Good point, my tap water's buffering capacity isn't so great and even though my plant load outweighs the swimming inhabitants by a lot in my 29g I usually find myself changing water just to get the pH back up. I'm starting to play with things like crushed coral to help with stabilizing pH, any thoughts?
240g stocking/compatibility help
- Thread starter BenPen
- Start date
Nothing you listed is commonly viewed as overly sensitive to nitrates. Almost all research is done in aquaculture on fish used in commercial fish farming applications so exact "safe" concentration levels are not available for most aquarium fish. Any plants I use in tanks are more for aesthetic reasons than nitrate control, but have seen a couple of articles that indicate 5-10 ppm is adequate for most plants. 20 ppm or less seems to be the standard most hobbyist shoot for, but I would be lying if I told you I never exceeded that. You will have to make adjustments in maintenance over time as the stock grows or changes. If it gets out of hand, you can always reduce the stocking accordingly. It sounds like you have realistic ideas about what can/will work so I don't think you will have any issues with overstocking.
Sorry for the multiple posts to your one post but I just reread it and realized I missed a big chunk.
I use multiple filters in all my tanks. I like the extra flow to avoid dead spots as well as aeration. Plus, the peace of mind that comes with redundancies - the power goes out or my HOB dies I still have my sponge filter going that I can connect to a battery powered pump or the sponge filter clogs, I still have my HOB going. I also have two thermometers on all my tanks. Battery gives out on my digital, I still have my glass. Glass shatters and I have to chuck it I still have my digital. Paranoia induced waste of money to some people, but hey, it helps me sleep at night knowing I'm covered when life inevitably happens.
And hmm, I've always heard CO2 helped curb algae growth. One of these days I'll have to do a dry start but these days I just don't think I'd have the patience for it.
BenPen: "I use multiple filters in all my tanks. I like the extra flow to avoid dead spots as well as aeration."
For dead spots - ok. It depends on overall layout and outlet pipe (is it single output, or something like a flute - I made myself a flute with holes going to different sides, while few of them are for surface moving. Tested O2 - everything came even better than suspected). If you're not bothered by extra gear in tank - everything is good, personally, I prefer more "clean" view. On the other hand, having "emergency" equipment is a must - I just don't put that all in at once.
About aeration - it's basically surface movement. If you can achieve that - there's no need for more O2, since plants prefer CO2.
BenPen: " I also have two thermometers on all my tanks"
Why? Just have a glass one in and in case it shatters - have another one in your "emergency equipment" pile.
robham777: "As far as water changes go, the optimal nitrate level is zero so even if at 1 week you have only 10 ppm accumulation it is still beneficial to reduce it."
Not sure how to identify the zero behind planted tank, since you should firstly identify the amount of nitrate, taken by plants, and in constant cycle convert it fully to get it to zero.
Behind every idea, I try to think of logical/scientific facts that could prove that. I wonder what is the nitrate in places where Oscars or bichirs live, since, like people, we all would like to live in places with zero pollution, but people live in cities and small amounts of pollution even help you to adapt to it. Stable conditions is a key or a very slight incremental movement to one or the other side (like temperature in lakes... at night it lowers a few degrees, while at day - increases...)
BenPen: "I tend to aim for =/<20ppm in a planted tank to avoid starving the plants."
I think it's a good aim, tho, the time will tell. Maybe you'll be able to keep it =/<10ppm or even =/<5 ppm without constant weekly water changes. Overall, I'd still recommend getting many tests, since if you'll be able to adjust food amounts, when fish grow - they require more and more and it soon gets tricky to determine how much to change and when. For few months now, I somehow managed to get ~1 ppm in small tanks (up to 10g) with many simple fishes/fry and plecos, shrimps, snails and as in yours case, I change a little bit (10-20%) of water sometimes just out of paranoia.
BenPen: "I'm curious as to your feeding schedules."
I feed them once every 2 days. What is also important, in my opinion, having different eating type fishes, invertebrates. Some for when food is firstly introduced to water, some for leftovers.
I think of a tank as a separate underwater ecosystem. Over time it adapts - some plants die, some algae grow... The only cleaning (talking about using brushes, etc...) which is required is cleaning glass for esthetic reasons. (I'm also trimming plants to make it easier for them to grow, but besides esthetics and not wanting some of the plants to die - it makes more harm than good.) Algae on rocks/wood - means something isn't right where you want it to be (or maybe it's ok with you... just look at it as another plant type. You either kill it or let it flourish) and try fighting it with adjusting your own inputs (food, lightning amount, etc.) and not the hard way. Fight the cause, not the result. Of course, all this applies only in normal environment tanks - with plants, wood/rocks, etc... not the bare ones.
For dead spots - ok. It depends on overall layout and outlet pipe (is it single output, or something like a flute - I made myself a flute with holes going to different sides, while few of them are for surface moving. Tested O2 - everything came even better than suspected). If you're not bothered by extra gear in tank - everything is good, personally, I prefer more "clean" view. On the other hand, having "emergency" equipment is a must - I just don't put that all in at once.
About aeration - it's basically surface movement. If you can achieve that - there's no need for more O2, since plants prefer CO2.
BenPen: " I also have two thermometers on all my tanks"
Why? Just have a glass one in and in case it shatters - have another one in your "emergency equipment" pile.
robham777: "As far as water changes go, the optimal nitrate level is zero so even if at 1 week you have only 10 ppm accumulation it is still beneficial to reduce it."
Not sure how to identify the zero behind planted tank, since you should firstly identify the amount of nitrate, taken by plants, and in constant cycle convert it fully to get it to zero.
Behind every idea, I try to think of logical/scientific facts that could prove that. I wonder what is the nitrate in places where Oscars or bichirs live, since, like people, we all would like to live in places with zero pollution, but people live in cities and small amounts of pollution even help you to adapt to it. Stable conditions is a key or a very slight incremental movement to one or the other side (like temperature in lakes... at night it lowers a few degrees, while at day - increases...)
BenPen: "I tend to aim for =/<20ppm in a planted tank to avoid starving the plants."
I think it's a good aim, tho, the time will tell. Maybe you'll be able to keep it =/<10ppm or even =/<5 ppm without constant weekly water changes. Overall, I'd still recommend getting many tests, since if you'll be able to adjust food amounts, when fish grow - they require more and more and it soon gets tricky to determine how much to change and when. For few months now, I somehow managed to get ~1 ppm in small tanks (up to 10g) with many simple fishes/fry and plecos, shrimps, snails and as in yours case, I change a little bit (10-20%) of water sometimes just out of paranoia.
BenPen: "I'm curious as to your feeding schedules."
I feed them once every 2 days. What is also important, in my opinion, having different eating type fishes, invertebrates. Some for when food is firstly introduced to water, some for leftovers.
I think of a tank as a separate underwater ecosystem. Over time it adapts - some plants die, some algae grow... The only cleaning (talking about using brushes, etc...) which is required is cleaning glass for esthetic reasons. (I'm also trimming plants to make it easier for them to grow, but besides esthetics and not wanting some of the plants to die - it makes more harm than good.) Algae on rocks/wood - means something isn't right where you want it to be (or maybe it's ok with you... just look at it as another plant type. You either kill it or let it flourish) and try fighting it with adjusting your own inputs (food, lightning amount, etc.) and not the hard way. Fight the cause, not the result. Of course, all this applies only in normal environment tanks - with plants, wood/rocks, etc... not the bare ones.
"Nitrogen is abundant on earth, making up about 80% of our air as N2 gas. Most plants cannot use it in this form. However, blue-green algae and legumes have the ability to convert N2 gas into nitrate (NO3-), which can be used by plants. Plants use nitrate to build protein, and animals that eat plants also use organic nitrogen to build protein. When plants and animals die or excrete waste, this nitrogen is released into the environment as NH4+ (ammonium). This ammonium is eventually oxidized by bacteria into nitrite (NO2-) and then into nitrate. In this form it is relatively common in freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Nitrate thus enters streams from natural sources like decomposing plants and animal waste as well as human sources like sewage or fertilizer.
Nitrate is measured in mg/L. Natural levels of nitrate are usually less than 1 mg/L. Concentrations over 10 mg/L will have an effect on the freshwater aquatic environment. 10 mg/L is also the maximum concentration allowed in human drinking water by the U.S. Public Health Service. For a sensitive fish such as salmon the recommended concentration is 0.06 mg/L.
Water with low dissolved oxygen may slow the rate at which ammonium is converted to nitrite (NO2-) and finally nitrate (NO3-). Nitrite and ammonium are far more toxic than nitrate to aquatic life."
http://www.fosc.org/WQData/WQParameters.htm
It's just what I've always done. Aside from the added benefits, I like having that safety net. Yeah, if your thermometer breaks while you're at work you can just swap it out when you get home, but if your only filter goes out those few hours could be fatal. Or if it were to go out in the middle of the night in a planted tank thus killing any water flow while all your plants are releasing CO2. It's just not worth the risk to me especially if you've already gone through the trouble and expense of buying a back up filter in the first place.
I test all parameters weekly at the bare minimum, sometimes more if I've made a big change like moving lots of plants/stock around. Not sure why you'd assume I'm not already doing that. How else would I know what my NO3 levels are?
I personally like feeding on a daily basis for the most part. I enjoy the interaction and it keeps my fish from feeling the need to decimate my snail/shrimp/fry colonies. I guess it would allow me to do a little less maintenance in the long run, but even though I feed daily(I skip at least a meal a week) it's still a very small amount. For instance, my betta might get a single pellet in the morning and a single piece of bloodworm(eye size) at night. Some people might consider it over feeding, but it works for my systems.
And I agree on the last point. I don't see it as fish keeping, it's an ecosystem. Personally I like the look of some algae, plus it's food for a lot of the things I keep. It all boils down to what the individual wants out of their setup.
