ray keepers please read....and answer..

[keepinfish]

To get rid of the crap before my filters or sumps suck it up. I wouldn't wanna go cleaning my filters and sumps that are loaded with crap frequently. I wouldn't be doing daily changes if it wasn't for this reason.

My tank does not let crap sit in my tank for no time, that is one reason i have high turnover. I clean my prefilters often, it is as easy as throwing away some filter floss...

I gotta get a new kit before I mess with this. Mines really old. I really don't think nitrates are super important. I'm just confused why some read so much higher then others. I'm under the impression that nitrate is nothing more then the amount of food the tank's filter has broken down. Kind of filter is irrelevent, none lower nitrate, it just attempts to keep nitrite and ammonio fluctuation to a minimum, if they are the filter works. Nitrate can only be removed with plants and WCs. So without either how are some keeping thiers in check and others struggling? Amount of food being fed/uneaten food?

I change water to keep rays happy. I think drip systems are nice cause I watched my own rays become more active and seem to eat more, just acted a lot more energetic as opposed to daily WCs. This is why I need a new test kit. I never really tested a lot cause if I thought about testing I'd just do a waterchange. I'm gonna get a new one, test the water and do a waterchange. Or maybe think about getting a test kit, assume nitrates are high, and do a waterchange. The rays seem to enjoy the last option. KISS seams to work.

I'm sure there's something to be learned from these #s... I just don't know what yet...

DB, not sure the filter is irrelevent, as i was thinking that causes high nitrate may be from excess sludge in filter media.. that is why i though it could be important.
I ususlly never test my water but have been tesing my Q tank to be certain no amonia spikes. So i thought why not test my other tanks too.
I like my tanks to be crystal cear and if they are not i do a waterchange, which is usally weekly..
I guess none of this is important, i was just curious to why some people have to do so many waterchanges and others don't.. Maybe i am doing something wrong??
Dr. Ross talkes about how rays are no different that other fish and waterchanges are no different that other fish, and should be done every 2-3 weeks, depending on bioload. I could never go that long, but i guess they may be talking about tanks with 1 or 2 rays??

 

[DB junkie]

Maybe I need to scratch the big ol wet dry and its rediculous amount of bio, the 100 micron filter socks, and oversized pump and just jump on the FX5 bandwagon?

I could understand it being my filter if I used blue bonded pads and called it a day, or a lil quilt batting, but a 100 micron socked wet dry that's like 6 months old?

 

[flamenco-t]

So what are the point of waterchanges? I thought the main reason was to keep nitrates low???

Water changes replaces trace elements in your system. Your bio bacteria feeds off trace elements in the water.

The higher the bio load, the more frequent WC that you need since you have a lot more bio bacteria that consumes the trace elements

NItrate is the end results of a nitrogen process, it's harmless. The only downside to high nitrate is higher PH (more acidic water). Waste remains are acidic.

Trace elements are usually base, this is why new water usually have higher PH reading than the "used"water.

If you notice PH swings in between water changes, it's because as the trace elements are consumed (lesser PH) and waste are present (acidic) your water is now more acidic than right after you did your WC

In essence, we're supporting the life of the bio bacteria with water changes
stan

 

[flamenco-t]

1. What type of test kit are you using and age?
API, a year old

2. Where is your location?
West Louisiana

3. Size of tank?
240

4. Stocklist?
20 Dats (9-17")
4 Rays (12-13")
3 Aros (14-20")
1 Fei Feng 17"
4-5 more fish ranging 7-16"

5. How much do you feed and how often?
Handful of masivore once a week, 3-4 lbs of smelt per week

6. What type of filteration..details
55 Gallon Wet Dry

7. How often to you change the water, and amounts changed?
Continous Drip System, 60 gallons of freshwater per day, changed about 80% per week

8. What are your nitrates before and after water change?

Never goes above 10 -20 PPM

 

[sbuse]

So what are the point of waterchanges? I thought the main reason was to keep nitrates low???

To get rid of the crap before my filters or sumps suck it up. I wouldn't wanna go cleaning my filters and sumps that are loaded with crap frequently. I wouldn't be doing daily changes if it wasn't for this reason.

i got about the same reason...i like the clean look no sh#t in the corners or stuck to the intakes...

 

[keepinfish]

Maybe I need to scratch the big ol wet dry and its rediculous amount of bio, the 100 micron filter socks, and oversized pump and just jump on the FX5 bandwagon?

I could understand it being my filter if I used blue bonded pads and called it a day, or a lil quilt batting, but a 100 micron socked wet dry that's like 6 months old?

no i would not think with this kind of setup you should not have any sludge in your sump... I however do not use socks, i use white filter floss as my prefilter. My sump has been setup for almost 3 years, it is starting to get thick with crap in the bottom of my sump...

No doubt that sumps are better filters than fx5's.. I have em both ways and the fx5's suck to clean..

Water changes replaces trace elements in your system. Your bio bacteria feeds off trace elements in the water.

The higher the bio load, the more frequent WC that you need since you have a lot more bio bacteria that consumes the trace elements

NItrate is the end results of a nitrogen process, it's harmless. The only downside to high nitrate is higher PH (more acidic water). Waste remains are acidic.

Trace elements are usually base, this is why new water usually have higher PH reading than the "used"water.

If you notice PH swings in between water changes, it's because as the trace elements are consumed (lesser PH) and waste are present (acidic) your water is now more acidic than right after you did your WC

In essence, we're supporting the life of the bio bacteria with water changes
stan

interesting, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[DB junkie]

I started with AC 110s. PITA to clean. Added Fluval 405s, and thought I hit rock bottom. I have never been so angry about cleaning media in my life. My hatred for canisters started at this point. I quickly sold all my glass tanks and got acrylic. I've built sumps around making mechanical media easy to change. I can swap out all the mechanical media in both the pond and 300 in less time then it takes to clean 1 canister. I have doubes of all mechanical media so I just swap out used for clean. The ease of this process allows me to easily swap mechanical media twice a week. My pond wet/dry has been running for well over a year and the scrubbies still look new. Once I get a new test kit I'll do a lot of testing.I have plans of rebuilding the filtration on all my tanks soon so I have to get base #s on the wet dries here pretty quick. Gonna try a different approach filtration wise...

 

[spotfin]

1. What type of test kit are you using and age?

API, a few months old.

2. Where is your location?

Maine, well water.

3. Size of tank?

+/- 200 gals

4. Stocklist?
(3) hystrix 4.5-6.5"
(1) 3.5" retic
(14) tetras

5. How much do you feed and how often?

Feed every day, often skip one day a week. Food: shrimp, scallops, squid, tilapia, mysid shrimp, and occasionally worms.

6. What type of filteration..details

Homemade wet/dry

7. How often to you change the water, and amounts changed?

About 10 % 3X week.

8. What are your nitrates before and after water change?

Varies between 10-40 ppm before, doesn't seem to be much change after.

Did a water change last night and tested nitrate before/after the wc, and also tested before with both of my test kits. You can see the difference.

first picture is the test before w/c with the new kit
second pic is after w/c with new kit
thrid pic is before w/c with old test kit
fourth pic is my filter

 

[jcardona1]

seems like there's something up with older test kits. from the thread i just posted last night

i found something interesting today while testing my nitrates and wanting to see how my 24/7 water changer was working.

i have two API test kits. one is over 2 years old and the other is less than a year old. i would always use the older one since i assumed these things had long shelf lives. while checking my nitrates, i got about a 10ppm difference in the reading. it's not much, but the color difference gives it a bigger impact lol.

so, which should i trust? should i dump the old kit?

left is old test kit, right is the newer one...

 

[vamptrev]

I started with AC 110s. PITA to clean. Added Fluval 405s, and thought I hit rock bottom. I have never been so angry about cleaning media in my life. My hatred for canisters started at this point. I quickly sold all my glass tanks and got acrylic. I've built sumps around making mechanical media easy to change. I can swap out all the mechanical media in both the pond and 300 in less time then it takes to clean 1 canister. I have doubes of all mechanical media so I just swap out used for clean. The ease of this process allows me to easily swap mechanical media twice a week. My pond wet/dry has been running for well over a year and the scrubbies still look new. Once I get a new test kit I'll do a lot of testing.I have plans of rebuilding the filtration on all my tanks soon so I have to get base #s on the wet dries here pretty quick. Gonna try a different approach filtration wise...

say your nitrates are at 100. even though you are doing alot of waterchanges, u are prob just keeping it steady at 100

say u did a 100% waterchange 3 days in a row, ur nitrate would drop a good amount. then u could go back to your normal routine to keep it in check. just a thought