OK, just want to share with all here what I understood about keeping water clean, through exploring, experimenting and listening. I am not here to teach, so if I am wrong or if you disagree and would like to pitch in and share I would be happy to learn. So here goes.
New Monster Fish Fan
- Thread starter Kingfisher
- Start date
First of all, I would like to share about what goes on in my mind, with regards to water upkeep and fish husbandry. There are 8 major question that I always ask myself and remind myself, because I always forget and this help me stay on course and prevent me from straying and committing to stupid and expensive mistakes, they are:
Stocking
Aeration
Lighting
Temperature
Feeding
Filtration
Medication
Water Change
I would like to also go through a few things that I think is important to me through the next week or so when I have the time to post, and they are:
Set up
Water Change
Feeding
Medication
Catching and Transportation
Stocking
Aeration
Lighting
Temperature
Feeding
Filtration
Medication
Water Change
I would like to also go through a few things that I think is important to me through the next week or so when I have the time to post, and they are:
Set up
Water Change
Feeding
Medication
Catching and Transportation
6 feet tank set up (72x30x30)
Equipments:
4 feet sump tank (48x18x18)
Whats inside?
1st Chamber:
Top: Synthetic white wool. (in the early stages when pumping up my filter bacteria count with heavy stocking of big monsters and heavy feeding , wool change and water change was daily. Then after 2 weeks it became alternate days until my ammonia, nitrate, nitrite was zero. Now water change is monthly with wool change weekly)
Middle: All the way above the water line till middle, Momotaro bacteria tubes.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
2nd Chamber:
Top: Coral chip.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
3rd Chamber:
Top: Compressed KTP leaves Pallet sticks.
Middle: Coral chip.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
4th Chamber
All the way 30kg of Biohome Plus pack tight.
5th Chamber
Top: Coral chip
Eheim 1262 pump (Remove the sponge)
Eheim Pro2 Canister filter x 2 (The intake to this is in the 5th chamber of the sump tank)
Whats inside?
All the way Biohome Plus only. (No wool or sponge, the two canister are link)
Artica 1/3 HP Chiller (Intake from the 2 linkup Eheim Pro2, set at 27 degrees celcius)
Mebner 16 watt UV chamber (Intake from chiller then outlet back into the 5th chamber of sump. Important to note that all are link up with quick release pipe joints from Eheim, for easy removal for servicing and change, I have a second Chiller, UV and Pump on Standby)
Dymax AP1000 AC/DC Airpump
Arcadia Lights: 2, 4 feet white light and 1, 3 feet pink light.
Pinpoint probe and meters: for PH and ORP readings (PH 7.2, ORP 320-380)
Equipments:
4 feet sump tank (48x18x18)
Whats inside?
1st Chamber:
Top: Synthetic white wool. (in the early stages when pumping up my filter bacteria count with heavy stocking of big monsters and heavy feeding , wool change and water change was daily. Then after 2 weeks it became alternate days until my ammonia, nitrate, nitrite was zero. Now water change is monthly with wool change weekly)
Middle: All the way above the water line till middle, Momotaro bacteria tubes.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
2nd Chamber:
Top: Coral chip.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
3rd Chamber:
Top: Compressed KTP leaves Pallet sticks.
Middle: Coral chip.
Bottom: Green filter mat pack tight.
4th Chamber
All the way 30kg of Biohome Plus pack tight.
5th Chamber
Top: Coral chip
Eheim 1262 pump (Remove the sponge)
Eheim Pro2 Canister filter x 2 (The intake to this is in the 5th chamber of the sump tank)
Whats inside?
All the way Biohome Plus only. (No wool or sponge, the two canister are link)
Artica 1/3 HP Chiller (Intake from the 2 linkup Eheim Pro2, set at 27 degrees celcius)
Mebner 16 watt UV chamber (Intake from chiller then outlet back into the 5th chamber of sump. Important to note that all are link up with quick release pipe joints from Eheim, for easy removal for servicing and change, I have a second Chiller, UV and Pump on Standby)
Dymax AP1000 AC/DC Airpump
Arcadia Lights: 2, 4 feet white light and 1, 3 feet pink light.
Pinpoint probe and meters: for PH and ORP readings (PH 7.2, ORP 320-380)
The rational behind the set up is this:
The wool is the first line of defense for solid waste, especially if you are keeping protein eating monsterfishes, they WILL poo out a lot of solid stuff, so the easiest way to deal with the really big pieces is to take them out. Thus it is important to always check your sump to see if the wool is overloaded as that will lead to choking and overflowing of your sump. For my set up it’s been 2 years plus so my feeding, filtration and water cycle is already settle down, so I know that removing and changing the wool weekly is sufficient. So you have to work out your routine and cycle. The semi dry and wet bacteria tube is the next stage in the 1st chamber to cultivate heavy duty bacteria that chomp down on solid waste, I call this the mother ship of the bacteria, from there they will go forth and inhabit the rest of the sump J. You will realize that over the next few chamber from first to third, there are a lot of utilization of green filter mat packed tightly together. What I hope to achieve here is to further allow for smaller and micro solid waste to be trapped and digested by the bacteria here. I also uses the top part of the next two chamber for coral chip and also the compressed KTP leaves pallet (which actually act like black water but slower releases), these are components that you’ll have to do by trial and error to balance the PH to the level you want it to be, so there will be a lot of adding and removal of either the coral chip (PH up) or the KTP pallets (PH down). The 4th Chamber is strictly for the bacteria to work on the micro scale, here I hope to cultivate the kind of bacteria that really gets down to non solid waste, like ammonia, nitrate etc. I am just imagining that it would. The last Chamber is where the first round of water purification is done, but like a cow’s stomach, I have a second round that is taken into the 2 canister filter full of only Biohome Plus like the 4th chamber to further clam down on the non solid waste, cool down the water then subject it to UV bombardment for taking out the bad disease causing stuff and also algae control… hope all these is making sense and I very often think that I am just fantasizing that at least that’s how it’s working. I also use the last chamber for fine tuning of my tank’s PH, adding or removal of coral chip bags only.
So what are the important things to remember for me?
Two things actually, one is to set up your system that is right and easy for you to access and do maintenance and water change. The easier it is, the more often you'll do it. We're all a little lazy some of the times. So let laziness be the propellent of innovation. Lets make things easy, so we can have more time to do... nothing.
The second is to get your routine, feeding and water cycle right. So it becomes second nature to you.
The wool is the first line of defense for solid waste, especially if you are keeping protein eating monsterfishes, they WILL poo out a lot of solid stuff, so the easiest way to deal with the really big pieces is to take them out. Thus it is important to always check your sump to see if the wool is overloaded as that will lead to choking and overflowing of your sump. For my set up it’s been 2 years plus so my feeding, filtration and water cycle is already settle down, so I know that removing and changing the wool weekly is sufficient. So you have to work out your routine and cycle. The semi dry and wet bacteria tube is the next stage in the 1st chamber to cultivate heavy duty bacteria that chomp down on solid waste, I call this the mother ship of the bacteria, from there they will go forth and inhabit the rest of the sump J. You will realize that over the next few chamber from first to third, there are a lot of utilization of green filter mat packed tightly together. What I hope to achieve here is to further allow for smaller and micro solid waste to be trapped and digested by the bacteria here. I also uses the top part of the next two chamber for coral chip and also the compressed KTP leaves pallet (which actually act like black water but slower releases), these are components that you’ll have to do by trial and error to balance the PH to the level you want it to be, so there will be a lot of adding and removal of either the coral chip (PH up) or the KTP pallets (PH down). The 4th Chamber is strictly for the bacteria to work on the micro scale, here I hope to cultivate the kind of bacteria that really gets down to non solid waste, like ammonia, nitrate etc. I am just imagining that it would. The last Chamber is where the first round of water purification is done, but like a cow’s stomach, I have a second round that is taken into the 2 canister filter full of only Biohome Plus like the 4th chamber to further clam down on the non solid waste, cool down the water then subject it to UV bombardment for taking out the bad disease causing stuff and also algae control… hope all these is making sense and I very often think that I am just fantasizing that at least that’s how it’s working. I also use the last chamber for fine tuning of my tank’s PH, adding or removal of coral chip bags only.
So what are the important things to remember for me?
Two things actually, one is to set up your system that is right and easy for you to access and do maintenance and water change. The easier it is, the more often you'll do it. We're all a little lazy some of the times. So let laziness be the propellent of innovation. Lets make things easy, so we can have more time to do... nothing.
The second is to get your routine, feeding and water cycle right. So it becomes second nature to you.
OK just did my water change today, I am currently doing water change once a month for the tanks and FGTs that are already super stable and mature. For the big pond, I do not do any water change at all, as it has a huge filter with a sludge flush, I let mother nature help me with the water change. Every time it rains, I would flush out the sludge chamber. The newer tanks, once every two weeks. Again, that is if there are no problems with the fishes. When there is a need for medication, then water change will have to be more frequent. Water testing is done on a weekly basis, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH and salt are the main test that I do, although sometimes I would do water hardness, KH testing. One of the very first thing I would always take note of on water change days (usually on Saturday and Sunday) is the temperature and PH of the water both in the tank and coming out of the tap. Most of my setups have a chiller attached, thus water change for those are usually done early in the morning when the water is quite cool. As for PH, they do come between 7+ all the way to 9+ out of the tap, there are days where I do not do water change when I feel that the PH is too high or temperature is too cold (especially when its been raining through the night). I am not comfortable with shutting down my system, drain the water then top up. Even with the wool change, which I do once a week, I do it with the system running. I guess its a personal preference thing, because I use to turn off the system during water change. Two things I realized through the years, one is that when your filter is idle all the particles which are held down by the constant pressure get loose and suspend in the filter chambers and all flow out when you turn your system on, so your tank water is cloudy with lots of particles floating in your tank. Two, is that thats when your propeller shaft in your pump snaps. I guess the most stressful point to the shaft is when it goes from zero to spinning at X times per second. So I usually do the one pipe in, one pipe out thingy, I would of course use anti chlorine and anti chloramines before I start the water change. I actually constructed my own siphon pipe using eheim pipe and stop valves. During water change,I would put the siphon pipe all the way up to the valve, make sure that the part that is in the tank is fill with water, turn the valve to lock in the water, bring the pipe back out and then turn the valve back to release water. I would usually control the valve and tap so that the water flow is roughly the same, and would just sit there to look at the filter water level and also the fish behavior. I always feel that water change, changes certain behavior to the fishes. For my more aggressive fishes, it bring out a bit of aggression, as for my rays, thats when they all will start to ****. I usually do the water change for about half an hour for my six feet tanks. After every water change, I would put in bacteria and test again for PH and also do a salt test(0.5-0.8). Increase aeration after water change, it will help with bacteria buildup.
My Ray FGT usually get water drip from my diamond filter everyday to top up, as I use the water from the FGT to change water two times a day for my two feeder container.
Got some time today so better get some of the promised stuff done. Today itll be a relatively short one I guess, just sharing the kind of food I feed to my fishes. I believe everybody are like expert here, so abit paiseh (shy). I usually feed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. But I will still observe feeding behavior, water condition. Only during medication do feeding stop or is reduced. Water condition is always the main indicator for how much I feed. I try to give most of my fishes a variety of food. Some are standard, while others are special (like the Channa Barca, they are fed red crabs, crayfish, large ghost shrimp and sometimes when hes in the mood market prawn). So feeding time are quite busy as there are like quite a few different setup to go through, my maids says its like working in a mini underwater world. Preperations are usually done and put in different Tar Pao ware (thats what my maids call disposable plastic containers), different container for different tanks. Usually it takes about an hour, because we usually look through the tanks to see if there are any big chunk of waste and then remove them with a long net. There are some other variety of feeders that are not shown in the pictures, like small kois, red fish, mollies, guppies, frogs as they are not fed on a regular basis.
The market prawn got two preperations, one is uncut, the other is cut and then diced into six cubes per container. Small catfish and ghost shrimp are the regular live feeders for me.
Juruense waiting to be fed, this fella only eat MP. My Lungfish whacked one of my blue loach. Woodcat, Tetranematichthys Wallacei wondering around.
