I haven't started this thread because I'm looking for advice, or I've got tank problems which I haven't got a clue about, no. I've got a major problem in my 180g com tank and i know exactly what's causing it. I've started this thread to highlight the potential problems that can arise after messing with your system. If it just makes a handful of people more aware then the thread's been worthwhile. Here goes, I apologise in advance for the length....
Rewind 3 weeks or so...
My heavily stocked 180g com tank had a bare bottom. I had a powerhead in there that came on for one hour intervals several times per day. This made sure that any uneaten food, fish pooh, decaying plant bits etc etc all got flushed to the end of the tank where my out take was. All the crud then got caught by filter floss down in my sump, which was replaced regularly. In short I was taking out any nitrate producing waste before it could become a problem. As a result of this my water change schedule was 80% every four days, nitrate on water change day was steady at 20ppm ish. I was happy with this.
Then I did a complete rescape. In short, I set an area aside (about 50% of the footprint, the other 50% remained bare bottom) of 2" gravel penned in by a small stone wall. The idea was to let my val take over the gravelled area. I already had some well established val in pots which I planted and within a week the runners were out and new shoots were poking out. Great, my plan was working nicely. In the meantime I carried on with my once every four day water change schedule. This, it turns out, was a major error on my part.
Fast forward to present day...
Last week I did a random nitrate check before a water change, and it was off the scale!!! I was horrified, wondered what the hell was going on. I checked dates on test bottles, battered them to shake contents, rewashed vials, everything. And still, after three more tests, each one was well over 100ppm. Then I started thinking about what could be happening and I soon came up with the answer....
To prevent the flow of water from my powerhead from rushing over my gravel and potentially uprooting my val, I had it aimed away from the gravelled area and aimed it just on the bare bottom part. This simply allowed debris to sink onto the gravel and break down and decay undisturbed. I wasn't vacuuming the gravel either because I didn't want to disturb the runners and new shoots. And therein lies the cause of my huge nitrate build up. I had created a huge nitrate factory in my gravel. I "recalibrated" my water change schedule to keep my nitrates at about 20ppm again and I now have to do my 80% water change every TWO days, instead of my original every four days.
My hope...
That gradually over the coming weeks my val becomes so established that it's vast and hungry root system starts to suck all the nitrate out of my gravel and that a new balance is reached. Here's hoping.
This has been a huge learning curve and just goes to show how fragile the eco system can be in our aquariums. Thanks for reading.
Rewind 3 weeks or so...
My heavily stocked 180g com tank had a bare bottom. I had a powerhead in there that came on for one hour intervals several times per day. This made sure that any uneaten food, fish pooh, decaying plant bits etc etc all got flushed to the end of the tank where my out take was. All the crud then got caught by filter floss down in my sump, which was replaced regularly. In short I was taking out any nitrate producing waste before it could become a problem. As a result of this my water change schedule was 80% every four days, nitrate on water change day was steady at 20ppm ish. I was happy with this.
Then I did a complete rescape. In short, I set an area aside (about 50% of the footprint, the other 50% remained bare bottom) of 2" gravel penned in by a small stone wall. The idea was to let my val take over the gravelled area. I already had some well established val in pots which I planted and within a week the runners were out and new shoots were poking out. Great, my plan was working nicely. In the meantime I carried on with my once every four day water change schedule. This, it turns out, was a major error on my part.
Fast forward to present day...
Last week I did a random nitrate check before a water change, and it was off the scale!!! I was horrified, wondered what the hell was going on. I checked dates on test bottles, battered them to shake contents, rewashed vials, everything. And still, after three more tests, each one was well over 100ppm. Then I started thinking about what could be happening and I soon came up with the answer....
To prevent the flow of water from my powerhead from rushing over my gravel and potentially uprooting my val, I had it aimed away from the gravelled area and aimed it just on the bare bottom part. This simply allowed debris to sink onto the gravel and break down and decay undisturbed. I wasn't vacuuming the gravel either because I didn't want to disturb the runners and new shoots. And therein lies the cause of my huge nitrate build up. I had created a huge nitrate factory in my gravel. I "recalibrated" my water change schedule to keep my nitrates at about 20ppm again and I now have to do my 80% water change every TWO days, instead of my original every four days.
My hope...
That gradually over the coming weeks my val becomes so established that it's vast and hungry root system starts to suck all the nitrate out of my gravel and that a new balance is reached. Here's hoping.
This has been a huge learning curve and just goes to show how fragile the eco system can be in our aquariums. Thanks for reading.
. On a more serious note it is good that both your tanks and your wife came out good in the end. Also there could have been a market for wine that strong, perhaps in America.