12 Volt Man's Aqueon 150 Gallon Startup Thread

[Bazinga]

I like the Vaugan store. its nice.

make sure if you get the 150 get the Aqueon brand, its much better built than the Marineland/perfecto ones that most big al's store carry.

thanks for the heads up i will look into that brand vs the others

 

[12 Volt Man]

sorry for the crappy pics, I will get better ones as these fish grow and colour up.

 

[12 Volt Man]

its funny, the redhooks have grown significantly since I got them in december, but since its been slow growth I have hardly noticed it.

but my Dad sure did when he was over the other day LOL

when I look at the pics from when I first got them to today, its clear they have doubled in size:

 

[SteveR]

yes. it is very interesting, secure/recession proof (its never going away as long as there are humans around) and it pays well. I really can't complain.

the treatment process is in essence very similar to what we do in our fish tanks.

you filter the water to get it clear after settling
you expose it to nitrifying bacteria to break down ammonia

the only real difference is that in wastewater treatment, we disinfect (with UV light or chlorine - which we don't use anymore)

because wastewater contains pathogens, we disinfect to protect public health and the environment as we discharge to a stream that is full of fish etc.

It sounds it. I always wondered about sewage plants etc I know one in Scotland a few mines from my house. So is the stuff they are putting back out of the plant into the sea (sea in the one near mines) like really safe after all that process? Would you drink it lol? Or is it still "bad". I just can't imagine "poo" becoming not "poo", no matter how much I understand aquarium filtering chemistry.

 

[12 Volt Man]

it is safe for the ocean/stream that it is discharged to, but not safe to drink.

this is because there will be a legal limit of E.Coli bacteria that the treatment plant must not exceed on a monthly average. in our case for example, we cannot exceed 200 coliform forming units per 100 ml of water. this is our limit, what we actually discharge is usually under 10 coliform units per 100ml of water.

we are always far far below our legal limit.

in order for it to be safe for drinking water, the average E. Coli count per 100ml has to be zero.

you could disinfect/filter etc treated sewage up to drinking water standards, and some water starved places in the world are already considering doing this, but its a tough sell to the public.

for obvious reasons

its also more expensive per cubic meter treated.

 

[SteveR]

it is safe for the ocean/stream that it is discharged to, but not safe to drink.

this is because there will be a legal limit of E.Coli bacteria that the treatment plant must not exceed on a monthly average. in our case for example, we cannot exceed 200 coliform forming units per 100 ml of water. this is our limit, what we actually discharge is usually under 10 coliform units per 100ml of water.

we are always far far below our legal limit.

in order for it to be safe for drinking water, the average E. Coli count per 100ml has to be zero.

you could disinfect/filter etc treated sewage up to drinking water standards, and some water starved places in the world are already considering doing this, but its a tough sell to the public.

for obvious reasons

its also more expensive per cubic meter treated.

Thanks very interesting. So the fish in the sea that get this stuff dumped in don't mind it? What if the fish was literally right next to the outpipe, surely it would be bad for it. I understand that generally, diluted and broken down in the sea it will be fine. But surely locally toxic to some fish?

 

[SteveR]

The Lemons are growing amazingly fast. What is it about the barb species and growth? Tinfoils and lemons are amongst some of the fastest growing freshwater fish I know. Does this apply across all the barbs?

 

[fisherman1035]

nice setup

 

[12 Volt Man]

Thanks very interesting. So the fish in the sea that get this stuff dumped in don't mind it? What if the fish was literally right next to the outpipe, surely it would be bad for it. I understand that generally, diluted and broken down in the sea it will be fine. But surely locally toxic to some fish?

not really. keep in mind that treated sewage is low in bacteria and low in suspended solids.

so a fish near an outfall is not going to be affected by a few bacteria immediately released into millions of gallons of water.

what CAN be an issue is if the sewage plant is not doing its job properly.

what can happen then is that if too much phosphorus is released into a bay or stream etc, you can get an algae bloom which can result in fish kills. the algae will choke out aquatic plants, which can't release oxygen into the water. also, as the algae dies off, bacteria that break it down consume oxygen as well. so such things can lead to a depletion of available oxygen and result in dead fish.

also, if the sewage is not being treated properly there can be other problems with solids released forming scum blankets etc.

but if the sewage is treated properly there should be no issues.

its when its NOT being treated properly that problems can arise.

 

[12 Volt Man]

The Lemons are growing amazingly fast. What is it about the barb species and growth? Tinfoils and lemons are amongst some of the fastest growing freshwater fish I know. Does this apply across all the barbs?

most barb species that I have kept all tend to eat very aggressively and grow fast.

these lemons are eating until they are ready to burst. literally, sometimes they eat so much they throw up.

I figure I only have about 4 or 5 months tops before I need to make some decisions about which ones to keep.

5 lemon fins and 2 tinfoils at a large size cannot really be kept in a 150g.

to be honest, the main reason I bought the 5th lemon fins was because I didn't trust the lemon fin that had the 'stroke' a while back. It could drop dead at any moment if something happened again. given that these fish are actually difficult to find in my area, I thought I had better pick up another while I could.

I am thinking of 3 lemons and 2 red tinfoils plus the redhooks (if they can remain competitive for food). maybe even 4 and 2. but 5 and 2 is probably going to be too much.