Question for Aquarium Gurus

[olivehydra]

Hi Folks, just wondering if any fish/turtle/filey folk have any neat tips for reducing nitrate levels. I have a great bio filter that produces excessive nitrate levels. PH, ammonia and nitrite levels are all perfect. I find that I am changing roughly 300litres of water/week in order to keep nitrates down and thus algae. I also use purigen in the canister filter. I only house two turts and a couple of fish, and the turts are always fed in a seperate container to reduce fouling. The tank usually has around 800litres of water, and the filtration system is the "biggest and best" eheim make, filtering 2000litre/hour. I do however run twin hi-output UV lights which may contribute, but it just seems that 300litres a week is quite wasteful. Any ideas appreciated, cheers.

 

[fishbot]

If you have algae problems then reduce your light, both ambient room light and artificial light and replace tubes regularly. In my experience nitrate has minimal impact on algae. Also check your phosphate levels.

Removing nitrate is tricky because you need anaerobic bacteria to break it down, ie bacteria that live in an environment with NO oxygen. This is tricky because you need oxygen in your water for fish to live and aerobic bacteria for breaking down ammonia.

So you have 3 options:
1 = construct an anaerobic filter, there are a few methods but they are somewhat complicated and/or expensive.
2= do lots of water changes. This is labor intensive and not good if you are trying to conserve water, but it works well and is cheap.
3= ignore it. Nitrate probably has zero impact on turtles and IMO has very limited impact on fish and algae.

good luck

 

[olivehydra]

Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

If you have algae problems then reduce your light, both ambient room light and artificial light and replace tubes regularly. In my experience nitrate has minimal impact on algae. Also check your phosphate levels.

Removing nitrate is tricky because you need anaerobic bacteria to break it down, ie bacteria that live in an environment with NO oxygen. This is tricky because you need oxygen in your water for fish to live and aerobic bacteria for breaking down ammonia.

So you have 3 options:
1 = construct an anaerobic filter, there are a few methods but they are somewhat complicated and/or expensive.
2= do lots of water changes. This is labor intensive and not good if you are trying to conserve water, but it works well and is cheap.
3= ignore it. Nitrate probably has zero impact on turtles and IMO has very limited impact on fish and algae.

good luck

Cheers,
The fish I dont really care for, they are there to entertain the turts :wink: Yes the nitrate does little to the turts, but a nice clean tank looks better. Are anaerobic filters available "off the shelf"?
Ta

 

[fishbot]

RE: Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

Are anaerobic filters available "off the shelf"?

I personally haven't seen many in Australia, but my boss makes strange choices when purchasing so that doesnt mean much.

There are a few varieties i have seen/heard of:
~ Resin ion exchangers = efficient but probably outrageously expensive, i think they are more for industrial use.
~ I have seen a bio-filter that works similar to your eheim but different...they are a long collum kind of like a down pipe size diameter and as long as possible, 3ft plus id say, filled with bio-substrate. You slowly drip the water through this and as the water passes threw it loses oxygen, thus becoming anaerobic. Not sure of cost but you could build it yourself for cheap.
~ Modified under gravel filters = Place under gravel plate on bottom of tank (without the regular uprights), then cover in shade cloth, then a layer of course gravel, then more shade cloth then a final layer of gravel. In theory this creates a "dead spot" which becomes anaerobic. I have never used this system personally but a few of my marine customers have told me about it. This would be dirt cheap.

Hope this helps, it's hard for me to explain concepts without props and hand gestures =p

 

[olivehydra]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

Are anaerobic filters available "off the shelf"?

I personally haven't seen many in Australia, but my boss makes strange choices when purchasing so that doesnt mean much.

There are a few varieties i have seen/heard of:
~ Resin ion exchangers = efficient but probably outrageously expensive, i think they are more for industrial use.
~ I have seen a bio-filter that works similar to your eheim but different...they are a long collum kind of like a down pipe size diameter and as long as possible, 3ft plus id say, filled with bio-substrate. You slowly drip the water through this and as the water passes threw it loses oxygen, thus becoming anaerobic. Not sure of cost but you could build it yourself for cheap.
~ Modified under gravel filters = Place under gravel plate on bottom of tank (without the regular uprights), then cover in shade cloth, then a layer of course gravel, then more shade cloth then a final layer of gravel. In theory this creates a "dead spot" which becomes anaerobic. I have never used this system personally but a few of my marine customers have told me about it. This would be dirt cheap.

Hope this helps, it's hard for me to explain concepts without props and hand gestures =p

It does help, thanks. My local aquarium shop suggested slowing the flow of the filter (its adjustable) and losing the airstone. Perhaps this may have a similar effect in reducing the O2 levels. Bloody turtles, cheapest herps to buy, but the most expensive to maintain :wink:

 

[olivehydra]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

If you are more worried about appearance than the actual nitrates then couldn't you use a UV sterilization filter in line with your existing filter or even with an additional filter? If you think this MAY work I probably have the gear here I could lend you for testing purposes.

Does that use UVC? I have used them for water features but never aquariums. I shall look into it, cheers.

 

[fishbot]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

/nod afro

Yes an inline UVC system would work for all water borne algae, not always cheap but 100% effective on all water borne algae. Unfortunately it won’t remove any algal growth from the glass or ornaments.

Removing air stones and making sure your filter outlet is below the water surface will reduce O2.

 

[instarnett]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Question for Aquarium Gurus

More plants will take up excess nitrate in the tank. Turtles will mangle the hell out of them ofcourse unless you provide a suitable barrier, like a clear plastic box or tube with holes which is embedded in the (deepest) substrate over the plants. Some heavy rocks around the base will stop the trts moving it. just make sure they cant topple, bed them on the floor not on the substrate.

 

[fishead]

Mate assuming your tank is properly cycled I think you may just need more filtration. Turning over your water at least four times per hour is a good rule to follow especially with big pooers like turtles.
Another 2000 litres per hour of filtration will do wonders. An aquaclear 500 will do that and only cost you about $110 and is very economical to run and the easiest of filters to clean. Unfortunately there's no getting away from water changes though.

 

[dynea]

are you adding pH down to your tank? from memory that can cause high phosphate. Your Bio filter is that the canister or a sump? If it's a sump get a bigger pump, if it's a canister than you were prob sold the wrong kind of filter for your needs, and tank size. How ever if Its only alge that your worried about, get your hands on a large plecostomus catfish. there exteria is tough so shouldn't be to bothered by the turtles and it should eat your alge no trouble.

 

[JAKHAMMA]

Try a product named Stresszyme it is available at most pet shops it has over a million bacteria per teaspoon full this should aid your biological filter in breaking down all that nasty stuff in your tank. I have a foot long pleco and his tank had the same problem when i started. Now that i use stresszyme i only have to change water once a month and that is still only a third of the water in my tank. Also as other people have said you can never have to much filtration. In my 5 foot i have a 1200l/h canister filter plus a 1400l/h internal and that does it for me.

good luck............

 

[JAKHAMMA]

How ever if Its only alge that your worried about, get your hands on a large plecostomus catfish. there exteria is tough so shouldn't be to bothered by the turtles and it should eat your alge no trouble.

pleco's need a minimum water temp of 26c as they are a tropical fish. Wouldn't that be to hot for the turtles?

 

[Garry2]

Hey dude.. dont spend mega money on anything other than filtration.
Your filtration should be turning over a minimum of 3000l an hour
The turtles are the reason your nitrate levels are so high..
Get rid of ALL artificial chemicals you use in the tank...
The basics are
Gravel clean and water change once a week... manditory
Use salt at 1 level tspn per 20L of water ...supermarket....$2.50 kilo
Nothing else should be used
Salt should read on packet...salt only
No baking agents or anyting other than salt in ingrediants.
Get some shell grit and a PH test kit and that is all you will ever need
Have grown and kept fish this way for 25 years with not disease outbreaks or other problems ( Giant Gourami 11 Kilo ) and 9 years old.


Garry