The Balanced Aquarium

[AbbeysDad]

The Balanced Aquarium

 

[itiwhetu]

Good article. Sometimes as humans I think that we think we need to be doing something and leaving things alone is foreign to our instincts. But in fact leaving things alone is often the best road to go down. Interesting about your cannister filters I did the same as you and then eventually went to Internals ( Keep everything in the tank philosophy). I leave them alone until I have reduce flow.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Good article. Sometimes as humans I think that we think we need to be doing something and leaving things alone is foreign to our instincts. But in fact leaving things alone is often the best road to go down. Interesting about your cannister filters I did the same as you and then eventually went to Internals ( Keep everything in the tank philosophy). I leave them alone until I have reduce flow.

Thank you. I used to think that we needed to clean the filter and substrate often in order to get the crud out of the system. But the reality is that unless you were to clean the filter say every hour or so, organic material is going to decompose in spite of your best efforts. What makes the most sense is to let the filter mature, creating the best possible bio-filtration. That being the case, I now only clean the filters when I see a reduction in flow rate. And then it's important not to get too carried away and clean the media too much.

 

[Lecturemode]

Thoroughly enjoyed the article, one of many of yours that make a lot of sense. The link to Aquarium Science is good, he (?) makes a lot of sense & I'll spend hours reading it all to see how well I've done over the last 50 years

 

[itiwhetu]

Started to read the "Aquarium Science" Article. Now that would give a lot of members here a head ache, me thinks. Personally I love most of what it is about. Great Stuff.

 

[Dajuyu]

I love squeezing's my sponge filters till the water turns darkened black and those debris and what not are very good fert for my potted plants ... so yeah I do the cleaning once a week in turns that is since I have several sponge filters to go around.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I love squeezing's my sponge filters till the water turns darkened black and those debris and what not are very good fert for my potted plants ... so yeah I do the cleaning once a week in turns that is since I have several sponge filters to go around.

As you point out, when squeezed into a bucket of tank water, the resulting dark water is excellent fertilizer for plants. However, you might want to only clean the sponge filters every other week or even every three weeks or more. And when cleaning, don't go overboard. This better insurers that all of the beneficial biology remains intact in the filter to better ensure water of crystal clarity.

 

[StevenF]

Just a note about Goliad Farms. Ti watched a number of videos about the farm. The green houses are made of plastic sheet shaped like aa tube. From the video the floor is made up of cinder blocks With barrels water for the fish Water is continuously pipped its the barrels and the excess water fills the gaps between the cinder blocks. I A water pump then takes in the excess water and pumps it back into the barrels. Well water periodically refils the green house. Large Plants are located throughout the green house.

The floor is not waterproof and as a result water does continuously leak out and that water loss is replaced with well water. In the event of the green house over filling an overflow allows water to drain into a nearby swamp. Apparently overflows are a relatively common occurrence.

So they are in fact doing nearly small continuous water change. Also The plants help remove excesss nutrients from the water. So Goliad farms and select Aquatics are more similar than different. I have also seen videos of an aquarium store in San Francisco and many claim that they don't do water changes. Well whenever they sell fish they fill the bag with water from the tanks. So while the shope owner doesn't deliberately do a water change He is constant replacing water lost due to evaporation and fish sales.

 

[Dajuyu]

As you point out, when squeezed into a bucket of tank water, the resulting dark water is excellent fertilizer for plants. However, you might want to only clean the sponge filters every other week or even every three weeks or more. And when cleaning, don't go overboard. This better insurers that all of the beneficial biology remains intact in the filter to better ensure water of crystal clarity.

Well noted on that point @AbbeysDad ...
For clearer picture the sponge filter is not the only means of filtration I have for the tank . I do have Canister filter and HOB as well. I seldom clean these two as they are the main filtration for the tank .
Total of sponge filters 5 and its cleaned alternately not all in one go.
Tank size 280G

* I am pondering to have another HOB for the other side of the tank as i just love the sound of water gushing out from the HOB. Or maybe another Canister filter so that I can out up another row of Water Lily spray on top of the tank ... Well yeah I am Water Filter craze if you may ...

https://www.fishforums.net/threads/my-journal-tagebuch-marz-21.469582/

 

[Dajuyu]

Just a note about Goliad Farms. Ti watched a number of videos about the farm. The green houses are made of plastic sheet shaped like aa tube. From the video the floor is made up of cinder blocks With barrels water for the fish Water is continuously pipped its the barrels and the excess water fills the gaps between the cinder blocks. I A water pump then takes in the excess water and pumps it back into the barrels. Well water periodically refils the green house. Large Plants are located throughout the green house.

The floor is not waterproof and as a result water does continuously leak out and that water loss is replaced with well water. In the event of the green house over filling an overflow allows water to drain into a nearby swamp. Apparently overflows are a relatively common occurrence.

So they are in fact doing nearly small continuous water change. Also The plants help remove excesss nutrients from the water. So Goliad farms and select Aquatics are more similar than different. I have also seen videos of an aquarium store in San Francisco and many claim that they don't do water changes. Well whenever they sell fish they fill the bag with water from the tanks. So while the shope owner doesn't deliberately do a water change He is constant replacing water lost due to evaporation and fish sales.

Mind sharing the link of the vids .. love to watch it ..

 

[AbbeysDad]

I am pondering to have another HOB for the other side of the tank as i just love the sound of water gushing out from the HOB. Or maybe another Canister filter so that I can out up another row of Water Lily spray on top of the tank ... Well yeah I am Water Filter craze if you may ..

It sounds like you already have quite a bit of filtration. We often hear on one discussion forum or another about over filtration. In the minds of most hobbyists, this typically means more filters or more filtration in terms of gallons per hour throughput. This is fundamentally wrong.
More filtration should really be based on greater filtration surface area. Although it's important to have a steady flow of water through the filter media, fast flow rates really aren't required. As a matter of fact, really fast flow rates may dramatically reduce the efficiency of beneficial bacteria. I invite readers to review The Very Best Aquarium Filter, an article that I wrote to describe the very best in aquarium bio-filtration, that doesn't come in a box.
Disclaimer: That's not to say that conventional filters don't have value, but rather they just aren't the only tool in our toolbox.

 

[Dajuyu]

The water do stay clear even after water change done but yeah let me read those articles.