I meant daily and I use prime dechlorinater with each water chane.
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Ammonia issue help
- Thread starter Carpsalmon
- Start date
I meant daily and I use prime dechlorinater with each water chane.
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Yes, I have read that prime can do that, so if possible it is best to wait a day or so after using prime to test ammonia.
After posting that, it popped in my head that prime can cause false nitrate readings - and now I can't remember which!
Someone confirm please!
After posting that, it popped in my head that prime can cause false nitrate readings - and now I can't remember which!
Someone confirm please!
I hope that I'm getting false positive readings but I kinda doubt it because after 12 hours I get readings of .25
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I've been chewing on this for a while now, and I guess I'm still a bit confused...... I'm under the impression you can only grow as much bacteria as you can feed. IF you quit doing water changes, AND that did grow more bacteria wouldn't it all just die off once you got back to doing the water changes?
AND IF there's only 3 pups then since there's not much load wouldn't you expect the media to stay "whiter" then say someone who was teetering on not having enough media OR not properly mechanically filtering prior to K1 contact which in that case may be tan/light brown?
This subject is pretty interesting to me, as I have K1 here I've been running for roughly 2 years and it still looks pretty white to me. I thought this was cause I'm mechanically filtering it properly prior to contact, and that I have enough that it doesn't need to be populated so densely, and there for still looks white.......
As far as GPH through the tank limiting the bio load, I'm not sure I'm buying that either. Bio reactors are meant to have low flow rates through them. Flow rate should have more to do with mechanical filtering capabilities then bio filtering..... One of the very first ray breeding ponds I ever saw had 4 massive rays in it and it was ran with less then 1000 GPH.
Where are the Mythbusters when you need them???? lol
Let me try to explain without sounding too dumb or too smart 
You size the amount of K1 with the lbs of fish you have plus the lbs of food you feed. Bio media is designed to grow bacteria and we all know what this bacteria does so no sense explaining that part. If you change too much water the K1 never gets a chance to grow the bacteria needed to support all the fish in the tank, in a sense if your water is too clean then you end up using the K1 more as a mechanical filter than a bio filter. Discus keepers do this all the time, they keep their prized fish in a tank with only a sponge filter and do 50 sometimes 100% water changes a day. This is fine as long as you keep that routine and do not add or remove fish. The system is balanced but is dependent upon your cleaning regimen.
If you follow the above mentioned process of over cleaning or doing to many water changes then your bacteria in the bio media will be small (because they do not have enough food to support a large colony). If any upset condition happens say you forget a water change, you feed an extra lb of food one day, or you add another fish guess what happens, you shock your system and it goes back into a cycle type state. When the bacteria gets a large food source they begin to multiply. Then you get back into your routine of heavy water changes and the bacteria loses it's food source and begins to die off which pollutes the water as well.
Now you take the approach of large bio media and less water changes. Think of a pond or even a lake, sure there is lots of water to dilute any changes in environment but there is also a crap ton of bacteria that helps keep the water chemistry stable. Same in your tank, that is where the eco system comes in. If you have a large happy colony of bacteria living in your filter system with ample amount of food the likely hood of a small system change like adding a fish or feeding heavy one day will not show any change in the water parameters. This is because there is enough bacteria to act as a buffer. There might be a small ammonia spike (small enough you cannot read it) when you make a change but the bacteria that is established can react fast enough that it is a non issue. If the colony is small and weak then any change can kill the whole colony or if the colony does not die you have to wait for it to continue to grow to support the change in the environment.
This concept falls in line with what a lot of hard core salt guys are doing. They have enough bacteria and micro organisms living in their system such that they hardly have to do any water changes. Imagine a balanced salt tank getting huge water changes. Everything would die.
You size the amount of K1 with the lbs of fish you have plus the lbs of food you feed. Bio media is designed to grow bacteria and we all know what this bacteria does so no sense explaining that part. If you change too much water the K1 never gets a chance to grow the bacteria needed to support all the fish in the tank, in a sense if your water is too clean then you end up using the K1 more as a mechanical filter than a bio filter. Discus keepers do this all the time, they keep their prized fish in a tank with only a sponge filter and do 50 sometimes 100% water changes a day. This is fine as long as you keep that routine and do not add or remove fish. The system is balanced but is dependent upon your cleaning regimen.
If you follow the above mentioned process of over cleaning or doing to many water changes then your bacteria in the bio media will be small (because they do not have enough food to support a large colony). If any upset condition happens say you forget a water change, you feed an extra lb of food one day, or you add another fish guess what happens, you shock your system and it goes back into a cycle type state. When the bacteria gets a large food source they begin to multiply. Then you get back into your routine of heavy water changes and the bacteria loses it's food source and begins to die off which pollutes the water as well.
Now you take the approach of large bio media and less water changes. Think of a pond or even a lake, sure there is lots of water to dilute any changes in environment but there is also a crap ton of bacteria that helps keep the water chemistry stable. Same in your tank, that is where the eco system comes in. If you have a large happy colony of bacteria living in your filter system with ample amount of food the likely hood of a small system change like adding a fish or feeding heavy one day will not show any change in the water parameters. This is because there is enough bacteria to act as a buffer. There might be a small ammonia spike (small enough you cannot read it) when you make a change but the bacteria that is established can react fast enough that it is a non issue. If the colony is small and weak then any change can kill the whole colony or if the colony does not die you have to wait for it to continue to grow to support the change in the environment.
This concept falls in line with what a lot of hard core salt guys are doing. They have enough bacteria and micro organisms living in their system such that they hardly have to do any water changes. Imagine a balanced salt tank getting huge water changes. Everything would die.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't the bio film that collects on K1 and bioballs usually clear or white? I know it can be shades of brown too..
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Mine is a pale yellow color. Was bright white when I bought it.
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My API master test kit always shows a trace of ammonia. I have 6 tanks at one home and 2 at my other in another state and all of my tanks show a trace amount. I used to drive me crazy but now I just ignore it. Nitrites are always 0. So unless that fluctuates, I don't worry about trace ammonia because I think the kit had a false positive. Maybe it's because I use safe and purigen, I'm not sure why. Anyone else have this?
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Let me try to explain without sounding too dumb or too smart
You size the amount of K1 with the lbs of fish you have plus the lbs of food you feed. Bio media is designed to grow bacteria and we all know what this bacteria does so no sense explaining that part. If you change too much water the K1 never gets a chance to grow the bacteria needed to support all the fish in the tank, in a sense if your water is too clean then you end up using the K1 more as a mechanical filter than a bio filter. Discus keepers do this all the time, they keep their prized fish in a tank with only a sponge filter and do 50 sometimes 100% water changes a day. This is fine as long as you keep that routine and do not add or remove fish. The system is balanced but is dependent upon your cleaning regimen.
If you follow the above mentioned process of over cleaning or doing to many water changes then your bacteria in the bio media will be small (because they do not have enough food to support a large colony). If any upset condition happens say you forget a water change, you feed an extra lb of food one day, or you add another fish guess what happens, you shock your system and it goes back into a cycle type state. When the bacteria gets a large food source they begin to multiply. Then you get back into your routine of heavy water changes and the bacteria loses it's food source and begins to die off which pollutes the water as well.
Now you take the approach of large bio media and less water changes. Think of a pond or even a lake, sure there is lots of water to dilute any changes in environment but there is also a crap ton of bacteria that helps keep the water chemistry stable. Same in your tank, that is where the eco system comes in. If you have a large happy colony of bacteria living in your filter system with ample amount of food the likely hood of a small system change like adding a fish or feeding heavy one day will not show any change in the water parameters. This is because there is enough bacteria to act as a buffer. There might be a small ammonia spike (small enough you cannot read it) when you make a change but the bacteria that is established can react fast enough that it is a non issue. If the colony is small and weak then any change can kill the whole colony or if the colony does not die you have to wait for it to continue to grow to support the change in the environment.
This concept falls in line with what a lot of hard core salt guys are doing. They have enough bacteria and micro organisms living in their system such that they hardly have to do any water changes. Imagine a balanced salt tank getting huge water changes. Everything would die.
Thats how i understand it also.
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