Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Interested in an Aquarium?

Yep, that's my thought on it too. I use sponge filters a lot. Look them up. I figure if you are pumping air into the tank, you might as well yield all you can from that by adding a filter to it. About as cheap a system as you can get. I started adding a sponge to some of the regular aquarium systems (like the what Phil mentions the 350 ) so the fry don't get sucked up. I swear that doubles the bio filtration abilities. They are a lot easier to clean than a gravel floor.
But yes, the gravel with air in Catmandoo setup seems like a "coarser" version of a sponge as a biofilter.

I still believe the charcoal has nothing to do with Biofiltration. I was told by a very knowledgeable aquarium guy that all it does is make you water gin clear. People don't want dirty looking water.

Dang man! Not even sure how to reply but that stuff is expensive. I will think of something. Yer not "off the hook!"

Not really that expensive at all, but hope you are not confused with the ceramic media that will cost the price of your first born.

Thanks guys for the info, Pat, u speak of sponge's. So r we talking the type one might use for cleaning up ? And can I just add a cut out piece of sponge and add it to the pump on the two smaller 10 gal tanks ? I am now thinking I can add a cut out piece of sponge and add it to the small bowl area in the circulating pump, may not even work but where to add a sponge? And I have no gravel, I do not see where gravel is added to tanks when raising Tp ?

Tracy

Tracy
I used 3" foam that you would buy for pillows and such, cut it a little larger than the filter tank. I had power outside filters that would move a lot of water per hour in the 200 gal tank.they worked great on cichlids cause they do better when crowded

All cichlids like to dig in gravel for spawning

Gravel in an aquarium used for tilapia is a major PITA!!! I leave it out and opt for structure that creates a small nesting area a male can defend from...

Some where not too long ago, I swear I saw a post, I think by Cecil, about cycling new media with ammonia and how much to use but I can't find it now.

Cecil, or anybody else, that can remember that post and can regurgitate the info here would be appreciated.

Ammonia at 4 PPM to cycle new media. It is on another thread.

Thanks Brian,

Is there a measurement like 1 tsp per gallon or something like that? I seem to recall you can just use regular ammonia (no additives) from the hardware store, correct?

Cecil will have to tell you which ammonia to use (I forget), and PPM is just math. How many liters in your system will make it very easy to get to PPM. Simply put, 1 ml per 1000 liters is 1PPM. If you know your liters, you know your ml to add to get it right.

Does that help?

Yep. I just thought he might have given a simple measurement per gallon. A 10 gallon tank gets .15 ml to bring ammonia to 4 ppm. We are talking an eye dropper to add the ammonia.

Sounds about right to me for fishless cycling. And one needs to make sure the ammonia is non-sudzing (if you shake the bottle it should not foam). If it foams that means it has detergent added to it, which is detrimental to the bacteria.

I got mine at Ace hardware.

That said, if you have good filtration and no gravel to collect it and make a mess, pureed fish food is even better than the raw ammonia. As it breaks down it will produce ammonia, which is as close as you will get to your situation when you have fish. It seems to get your tank cycled quicker too. And I don't get small spikes initially of ammonia and nitrites after I add all my fish. If you use raw ammonia it works, but the bacteria seems have a brief hiccup vs.using the fish food probably due to the change in the ammonia source.

You really need to purchase a Master API test kit to monitor you ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels to determine when your tank is cycled and safe to add fish. Under $20.00 from Ebay or Amazon. Some pet stores have them.

Don't forget to keep your bacteria chamber dark and the water temp in the optimum range for the bacteria to multiply.

Btw, here is a good read on nitrifying bacteria. My experience agrees with 99 percent of what is said.

http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html

Thanks for the link! Lots of good info there. I found the answer to a question I had on light.

Light

Nitrifying bacteria are photosensitive, especially to blue and ultraviolet light. After they have colonized a surface this light poses no problem. During the first 3 or 4 days many of the cells may be suspended in the water column. Specialized bulbs in reef aquaria that emit UV or near UV light should remain off during this time. Regular aquarium lighting has no appreciable negative effect.

What happens if you have about 600 ft2 of media in a tank, overdosed with water diluted ammonia, Add copious amounts of bugs that are enjoying Bob-O's temps on the beach.

See how it goes, but the SG is changing by the hour.

You thought watching paint dry was cool!

I read somewhere in an aquaculture publication that 20 mg/l or more of ammonia will severely limit nitrifying bacteria growth. I can try and find it if you want. The link I posted agrees with 99 percent of my personal experience, but you're right they were trying to sell a few products.

The PHD down the road tells me there is a lot more going on than just nitrosomonas and nitrobactors species. Cool eh?

I've never inocculated any of my systems with a commercal source. I let it show up on it's own as you know it's on our bodies, floor, walls, soil, plants, open air etc. It's not supposed to be able to survive in spore form, and it's aerobic, so I'm skeptical of how long it can keep in a bottle for sale.

Just know what works for me. Sure not an expert on this. Only one microbiology class in my RN program, but it was fascinating.

Funny about the paint drying comment: I was so excited when my nitrosomonas showed up signaled by testing positive for nitrites!

Anybody tried starting up a tank using mechanically filtered pond water? Any thoughts on why that would be a really good or really bad idea?

Bill, I started a few weeks back with 2-10 gal tanks and a few Tp. I used the pond water to fill the aquariums. I did it because I did not want to shock the fish (due to water temps) and the pond water is what I used. The problem with it was the filters were strained by the green water from the pond and with using aquarium lights the algae grew fast in the aquarium and that kept the water really to green. it caused problems for me, but being new to it all, I learned from that. I now use my well water and I diluted the water back in the aquariums. Everything seems to be better now. I no longer use the lights on the aquariums except when I want to take a look see, and after I turn them off.

Tracy

Allegedly one of the downsides to using pond water is the possible introduction of parasites. Sometimes parasites can go bonkers in a small environment especially if the fish are initially stressed. That said, when I bring in my YOY perch and bluegill for the winter it's hard not to bring in some pondwater. Never had any issues except I did bring in snails with them once. They multiplied like crazy in the moving biofilter. Were hatching and living in the spaces between the media. It amazed me they didn't mind taking a ride up and down hundreds of times a day! LOL

I did move all the media to one the high schools and had about a pound of them in the bottom of the moving bed tank and some on the sides! Didn't seem to hurt the fish any, and I never saw any in the tank. No doubt they were snapped up as soon as they appeared in the tank.

My concern was they could have been parasite vectors but never had any issues with the bluegill and yellow perch. Some experienced aquaculturists told me not to worry and they may have been beneficial eating up dead bacteria and waste material.

Once I moved the media and the system was unused, I did sterilize everthing with potassium permanganate. No more snails in that system as it will get all new media.

Thanks for the input guys.

Tracy,

What brand 10 gallon kits did you buy? Can you tell me what came with them and whether you like them or not?

Bill, I have trouble remembering names when I am not interested with name brands. But I like the one that has a Bio wheel. It grows bacteria on media. I think it is Marineland, I bought that one last of the three I now have. I like it best. I have them at the farm house and not here with me. The Tp seem to be doing well, but it's early in the scheme of things. it would be nice if they started making babies, or maybe not, I might have to come up with additional housing

Tracy

Well, ammonia is down to the 2-3 mark after being clearly 8+ after an oops. I added a total of 8oz of API Quick Start, and that seems to work. They do make all kinds of bacteria that they can make go dormant for storage, but not sure if it's the case here. I had some good stuff for my camper that worked well.

I've tried all three disc diffusers, the fine, medium and coarse, and the coarse produce much more movement.

Those cheap linear pumps I got actually work quite nice as far as pumping air, but they are obnoxiously loud. With the coarse diffusers, it was the worst. Seem to need more back pressure on the output, or restrict the input to get them a bit quieter. I put the fine diffusers back in AND restricted the input, and that it more of a tolerable hum, I'm gonna have to get something different.

The big problem with the noise is it pulses too rough, and that goes thru your plumbing. If I hold the PVC assembly down on the bottom of the aquarium tank, it just rattles and bounces like crazy even tho there is a flexible hose between the compressor and PVC assembly. The compressor itself is sitting on a piece of sponge foam that's about 2" or so thick, so it's all going thru the air line. The air hose is 10' long and loosely coiled up, and if that hose touches the table, it rattles and bounces.

This is actually one of the strangest things I've seen in a while. I've built vibratory bowl feeders that were quieter than this!

Yeah I have one of those 20 lpm's I never use you can have! LOL The bluewaters barely hum.

I got one of the 60's and one of the 110's. Son of a [(*%^&#)], those things are loud!!

If I cant figure out how to quiet them down, I'll have some free ones to anyone interested, but they do pump air. Too loud to be inside a house tho, but would probably work outside in an enclosure tho.

Bill, you spill any of that media on the floor?

Every time I turn around I find something, and never spilled any!