530g Tank Setup and Plumbing Help :)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Well folks, big disappointment since coming back to work. No time to work on the tank. Still need to clean up the wiring, will be connecting the backlfush soon so I can do my first backflush, and then I want to decorate it a bit (looking for large driftwood and want to throw in some dwarf water lettuce).

Hopefully I can get this stuff wrapped up by mid-August so I can have some decent completion pics.
 
JK47 JK47 so finally connected my backflush line. Tank has been running for 5 weeks with no backflush. I backflushed about 100g and the water was crystal clear. I don’t know if that is good or bad. My drain was filling up so I stopped but I figured that was alright considering the site glass was clear.

A little surprised because I turned off my drip for a week and my nitrates tested around 25ppm. I thought there would be a ton of gunk in the filter.

Any thoughts? I wouldn’t think my nitrates would be that high with a solo aimara in a 530g.
 
nzafi said:
JK47 JK47 so finally connected my backflush line. Tank has been running for 5 weeks with no backflush. I backflushed about 100g and the water was crystal clear. I don’t know if that is good or bad. My drain was filling up so I stopped but I figured that was alright considering the site glass was clear.

A little surprised because I turned off my drip for a week and my nitrates tested around 25ppm. I thought there would be a ton of gunk in the filter.

Any thoughts? I wouldn’t think my nitrates would be that high with a solo aimara in a 530g.
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I can speak to the nitrate levels. Everyone’s are very different based on the various inputs. I can tell you that filter can go quite a while before truly needing a backwash. Enjoy the low maintenance, that’s one of the reason you set it up this way! Ultimas don’t impact nitrate in any different way than a canister etc..

You should start measuring things before and after to get a feel for where your confidence level is in time between backwashes.
 
Well I am 6 weeks in after the tank was initially setup. In that time I have done 1 backflush which took about 10-15min mainly because I had to sort through some of the unfinished plumbing. The only thing I have done on this tank maintenance wise is feed my fish. No filter maintenance or anything yet except for that backflush. Based on my prior post, that backflush was not even needed.

I will be introducing probiotics into the tank on a weekly basis going forward though. The goal is to maximize the intervals between cleaning my hmf filters and doing the backflush.

Still a lot of work lef that I have not had a chance to get to. I need to still clean up the wiring and make the tank presentable. Additionally, I just got a gorgeous piece of driftwood that I need to put in the tank.
 
Sweet !!
 
Been a long time since I posted any updates. Life has been way too busy for me to get to anything else on the tank. I am planning to take a couple weeks off around christmas which will let me hopefully finish the tank. Couple quick points:
1) Filters are running great. I do need to backflush more often. I backflushed yesterday for the first time in about 11-12 weeks. While the site glass looks mostly clear, when I looked at the drain I could see there were was a good amount of waste coming out. I probably did about 100g of water. I plan to backflush again in a week. I am guessing I can probably go 3-4 weeks with backflushing frankly.
2) One of the things I have been experimenting with and need to do it more often is that I am using ridx on this tank. I have been adding it to the tank about every 2 weeks but need to bump to weekly. The goal is for the ridx to help extend the life of my HMF filters and when I do the backflush.
3) I am thinking of selling my large piece of driftwood. While it is gorgeous my aimara took a nice chunk out of him on a sharp edge. Also, I have found that the driftwood messes with the current for moving waste to the intake. I have moved it to one side of the tank where the aimara tends to not poop, but I think it might be better to just sell it.

JK47 JK47 No idea how you run so many tanks. I am lucky I am running a drip system on this tank. My one questions for you is around backflushing. When you backflush and youre looking at the site glass, do you see "muddy" water or "brownish water"? I am amazed how clear my is, but then I do see waste in the drain.
 
nzafi said:
Been a long time since I posted any updates. Life has been way too busy for me to get to anything else on the tank. I am planning to take a couple weeks off around christmas which will let me hopefully finish the tank. Couple quick points:
1) Filters are running great. I do need to backflush more often. I backflushed yesterday for the first time in about 11-12 weeks. While the site glass looks mostly clear, when I looked at the drain I could see there were was a good amount of waste coming out. I probably did about 100g of water. I plan to backflush again in a week. I am guessing I can probably go 3-4 weeks with backflushing frankly.
2) One of the things I have been experimenting with and need to do it more often is that I am using ridx on this tank. I have been adding it to the tank about every 2 weeks but need to bump to weekly. The goal is for the ridx to help extend the life of my HMF filters and when I do the backflush.
3) I am thinking of selling my large piece of driftwood. While it is gorgeous my aimara took a nice chunk out of him on a sharp edge. Also, I have found that the driftwood messes with the current for moving waste to the intake. I have moved it to one side of the tank where the aimara tends to not poop, but I think it might be better to just sell it.

JK47 JK47 No idea how you run so many tanks. I am lucky I am running a drip system on this tank. My one questions for you is around backflushing. When you backflush and youre looking at the site glass, do you see "muddy" water or "brownish water"? I am amazed how clear my is, but then I do see waste in the drain.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear the tank is doing well. I use the flashlight app on my phone, hold it to the reverse of the sight glass to get an idea how clean it is. Those are great with a light source.

I never see muddy water like old canisters used to have. It’s much more transparent but you can tell it’s watse.
 
JK47 said:
Glad to hear the tank is doing well. I use the flashlight app on my phone, hold it to the reverse of the sight glass to get an idea how clean it is. Those are great with a light source.

I never see muddy water like old canisters used to have. It’s much more transparent but you can tell it’s watse.
Click to expand...

Tested my water tonight and it’s at about 10ppm nitrate. Not bad at all. I do feed a lot but clearly the the daily 48gpd drip helps a lot. I also think the fact that I dose with ridx helps get rid of some waste.
 
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