Post your dead spot test results. if you dare.

[nfored]

You might not really see it but the best way to test is to look for the area furthest away from any power head and or return line and test from the very bottom of the tank and then the middle.

My top and middle where 0 but the bottom was .25

 

[soul_assassin]

Maybe some of you guys have lots of **** trapped in substrate on bottom that is why you have ammo there

 

[nfored]

well soul since your tank is clean please test and post your results and show us whats up. I am kind frustrated with all you people wasting time. If your not going to test then please feel free to ignore this thread.

Thank you from your fish to all those who care enough to make sure they are doing all they can.

 

[tableau]

well soul since your tank is clean please test and post your results and show us whats up. I am kind frustrated with all you people wasting time. If your not going to test then please feel free to ignore this thread.

Thank you from your fish to all those who care enough to make sure they are doing all they can.

x2

 

[Pandamania]

CHOMPERS you are totally funny! love it! .............Any way, every once in a while I move my water filters around. I have the Fluval 30's, just unplug it for a sec while I move it to the opposite corner. ***You really don't have to worry about 'dead spot' if you do a quick daily vacuum of the spots that look like they have 'stuff' collected there. My Dragons dig a 'shallow spot' in one corner of the aquarium about 2" deep, where they poo's. (Sand substrate, each in it's own tank) It's nice, then I just vacuum it out, instead of having it 'moving around', going with the rest of the water flow! Dragon's get an A+ in house keeping. Would give them each a big kiss, but don't think they'd like that too much!

 

[Pandamania]

Oh, and I test my tanks every day for level of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH. No, not a liar! I use the liquid kit. I don't like or trust the paper strip ones. Paper strip ones are way too expensive comparably. I also brush my house cats daily, and clean my cats litter boxes 2 times a day, which most people neglect to do. I take the best care that I know how, for my pets. I made the choice to bring them home, they sort'of chose me too , but they cannot care for themselves, they are 'captives' of mine. The wet pets can't go swim some where else if they choose to, the cats can't go outside and find their own water and food etc., so it's a responsibility every one should be serious about.

 

[nfored]

it really has nothing to do with the substrate and could happen on a bare bottom, that has not 1 spec of anythign on it. It has to do with the filtered water not getting mixed enough with the tank water across the whole tank. thats why tableau has readings in the middle of the tank. If you read the other threads about this you will see that after making a change the water tested clean but 1 hour later it was not. This is because the change agitated the water mixing it, and then after it settles it goes back to dead water. The same thing would happen when vacuuming.

Seriously people just test for yourself if your clean at the bottom and middle of your tank at the point of lowest flow your golden and you can tell us so we know. But it seems no one wants to take the 6 minutes to do it.

 

[tableau]

I started to be concerned with ammonia reading in tank dead spots because of JK47 trhread on the topic : http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336862. He was having different ammonia readings on top of water (0 ppm) and bottom near a piece of driftwood that was lightly altering water circulation.

I never taught I would have dead spots and ammonia readings since I was running two eheims 2217 and a Ac 50 on a 50 gallons tank (pretty high turnover rate). I was wrong; the middle water was .25 ppm. Like in most set-ups, the circulation was something like this : back/top (outlets) - front/top - front /bottom (sliding donw on the front glass) - back/bottom (sucked up by the inlets). In those set-ups, middle water is an important dead spot. Turning the spray bar to vertical position solved the middle problem.

I also have a reading in bottom water and solve the problem by removing a piece of driftwood that was lightly altering the circulation. It is a circulation issue that has nothing to do with dirty gravel.

I'm pretty sure that an important number of mfk members have that kind of problem and don't know it because they refuse to take their ammonia readings appropriately, not on top, but in middle and bottom water.

 

[nfored]

So I can confirm now my tank has a little more visibility as far as equipment goes but now test zero for ammonia at all tested locations.

I moved one power head to the bottom and have it blowing across the tank, then on the other side I have another power head at the bottom but this one blows at a 45 degree angle to the top. they are aligned so the water is pushed from the bottom right side to the bottom left, and then from the bottom left up to the upper right section.

Then the two returns are aimed so that the right return shoots down and mixes with the water from the right power head, and the same thing with the left return and left power head. Because my drift wood floats and is anchored to the bottom of my tank with suction cups it doesn't obstruct any of the flow so I am able to keep both large pieces.

I guess I should not have expected any more since even JK47 could only get two people to post readings. I just think this is something important for all members, especailly new members who are new to the hobby. If more of us would be honest to ourselves and others it could show new fish keepers the importance of checking these levels at all sections of the tank.

 

[knifegill]

I'm not going to nay-say because this is a great concept and I'm glad you brought it up. It is probably going to make a difference in many people's filtration techniques.

But I have to ask:

If there were ammonia in the center of the tank, wouldn't they avoid that area? Just like trout rising and falling with temperature changes. I mean, if part of my room smelled like butt, I would avoid it. So can we watch the areas in which our fish roam as a clue, as well as testing the points of stagnation?


You know what?! Imma take a turkey baster to the tank and get a sample from the least-circulated area and see what's lurking. Think it's only purposeful to test for ammonia? What about nitrite, etc?