Just wanna discuss nitrates

[Dieselhybrid]

I agree that you should do large volume changes frequently. Get all of those waste products out and get a fresh start. I change 80-90% every water change on systems not on drip systems. You have to do large changes like this frequently, never attempt on a system that hasn't been changed regularly like this because the shift in values can affect fish. My media is so well cultured and tanks so over filtered that I never have a crash or cycle. This works for me to make sure the nitrates don't creep up over time like they do with only 60% water changes on my systems. but then again I have a LOT of fish, and tons of bioload.

Guess I really don't worry about water anymore, you get a routine that works and stick with it. Years later, no reason to really switch things up unless there is a problem.

 

[RayJunkie]

There are a lot of things to factor here...any uneaten food particals that make it into the filters and decompose would break down to produce nitrate as an end product. I'm sure there's lots of thing that contribute to the final total besides just the ammonia that the rays produce

my 300 micron filter socks were getting clogged stupidly fast, anywhere from 2-3 days. too much partially uneaten food got sucked up during feeding cause i have both underflow and top overflow. so i turn off the pump that fed the socks during feeding, and got an additional day or 2 for the socks before they clogged. plus that really prevents the uneaten food from contributing to the nitrates.

another big issue most ppl neglect is that tap water has chloramine instead of chlorine these days (at least where i live). ultimately that becomes nitrates too, so even if u have undetectable nitrates in your tap water, u'll still be adding nitrates every WC coz of the chloramine.

 

[RayJunkie]

Pups and smaller rays are fed almost constantly by family members. I've never had one overeat like goldfish. feed until they refuse as often as we can fit in daily. 2-6 times. Big Rays get fed 2-3 times daily. When I travel for consulting work, family and friends take over and big rays drop to 1 maybe 2 times daily and pups 2-3. I count this as their off days.

Can I ask why you switch to a pellet diet? I like that they are fortified but I was breaking the bank buying quality pellets. I couldn't imagine feeding 80% pellets now and the costs. I catch my own fish to feed and just deep freeze (to sashimi standards) them to kill any parasite and bacteria as even smelt and tilapia was getting to expensive for my cheap self.

i cut down to twice after the rays hit 15"... the aditional feedings didnt seem to have any effect on growth rate and the rays were becoming way too fat... my rays mostly kno when to stop eating too... but when everyone who sees my rays asks if they're pregnant when they're not... it's a sure sign to cut down on feeding lol.

pellets cost more but the convenience is just such a huge pro. takes me like 20-30 mins to defrost n degut/deshell/fillet per feeding. and it's not easy over here to self catch enough wild fish so i cant rely on that as much as i'll like to. at least with pellets i never have to worry bout parasites or contamination. i guess when all my rays accepted pellets with no reservations i just got lazy and made pellets staple.

O and another big reason... the stupid aros i have will eat up any frozen food non stop so it's bloody hard to get enough to the rays without overfeeding. at least the sinking pellets most of the aros dont bother with.

 

[RayJunkie]

I agree that you should do large volume changes frequently. Get all of those waste products out and get a fresh start. I change 80-90% every water change on systems not on drip systems. You have to do large changes like this frequently, never attempt on a system that hasn't been changed regularly like this because the shift in values can affect fish. My media is so well cultured and tanks so over filtered that I never have a crash or cycle. This works for me to make sure the nitrates don't creep up over time like they do with only 60% water changes on my systems. but then again I have a LOT of fish, and tons of bioload.

Guess I really don't worry about water anymore, you get a routine that works and stick with it. Years later, no reason to really switch things up unless there is a problem.

i keep my tank water ph (6.9-7.3) /temp (27-29 degree celsius) similar to that of my tap water, and i'm fortunate that my tap water is soft, so when i do large water changes i don't really have to worry about anything cept the chloramine which is easily settled by a good anti chlorine. similar to u i dont have to worry about a crash/cycle cause my tanks are mature and over filtered. heck if it wasnt for nitrates i could go for weeks without water changes and not worry about ammonia/nitrites lol.

 

[Leo Messi]

Hmmm maybe this sounds weird but I had an Asian Arowana, 3 Stingrays, some Plecos, Geos and Silver Dollars in my 420g tank and I never ever had nitrate levels above 20, mostly not even above 10.

Fish were not mature yet but still, an ~13,5¨ Asian Aro, 10¨ female + 8¨ female + 7,5¨ male Stingrays, 10 Silver Dollars (Widebar Myleus), ...
Although I gotta admit, I have a drip system installed that changes about 20-25% on a daily basis, 24/7 and my tap water has 0 nitrate (not exactly 0 but super mega close, like 2-3ppm).
Plus I was always feeding 2-3 times per day (with 1 day off every ~10 days) rather than once a day. I kinda find it better to feed less but 2-3 times than just once but 2-3 times as much.
Like, morning - afternoon - evening. Or just afternoon after work, and then in the evening.

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Let's talk TDS ( total disolved solids)

I think this is what we should look at

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Also off topic but kinda a sub topic. Feeding, I feed alot once a day and skip 1 day a week. Do we know how much rays eat in the wild? Do they gorge like in our aquariums?

 

[RayJunkie]

Let's talk TDS ( total disolved solids)

I think this is what we should look at

i bothered about TDS when i was still using denitrators. never bothered after.

 

[RayJunkie]

Hmmm maybe this sounds weird but I had an Asian Arowana, 3 Stingrays, some Plecos, Geos and Silver Dollars in my 420g tank and I never ever had nitrate levels above 20, mostly not even above 10.

Fish were not mature yet but still, an ~13,5¨ Asian Aro, 10¨ female + 8¨ female + 7,5¨ male Stingrays, 10 Silver Dollars (Widebar Myleus), ...
Although I gotta admit, I have a drip system installed that changes about 20-25% on a daily basis, 24/7 and my tap water has 0 nitrate (not exactly 0 but super mega close, like 2-3ppm).
Plus I was always feeding 2-3 times per day (with 1 day off every ~10 days) rather than once a day. I kinda find it better to feed less but 2-3 times than just once but 2-3 times as much.
Like, morning - afternoon - evening. Or just afternoon after work, and then in the evening.

It's not weird at all. Ur rays are still small, ur tap water is good in terms of nitrates (and maybe chlorine instead of chloramine), your tank has pretty large water to bioload ratio, and 20-25% drip a day is plenty

 

[FreshyFresh]

Oh man...that's a lot of math!! Ok, it's a 130 gallon total system...on average I do 30g a day water change. As of now nitrates are 80ppm. Id have to assume they are holding kinda level at 80...so about 20ppm a day of 130 gallons...not sure what unit of measurement to use for actual nitrates produced daily

20ppm/day nitrate creep would be high. That's like 140ppm total over the course of a week. At that rate, unless you were able to do a 100% WWC that 140ppm total would just keep rising every week due to the residual nitrates left behind.