in future

I already see my problem. I just jammed a whole bunch of stuff into it and didn’t leave any gaps for water flow. My logic was, if the sponge is coarse, water flows through it. I need to leave a gap.

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I don't think there's an issue with where you have your ceramic media, but that would also be a good place to stuff your seeded media and just let that flow into the entire cavity. 

Then where would I keep the ceramic media? Drop in the water flow gap at the rear?

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

There might be added muck in that input section

There’s a bit, a layer about as thick as if you spread margarine on toast, before it melts.

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

gaps you're mentioning could be allowing bypass and allowing the detritus you're seeing to flow right back into the tank.  It's so frustrating when filters bypass like this

My own fault for using media chunks instead of cutting to size. But after cutting things to size for the AquaClear, which I initially thought I was going to keep, I didn’t have enough materials on hand anymore to cut things properly for the Penguin.

On 7/22/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Keeping sand clean definitely isn't easy, especially when it's new. Eventually you will find a balance.  I would use the tip of the siphon to get stuff in the water and then try to vacuum it out.  You can see the separation here where the red particles from the food are going into the sand quite a bit.  Having a longer siphon (the rigid siphon inside the tank being wider in diameter and longer) and using the method Cory demonstrates of crimping the tube and stopping flow is really going to help.  Because you're going into the substrate to remove the food from a little bit deeper than just the top surface, I would try to plunge it in about 1/2" deep and then see if that helps

This is my siphon.

The tank is taller than the hard plastic. I need to get a longer one. Can’t go wider because I’ve got that big piece of spider wood to work around. 
I usually just angle the siphon and make a swirling motion above the sand, but more recently I’ve been going a little bit into the sand and crimping. I think I will keep doing that because it keeps the sand looking nicer and it prevents that ugly line in the front of the tank where the layers form.

I knew I had a filter problem when the detritus was collecting in one area. The filter is in the back right corner and it flows forward, hangs a left, and then a big pile of detritus forms in the back left corner. (All of these directional are from viewer perspective, facing the tank.)

This photo was taken this morning.
 

How inefficient. The water is just flowing over top of the coarse sponge. Fortunately the filter floss is getting the final pass. But yeah, I need to go get more coarse sponge to cut to size. Think I can add some Fritz Zyme 7 directly to the HOB once I create my water flow gap and put new PROPERLY CUT coarse sponge in there? Prevent parameter swing?

As always, thanks for taking the time to break things down @nabokovfan87. Filtration is not something I really take an interest in. Rookie mistake, heh. Kind of embarrassing considering how many years I’ve been keeping aquariums. But only within the last year did I find ACO and learn some tips and move away from the default cartridges.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Finally I gave all the bad looking, black spotted Java fern a haircut. Long overdue. I am keeping the trimmed pieces in the breeder box because trimmed leaves of Java fern, if left to float, will make babies. I just didn’t want it to get stuck to the filters.

I added some other plants, water sprite and what I believed was hornwort but may actually be something else according to my plant ID help thread. I will have to find out the care requirements to see if I need to put it into the substrate. For now I sunk everything with plant anchors. 

Also I got a bonus plant! @Fish Folk told me it was a lily. 
 

Also before I read the forums, I chopped all the hornwort-looking-stuff in half. Then reapplied plant anchors. Hope that was the right thing to do. Who knows? LOL

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2022 at 6:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

How inefficient. The water is just flowing over top of the coarse sponge. Fortunately the filter floss is getting the final pass. But yeah, I need to go get more coarse sponge to cut to size. Think I can add some Fritz Zyme 7 directly to the HOB once I create my water flow gap and put new PROPERLY CUT coarse sponge in there? Prevent parameter swing?

 yeah, should be fine.  I would still stuff the output side of the fine pad with your ceramic.  The black course foam, just lift it above the water.  Water hits the fine pad, not really going to want to flow that direction so it should stop the bypass at the top and force the water through the coarse sponge.

You've got room in there, so it's all good.  You can probably fit 2x the coarse pads, 1x the fine pad, and the ceramic all in that left cavity.

On 7/23/2022 at 6:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

This is my siphon.

I have the same one, lol.  It's covered in worms. 😞

On 7/23/2022 at 6:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Then where would I keep the ceramic media? Drop in the water flow gap at the rear?

After the fine pad.  After the water is "cleaned" you would have biological and chemical stuff.

On 7/23/2022 at 6:05 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I usually just angle the siphon and make a swirling motion above the sand, but more recently I’ve been going a little bit into the sand and crimping. I think I will keep doing that because it keeps the sand looking nicer and it prevents that ugly line in the front of the tank where the layers form.

Agreed, this is how I did mine.  I never was able to just go over it and get the heavier pieces of leftovers.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/23/2022 at 4:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Water hits the fine pad, not really going to want to flow that direction so it should stop the bypass at the top and force the water through the coarse sponge

Not sure I follow.  The flow within the HOB hits the coarse sponge first, then the fine pad.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/23/2022 at 4:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

ou've got room in there, so it's all good.  You can probably fit 2x the coarse pads, 1x the fine pad, and the ceramic all in that left cavity.

Maybe it's not visible in the photo, but the filter is packed full.  No room to put the ceramic or anything else. I would have to remove some stuff to make changes.  

Black coarse foam <-- ceramic <--- intake

Black coarse foam

Seeded fine foam

New fine foam

⬇️

outflow

⬇️

sponge @ waterfall to dampen sound.

 

Went to 2 stores today.  Both out of coarse foam. 😞 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2022 at 1:22 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Not sure I follow.  The flow within the HOB hits the coarse sponge first, then the fine pad.

So... let me try to explain.  This is where I was saying I had used half-height stuff because I screwed up too cutting foam.  If you're looking at the filter from the side:



If you don't have 2 layers of the black sponge, all good.  The water flow is right to left, but also bottom to top.  The fine pad is more restrictive than the coarse pad, so the water will flow up through the coarse pad until it reaches the water surface and then it'll flow to the output.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Thanks! Your diagrams are the best!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Critique this for me @nabokovfan87?

sound dampening sponge:

Already significantly less detritus! 😍

 

You can compare this one to the photos over on the Bolivian ram journal in my signature line below. Those really show the root issue well. 🫤 I assure you I was keeping up with tank maintenance!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Wait. Spoke too soon…

Really lame temporary fix:

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/24/2022 at 3:49 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Critique this for me @nabokovfan87?

Looks good to me.  I'd try to shove the ceramic stuff so it's fully submerged.  It's always annoying because it doesn't want to sit flat, but get it to sit flat against the plastic, you'll be good.  You can probably run 2-3 bags of that ceramic stuff or a larger size one.

 

 

On 7/24/2022 at 3:59 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Really lame temporary fix:

This won't help testing for nitrates! 😂

 

 

On 7/24/2022 at 3:59 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Wait. Spoke too soon…

I don't think it's an issue, honestly.  You're either getting back pressure from the foam slowing flow down a bit, which is fine as long as it's a small amount.  Just be aware you might have an issue where you find water on the glass top.  It's very likely doing that because the media on the right side is just raising the water level in that cavity.  I wouldn't worry about it while you're trying to cycle the new media.

Edited July 24, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/24/2022 at 11:34 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

This won't help testing for nitrates! 😂

Fortunately just bought a new nitrate test kit and it came with another card. 😌

I put the pre filter sponge back on hoping that will slow flow a little as well.

[Minanora]

Your most recent change was not overflowing in the beginning. It appears to me that your media collected enough gunk to make it overflow already.

While seeding the new media I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's just doing a good job picking up all the detritus.

Having fine media on the right will make that happen faster than coarse media as well. Since it's the first media the water is going through.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Minanora

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/24/2022 at 12:01 PM, Minanora said:

Your most recent change was not overflowing in the beginning. It appears to me that your media collected enough gunk to make it overflow already.

While seeding the new media I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's just doing a good job picking up all the detritus.

Having fine media on the right will make that happen faster than coarse media as well. Since it's the first media the water is going through.

That makes sense. Thanks! Originally I had the ceramics there at the intake.

Maybe I could just put one of the seeded sponge at the inflow.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Brandon p]

On 7/23/2022 at 4:22 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Not sure I follow.  The flow within the HOB hits the coarse sponge first, then the fine pad.

I go fine floss then the course sponge but I have the course sponge stand a little higher so water cans go over the top. In one I use a filter that Rhett use for intake as the water out flows. I use it more to have the water more gently fall in the tankI have a small babe of ceramic cylinders on the left. Then floss the the course sponge( normally I only have one not two I was working in the tank and wanted to stop)any bigger pieces faster then the intake sponge on the outfall. I doubt it does much other than slow and spread the water flow. I did because of course Angelfish fry. They were getting outed all over.  I think the two of you got ithat thing down. Nice work

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:11 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Originally I had the ceramics there at the intake.

Maybe I could just put one of the seeded sponge at the inflow.

I'd just lift up the sponge, see what it does.  From what I remember there's a little inlet hole that is to the top left of that chamber where the water actually pumps in.  There's not really much / anything flowing in that chamber.  It's just a pool, all the overflows like that are usually just tied to water level.  Minanora is correct, sponge slows down the flow enough, water rises, welcome to the silly seachem tidal world.  The ones like this though, you're talking such small % of bypass I would legitimately never worry about it.  I'd be aware of it, but never worry.  All I care about is whether or not the lid is getting wet.  You're sponge is still doing 95% of the work for you.

Edited July 24, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I think I got it. I made the gap under the black sponge, submerged the ceramic media, and pulled out the nitrate test card. Seems to be all set now.