Media quantity

[Aalok Joshi]

Hello,
I have 120 gallon oscar tank. But I could not help myself and put 3 oscars in it. It has an overhead sump with 2 kg of media in it. Can someone guide on how much media i need to put. I have read on aquariumscience.org that having a smaller amount of media might take care of your ammonia. But to have crystal clear water the media quantity should be larger. They have given a calculation. But I am a non mathematics guy. Could someone simplify it for me? The oscar tank gets a 50% water change daily.

 

[Midwater]

Two kilos (presumably two litres) of media is not much for three oscars, which can produce an awful lot of waste.

It also depends on what type of media you have too. Everyone on this forum has different ideas. I prefer pumice.

If your filter is working well, you should do a 50% w/c one a week, not daily.

 

[Aalok Joshi]

Two kilos (presumably two litres) of media is not much for three oscars, which can produce an awful lot of waste.

It also depends on what type of media you have too. Everyone on this forum has different ideas. I prefer pumice.

If your filter is working well, you should do a 50% w/c one a week, not daily.

2 kilos yes.
Is there anything wrong or harmful in doing a water change daily? Please guide on that. Besides I enjoy doing water changes.
The ammo reading is 0 ppm. So the media in the filter is working. Could you please specify a quantity of media which I can house?

 

[Ansorgii]

It really depends on the type of media you use, kg says nothing and liter just a bit. Important is the amount of surface for bacteria it provides and how well you use that surface.

In theory nothing is wrong with changing that much water, but it depends on wether or not your water contains chlorine (even just traces) and how much Stress your fish experience while you change the water.

Media is good for biological filtration, but for clear water you need mechanical aswell, especially with piggies like Oscars.

 

[Aalok Joshi]

It really depends on the type of media you use, kg says nothing and liter just a bit. Important is the amount of surface for bacteria it provides and how well you use that surface.

In theory nothing is wrong with changing that much water, but it depends on wether or not your water contains chlorine (even just traces) and how much Stress your fish experience while you change the water.

Media is good for biological filtration, but for clear water you need mechanical aswell, especially with piggies like Oscars.

I use bio rio by ada. The media is quite good. The most important type of filtration to me IS biological. I am not really into crystal clear water obsessed people. I also don't use chem filtration. I just asked because I wanted to figure out the quantity of media to be used.

 

[duanes]

All biomedia is basically the same, because biomedia is just a solid surface for ammonia, and nitrite consuming bacteria to live on, and in reality, they don't care what they live on, as long as aerobic conditions (dissolved oxygen) surrounding the biofilm are high.
And the only way to tell if you have enough (of whatever kind of media you use), and if you are doing enough water changes, is for you to test for ammonia and nitrite, and also nitrate. All tanks are different so any formula is at best, flawed
If after a cycle, your ammonia and nitrite are zero, you are golden.
if you still have ammonia and nitrite, you need more media.
If a week after you do a 30% water change, you have 20ppm nitrate, you need to do more frequent and larger water changes.
Oscars, and many long lived cichlids are highly susceptible to chronic HITH at maturity with the stress of any elevated nitrate reading, so in order to ward it off, my suggestion would be to keep nitrate under 5ppm.
Exposure to Nitrate Increases Susceptibility to Hypoxia in ...The University of Chicago Press: Journalshttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu › doi

 

[Midwater]

I use bio rio by ada. The media is quite good.

Is that what you have got? If so, that is pumice, at least a rather expensive way to by two litres of pumice tailings. Not quite sure that is enough for three oscars.

 

[Aalok Joshi]

All biomedia is basically the same, because biomedia is just a solid surface for ammonia, and nitrite consuming bacteria to live on, and in reality, they don't care what they live on, as long as aerobic contains (dissolved oxygen) surrounding it are high.
And the only way to tell if you have enough (of whatever kind of media you use), and if you are doing enough water changes, is for you to test for ammonia and nitrite, and also nitrate. All tanks are different so any formula is at best, flawed
If after a cycle, your ammonia and nitrite are zero, you are golden.
if you still have ammonia and nitrite, you need more media.
If a week after you do a 30% water change, you have 20ppm nitrate, you need to do more frequent and larger water changes.
Oscars, and many long lived cichlids are highly susceptible to chronic HITH at maturity with the stress of any elevated nitrate reading, so in order to ward it off, my suggestion would be to keep nitrate under 5ppm.
Exposure to Nitrate Increases Susceptibility to Hypoxia in ...The University of Chicago Press: Journalshttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu › doi

Yes. I was of the same opinion that the bacteria couldn't care less if the media was ADA or Eheim or any brand. What I read in some articles was tht the media made by good brands tends to last longer. As in it clogs up at a later date as compared to locally made ceramic rings or bars. Other than that There was no reason for me to go for ADA or any brand for that matter. Because I believe most of it is a marketing myth.
The ammonia and nitrite is, as i have mentioned earlier is, 0 ppm. I do big water changes for HITH specifically. I want to keep the water as fresh as it is possible for me manually. The nitrates also are at 0 ppm.

 

[Cal Amari]

How big are the fish and how long has the tank been set up? If they are still juvenile and you're doing 50 percent daily wc then you may not even have started cycling yet. It's hard to tell unless you've had measurable ammonia and nitrites then they dropped to 0 indicated the bacteria colonies have matured.

 

[Aalok Joshi]

How big are the fish and how long has the tank been set up? If they are still juvenile and you're doing 50 percent daily wc then you may not even have started cycling yet. It's hard to tell unless you've had measurable ammonia and nitrites then they dropped to 0 indicated the bacteria colonies have matured.

The tank is cycled and 3 years old. I have brought the nitrates down from 10 ppm to 0 ppm. And nitrates don't exist unless the cycle is in place. The oscars are 16 months old. Size is 11" 2 and 10 " for the other 1.