What Tank To Buy

[kaivalagi]

I meant does it improve quality if the water surface is disturbed more it does it not matter?

mmmm, that's a tricky one....I would guess that more agitation = more gaseous exchange...but I don't really know for sure, either way it wouldn't do any harm. I like it to ripple but not break the surface myself

 

[OldMan47]

Once you have enough water flow near the surface that there are no dead areas with stagnant water, there is not much you can do to get better gas exchange. If you allow stagnant layers of water to exist just below the surface, you will develop a gradient in the water where the water at the surface is at equilibrium with the atmosphere but the water below that is increasingly deficient in oxygen. I use a 4+ in one of my tanks and have the pump outlet side a few inches below the surface. The tank also has pressurized CO2 on it and the fish get plenty of oxygen from proper gas exchange at the surface. There are no stagnant areas near the surface in that tank. I never use the venturis that are supplied by European manufacturers on their filters and power heads because I find the noise from them annoying and I know it doesn't matter for gas exchange.

 

[kaivalagi]

Thanks OM47, as always

 

[PDSimon]

Very informative, thank you

I assume by dead you mean still. Even on the even spray setting, the whole upper surface moves around and its not even aimed at it directly.

I will probably use a bit of C02 but nothing major

 

[OldMan47]

IF you can see movement on the entire surface, you have plenty of flow to prevent any stagnation.

 

[PDSimon]

Thanks OM

Starting cycling tomorrow I best read up on it cos i've been a bit busy with work and not entirely sure of what i'm doing!

 

[PDSimon]

I don't understand why people bother use pipettes, why not just use synringes because they're accurate right from the start?

and '125L' tank is actually 100 so shall i actually dose it for 100 or are the calculators set up for taking off the extra water

 

[waterdrop]

Syringes are fine for dosing ammonia during fishless cycling.

The only thing I use pipettes for is for dosing Flourish Excel directly on plant leaves, so the long pipette stem is helpful.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[PDSimon]

Syringes are fine for dosing ammonia during fishless cycling.

The only thing I use pipettes for is for dosing Flourish Excel directly on plant leaves, so the long pipette stem is helpful.

~~waterdrop~~

Great

I've worked it out for a

125L tank, 5ppm, 9.5% solution = 6.58ml
125L tank, 4ppm, 9.5% solution = 5.26ml

100L tank, 5ppm, 9.5% solution = 5.26ml
100L tank, 4ppm, 9.5% solution = 4.21ml

so which shall i use, 4 or 5 ppm and which tank shall I use, actually size (100) or illustrated size (125)

incase your used to gallons:
100L =26.4 US G
125L =33 US G

 

[kaivalagi]

Syringes are fine for dosing ammonia during fishless cycling.

The only thing I use pipettes for is for dosing Flourish Excel directly on plant leaves, so the long pipette stem is helpful.

~~waterdrop~~

Great

I've worked it out for a

125L tank, 5ppm, 9.5% solution = 6.58ml
125L tank, 4ppm, 9.5% solution = 5.26ml

100L tank, 5ppm, 9.5% solution = 5.26ml
100L tank, 4ppm, 9.5% solution = 4.21ml

so which shall i use, 4 or 5 ppm and which tank shall I use, actually size (100) or illustrated size (125)

incase your used to gallons:
100L =26.4 US G
125L =33 US G

Actual size is what counts as were talking about chemical processes with your water. You might want to also consider your external filter volume too, but then I think we're getting too exacting There is a more important factor to consider though IMHO...

You ideally need to think about your tank stocking beforehand, if you are not going to fully stock for example then dosing high levels of ammonia is not needed as the load will not be there when the fish go in and the bacteria colony will shrink. Also going for full 4/5ppm will take you longer than a lower dosage to complete the cycle for.

I don't pretend to know about the fish-less cycle as you know I haven't actually done one yet but from what I have soaked up in the forums I think you might want to look into the stock v's dosage a little more before you start the cycling.

Maybe OM47 or WD can shed some light on this? Maybe it doesn't matter and you can just go with 4ppm knowing that will cover the likely stocking you'll go with...?

 

[PDSimon]

I could do 2/3 - 3/4 of the tank and then leave a little room for something new, or maybe maybe in consideration of new tank syndrome.

In that case it would be around 3ppm

 

[kaivalagi]

I could do 2/3 - 3/4 of the tank and then leave a little room for something new, or maybe maybe in consideration of new tank syndrome.

In that case it would be around 3ppm

Sounds like a decent plan to me

Should give to 2/3's load happily...and bear in mind also that once established the bacteria can double in size in a day, so if you did add 1/3 remaining stock in in one go in theory a couple of days of big water changes would get you where you need to be.

 

[Curiosity101]

I reckon the bacteria double much faster than daily if conditions are correct kaivalagi... I don't know exactly how long it takes because it's not ready available info, but only the really slow bacteria take a day upwards to replicate. E.coli for example takes around 20minutes.

 

[PDSimon]

ok thanks guys

3 ppm it is, and whilst i'm cycling I shall work out what fish i want

Going to make a new cycle log

 

[kaivalagi]

ok thanks guys

3 ppm it is, and whilst i'm cycling I shall work out what fish i want

Going to make a new cycle log

Go on, put all the test data in a spreadsheet and see the progress through graphs, you know you want to