Search found 40 matches

by Boris
05 Aug 2020, 11:22
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

if you wish to have a low maintenance tank, apart from low stocking rate, I would utilise automatic water change. Yes, automatic water change is a future plan and apart from reducing maintenance it adds stability which may be an underrated quality in our fish keeping? The only(?) drawback of this i...
by Boris
04 Aug 2020, 14:34
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Thank you all three for the links and info! I am not claiming to contradict Walstad or anyone else. I am simply going through the process where I learn something, think about it, have an idea and then learn why my idea was not correct. While waiting for Walstad's book to arrive I have done another e...
by Boris
03 Aug 2020, 14:03
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

I followed the lead but the main reference is to a book / which I would have to buy. Not the best way to convince me. Aparet from that, she wrote that people, even if they have a planted tank, misunderstand the amount of nitrogen taken up by plants. I must say - it is rather easy to estimate this a...
by Boris
03 Aug 2020, 13:48
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

About plants bringing oxygen down into the substrate through the roots, this article by Diane Walstad says that aquatic plants prefer ammonia to nitrate even in root uptake. Nitrification close to the roots would seem to be a disadvantage for the plant unless there is an even bigger advantage in so...
by Boris
03 Aug 2020, 09:59
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Hi all, ......Overall, if you are looking for nitrate removal the way that I think is easiest and least likely to accidentally poison everything is to use fast-growing plants in the aquarium that you trim back (assuming that you remove the plant trimmings from the aquarium). That would definitely b...
by Boris
01 Aug 2020, 11:52
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

A lot of the claims made by companies that manufacture "premium biofiltration media" are just smoke and mirrors , and would be picked apart by any scientist in seconds. It isn't the media that is important it is the dissolved oxygen, microbial nitrification is very rarely limited by lack ...
by Boris
01 Aug 2020, 08:05
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Somewhere on this site I have posted a picture of one of my tanks with a Mattenfilter. Somebody, commented on how clear the water was. This was when I first realized this fact. Now that you say it I have also noticed that there is very little suspended particles in my tank also. When I installed th...
by Boris
01 Aug 2020, 07:55
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

It seems like Mankysanke is claiming that the center is more negative (and, obviously, the outside is full of positive ions) which causes the ammonia to "switch partners" constantly, moving inwards each time. This sort of behavior is possible for ionic bonds, which are not bonds between t...
by Boris
31 Jul 2020, 22:34
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Try diluting your tank water samples down, and see if that still holds true. It isn't that NO3 values are always wrong, they just have a certain amount of uncertainty about them. EDITED: If you mean measuring low concentrations then yes, I do get the same result? The biggest source of inaccuracy is...
by Boris
31 Jul 2020, 21:10
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

I came to all this by a strange route. So what was your conclusion and why the poret foam? Pothos seems to be considered one of the best immersed plants for nitrate uptake. I have had pothos in my big tank for a few years. At first it grew great but it eventually stopped growing but still looked he...
by Boris
31 Jul 2020, 18:14
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

I was pretty much taught what Darrel said about nitrate testing. I was also taught that the nitrate kit is most inaccurate in the 0 - 20 ppm range. I was also taught that one of the things that occurs inside a matten is it will deal with a lot of the waste that has the potential to cloud the water ...
by Boris
30 Jul 2020, 16:45
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

This thread has links to threads with links so I am not sure where I read it but somewhere, I think it was Darrel, mentioned "offgassing through a plenum"? There are no results when I search this forum for either plenum nor Novak but are you familiar with Dr. Kevin Novak? He advocates havi...
by Boris
30 Jul 2020, 08:05
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

mg/l is mass but what is ppm, is it mass, volume or molar? Yes, I know you have cautioned about hobbyist test kits but they do give a trend which follows prediction. After a water change they show a steady increase until the next WC and when you start up a new tank you get the increase-decrease curv...
by Boris
29 Jul 2020, 20:25
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Thanks! That is what I was thinking. My plans for a Synodontis tank were put on hold due to the recent restrictions on movement so in the meantime I got a group of C. moorii for the 100 gallon. I also installed a matten filter but since the tank was up and running I didn't want to empty it to instal...
by Boris
29 Jul 2020, 11:26
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Big foam filter media will tend to do a fair amount of denitrification and still not result in water which is short on oxygen. I do not need to do all sorts of complicated testing to know this. I use these filters in tanks where I keep Hypancistrus species breeding and growing out. I have a lot of ...
by Boris
13 Mar 2020, 18:20
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank

You keep Cardinals in a tank for Synodontiws multipunctatus? Yes (neons)! I know that these tetras have the opposite requirements compared to tanganyikans but I am rather certain that they are not wild caught but farmed for generations in whatever water the fish farm had. They have lived in this wa...
by Boris
13 Mar 2020, 15:01
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank

Update: Tank is set up for catfish. Large canister filter, stream pump flowing across the surface, crushed coral and limestone rocks. pH is 8, Gh 8, Kh 6, temperature 77 F (25 C). I have ordered 8 multies. The shop had a few about 2,5". No pictures but I could not see anything that suggested hy...
by Boris
05 Mar 2020, 08:20
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Somehow I had missed Bas reply.
I don't have access to large rocks so I will stack smaller ones in piles to create hidy holes.I have used styrofoam before but had the problem of it floating.
I'll see what I can find in the way of tiles?
by Boris
04 Mar 2020, 15:56
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

To me it sounds like you will have problems vacuuming the substrate and getting all the crud out. If you will have a layer of sand, I am not sure why you'd need an additional weight-distributing / safety contraption. As far as I am aware sand is not considered a sufficient support for heavy rocks. ...
by Boris
04 Mar 2020, 15:47
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank

Your question appears to be about the second photo, where the color is close to 25 ppm on the photo and my PC screen. The difference between 25 and 50 is tiny but I think yours is closer to the 25. Again, if I understand it right, it can easily be much higher in reality. I don't understand the firs...
by Boris
04 Mar 2020, 13:00
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

I am setting up my Synodontis tank and there will be rock work over more than half of the foot print. As egg crate is not easily found over here I am using this under gravel filter under the rock piles. I am NOT using it as a filter, only for load distribution of the rocks. It is about half an inch ...
by Boris
02 Mar 2020, 17:51
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank

As you can see I have changed the subject line from lucipinnis to multipunctatus. I have decided that a group of multi's is what I will keep and I have started breaking down my tank to this end. I now have to figure out a good furniture for both me and the fish and could use some advice. I am not a ...
by Boris
28 Feb 2020, 16:51
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Darrel is not a PhD? I was browsing and came across this video by "Joey - King of DIY". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3B7BiJkwU To sum it up: His rule of thumb for sizing a canister filter for your tank - you need to divide the advertised flow rate in half to get actual flow rate (true...
by Boris
28 Feb 2020, 15:51
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon lucipinnis tank??

This is the Salifert NO3-test. It has two ranges, low - looking from the side and medium, looking from the top.
It is more than 10 but is it 25 or 50?
I will try JBL next time.

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by Boris
28 Feb 2020, 11:14
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

There is a huge amount of scientific literature out there. You can be a successful aquarium keeper without understanding the processes that occur in the tank, and nothing beats experience, but a little knowledge, and critical thinking, gives you a real advantage, partially because it stops you doin...
by Boris
27 Feb 2020, 12:52
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

As he suggests the nature of the surface plants (Lemna minor) and the lack of submerged plants will reduce the dissolved oxygen levels in the "55g with surface plants". If the floating plant had been Pistia those values would have been much nearer saturation. What is the difference? I tho...
by Boris
27 Feb 2020, 09:06
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Hi Darrel! <" Dissolved oxygen "> is definitely the limiting factor for nitrification, particularly when you deal with more concentrated organic wastes. Have a look at < So what is organic waste? "> thread on UKAPS it talks about Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). I agree, DO's importan...
by Boris
26 Feb 2020, 20:43
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

Great replies, thank you! While we are on the subject, I have an Eheim canister filter with four different kinds of media with different shapes and pore sizes and an enormous surface area for BB. When wet the capillary forces draws water into the depths of these pores which are then coated with BB. ...
by Boris
26 Feb 2020, 19:34
Forum: African Catfishes
Topic: 100 gallon multipunctatus tank
Replies: 21
Views: 23978

Re: 100 gallon lucipinnis tank??

That is interesting about the tests. I don't think we can get API in Europe so I can't compare directly. I have very good tap water with only some pH buffer added. Currently I am using Salifert and I can tell the difference between 100 and 50 but below that it is mostly guessing which very pale shad...
by Boris
26 Feb 2020, 17:24
Forum: Tank Talk
Topic: About filtration
Replies: 81
Views: 64849

Re: About filtration

IMHO you are getting world class advice above. The later stages of the waste decomposition you are speaking of only take up DO from your water and their final products of decomposition are CO2 and H2O and they do not produce ammonia or nitrite, so these processes, while requiring valid attention, d...

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