Asian aquarium filtration

[RD.]

This is Bret's other display tank, back in 2009 before he sold his 230 and added the 550 acrylic shown above. At that time Bret stated he changed out approx 150 gallons a day via his auto water drip system. I believe the 400 gallons a day was for both display tanks, the one shown in these pics (which changed in stock near the end) and his 500 acrylic with the single red diablo, and 10 black rays. Either way, a LOT of big messy fish!

Check it out. That green was a solid 32" when I helped him net it out of his tank a few years after these photos were taken. We had to use a salmon net with two 4ft long poles and a net that stretched between them to get those monsters out. The tigrinus was 2ft, without counting the trailers.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?255867-Some-pics-of-my-Arowana-collection


This was his stock list he posted in 2007


Arowana's
- DFI Bukit Merah Blue Base Golden Head
- DFI Sapphire Gold Cross Back
- Xian Leng Green
- Xian Leng RTG
- DFI RTG
- 2 x Bahari Istana ( Shelookred) Super Reds
- Silver
- 7 x Red Neck Tie Severums
- 15 x CLown Loaches
- 4 x Geo's
- Plecos
- 2 x Adonis
- High Fin
- Royal
- Three Beacon
- Common
-Rays
- Tea Cup
- Hystrix
-Catfish
- TSN
- 2 x Rapheal
- 2 x Mono P-Bass


The 8x4x2.5 acrylic tank posted previously contained: 1 Diablo Red Asian aro, seven P13, two P14xP13 and one P14.

 

[shookONES]

In addition to monster filtration and water changes, don't forget about oxygen. A lot of monster meet their demise from long term oxygen deprivation so get your powerheads and air pumps ready.

 

[viejafish]

LOL, exactly.

Also, everything in his system had some form of back up, I mean everything. This wasn't your average fish room, with your average fish, and I never said that it was a cheap system to run.

Having back up of every component is a standard safety minded engineering design. I assume he also has a backup generator . He is no ordinary hobbyist. His fish worth $$$$ and just one of his Asian red Eros costs more than a generator. But even the ***sushima nuclear power plant with every component double or triple can fail.

 

[RD.]

To put things into perspective, over the years I have seen & read about FAR more cases of heaters failing in the ON position, and cooking a tank full of prize fish - than I have ever seen, read, or even heard about a drip system failing and wiping out a tank. Can things go wrong with a drip system, yes. Does it happen often, not that I'm aware of. That or the thousands upon thousands of people online that use drip systems, including here on MFK aren't talking about it.

I took care of his tanks & fish when he travelled, so I'm fairly well versed on how how complex this system was, and the dosing machine malfunctioning was the least of my worries.

 

[Quo Vadis]

Well my understanding of a more typical drip system, (as opposed to a flood system!) such as the one seen on the King of DIYs page, is if you have a slower drip you just use all cold water and the heater keeps it's heated, and if you are in the city you just run the water through a chlorine filter.

 

[RD.]

It depends on how slow the drip is, the temp of your cold water line (mine gets into the high 40's in winter) and whether you have chlorine, or chloramine. A chlorine filter won't help if one has chloramine treated water.

In a slow drip system (10% or less every 24 hrs) with very low residuals of chlorine, or even chloramine, one might even get away without dosing for disinfectant at all. The organics in large heavily stocked tanks would reduce the disinfectant in very short order, and exposure would be zero to the fish.

All of this varies from system to system. I would start by finding out what my tap water is treated with (chlorine or chloramine), and what level (mg/l ppm) it leaves the treatment facility, and then I would double check what it typically is coming out of my tap.

 

[viejafish]

All of this varies from system to system. I would start by finding out what my tap water is treated with (chlorine or chloramine), and what level (mg/l ppm) it leaves the treatment facility, and then I would double check what it typically is coming out of my tap.

The EPA regulation requires residual chlorine level leaving the treatment facility at 2 ppm. How much chlorine is left in your tap water depends on how far you are away from the treatment facility because chlorine dissipates by volatilization as it distributes through the pipeline. If your treatment is chlorine alone, it is not uncommon that your tap water has no measurable level of chlorine by the time it comes out of your faucet. But don't count on that and always assume a minimum of 2 ppm chlorine in dechlor dosing to safeguard elevated chlorine treatment due to pipe construction or fire hydrant flushing.

If you are unlucky to be on chloramine water, the chlorine level will not dissipate no matter how far you are from the treatment facility because ammonia binds chlorine strongly.

 

[RD.]

I wrote the sticky on this subject, and after decades of dealing with chlorine, and close to 20 years of dealing with chloramine, and fish, I'm pretty well versed on both disinfectants. I also would never assume that everyone is under the EPA guidelines, or that those guidelines are always adhered to, which is precisely why I posted what I just did. Below is the link to my sticky on this subject.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?309623-Cost-Effective-Water-Conditioners

BTW - I certainly wouldn't advise that everyone treat their tap water by assuming that there are elevated levels of chlorine due to pipe construction, and/or fire hydrant flushing. That makes absolutely no sense at all, unless you live in a house with no windows & never venture outside, or simply don't mind wasting $$$. Our fire hydrant is across the street, and I believe that they only flush it once a year, in spring. What I do sometimes advise is using higher levels of Prime/Safe etc during periods of heavy rain, or spring run off, when for certain you are going to be dealing with higher levels of disinfectant, due to higher levels of organics in the water. My tap water residual disinfectant level is constant year round, 2mg/l of chloramine, so I base my level of water conditioner required on that quantity of disinfectant. When fire hydrants are flushed, or road construction takes place, I hold off on water changes.

Using your logic one should be treating for 4.0 mg/L for both these disinfectants as that's the EPA's maximum residual disinfectant level for both chlorine & chloramine. That too seems silly to me, and potentially a huge waste of water conditioner. Test your water, check for local water quality reports online, even speak to your local water treatment manager if possible (I do), and make an informed decision based on all the raw data combined.

When treating ones system for disinfectant residuals there are numerous factors to consider, start by using some common sense & you should be fine.

 

[viejafish]

It's not possible to witness every pipe construction or hydrant flushing event, as it can happen some distance away from home but still can affect your tap water because the distribution system is interconnected.

Storm events affect mainly surface water. Not so if your tap water is from ground water which is stable and protected by thick earth. Groundwater typically have low bacterial count and require minimal chlorine treatment and chloramine is almost never used. There are exceptions though as in South Florida where well fields have shallow wells vulnerable to runoff contamination.

I am lucky in that my tap water is from deep wells. Residual chlorine level in my tap water is low to non-detectable. I can get away from filling my tank without dechlor most of the time, but why should I take the chance as dechlor is cheap relative to my precious collection.

 

[RD.]

This is a prime example of why I never attempt to tell anyone how they should deal with their personal set ups, and their local tap water. I try not to make assumptions, and tend to generalize when it comes to other members tanks & their water.

Where I live, any form of pipe construction that can potentially affect my drinking water requires a city worker to contact us, and inform of us of that potential risk. If it's construction on a broken main 2 blocks away, that doesn't affect our line, and our tap water, then it doesn't matter one way or the other to me. As far as flushing hydrants, again, where I live that typically takes place once a year, in the spring, and I see the crews out and avoid doing a water change. I don't think that it would make any difference on our tap water quality either way, but I tend to avoid water changes whenever any type of event takes place that involves our water system in our area.

But don't count on that and always assume a minimum of 2 ppm chlorine in dechlor dosing to safeguard elevated chlorine treatment due to pipe construction or fire hydrant flushing.

Ironically, neither of those events would typically cause someone at the water treatment plant to increase disinfectant levels. Fire hydrant flushing is performed to flush the sysyem of silt/debris, they don't increase chlorine/chloramine in the lines just to flush a water line. Nor do they increase chlorine/chloramine in the water lines when construction is taking place, such as water main repairs etc. Generally speaking, if someone has an issue with their fish & water changes during or directly after an event involving construction, it's due to the elevated levels of toxins, such as heavy metals from pipe, new joints, rust, etc, and has nothing to do with chlorine/chloramine levels.



But what does any of this have to do with Asian aquarium filtration???


It seems like all I've done is go 'round in circles defending somethng that I wrote that you apparently know nothing about - which was my friends auto water change system, and our city water.

Cheers!