Filter size won’t do anything in that case - they best way to deal with bioload is increasing your water changes.
My pond thread
- Thread starter AR1
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i am doing 70 percent water change per week on my 500 gallon. The problem is i am feeding them more than usual to keep aggresion at bay which means they are pooping more. The reason i am upgrading my filter size(meaning media quantity) is due to these large water changes. I am trying to cut them down to 40 percent per week. these large changes are helping me keep the nitrates down but they are stressfull for the fish
i don't think so. The readings are within suitable ranges. Both the snakehead and pacu are eating like pigs with no fish showing any signs of stress or ammonia burns. They are also breathing normaly
That's deceptive because some fish have a much higher tolerance to nitrates and pollutants. Don't get lulled to sleep by that. without numbers and actual testing there's no way to tell anything.
Instead of one 70% change per week try (2) 50% changes per week. Spaced evenly say Mon and Thurs.
But my oscar does fine in this Ph. The oscar is in my aquarium, not the pond, but the ph is same.
Oscars are soft water, low pH fish from Amazonia, as is the Pacu (they do best at pH 7 or lower).
Amphillophines (red devils) are from the great lakes of Nicaragua, where the waters are hard, and have high pH (minimally pH 7.8 reaching up to almost 9).
If you want to make a dent in nitrate, and not need to do massive water changes, the ratio of plant mass, to fish mass, will need to be substantially much higher.
Normal filtration does nothing to reduce nitrate, the product of normal bio filtration is nitrate (one reason it is looked for when cycling a new tank)
Its not that aquariums need nitrate, its just an indicator of a complete cycle..
The plant mass below, is minimally what I need, to take a bite out of nitrate in my 300 gal system, and from looking at the fish mass in your photos,, my fish bio load is much smaller that yours, with your 3 large fish (and when they get even larger, you will need to exponentially increase plant mass.
Note the thickness of the stem (trunk) on the dieffenbachia.
If your pond was my pond, I'd add about a half dozen more large plants, that are heavy feeders, such as umbrella palm
The reedy plants below in pots, are Umbrella palm
Below are umbrella palms, in the middle of my 1K gal kiddy pool, where the plant mass takes up at least 1/3 of the space
Amphillophines (red devils) are from the great lakes of Nicaragua, where the waters are hard, and have high pH (minimally pH 7.8 reaching up to almost 9).
If you want to make a dent in nitrate, and not need to do massive water changes, the ratio of plant mass, to fish mass, will need to be substantially much higher.
Normal filtration does nothing to reduce nitrate, the product of normal bio filtration is nitrate (one reason it is looked for when cycling a new tank)
Its not that aquariums need nitrate, its just an indicator of a complete cycle..
The plant mass below, is minimally what I need, to take a bite out of nitrate in my 300 gal system, and from looking at the fish mass in your photos,, my fish bio load is much smaller that yours, with your 3 large fish (and when they get even larger, you will need to exponentially increase plant mass.
Note the thickness of the stem (trunk) on the dieffenbachia.
If your pond was my pond, I'd add about a half dozen more large plants, that are heavy feeders, such as umbrella palm
The reedy plants below in pots, are Umbrella palm
Below are umbrella palms, in the middle of my 1K gal kiddy pool, where the plant mass takes up at least 1/3 of the space
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So how come i see numerous community tanks with RD and oscar coexisting
So let me get this straight. Normal filtration only converts nitrites into nitrates and does nothing about the nitrates(am i correct) and in order to remove the nitates, water changes have to be done or plants should be planted (like in your setup) to take the nitrates.
So your telling me that jungle of yours only makes a dent in your setup? Because then i must plant an entire amazon rainforest to filter my 500 gallon predator pond
