Water flow rate

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:34:41 +0100, "Ken Wilson"
wrote:



How much water movement is appropriate really depends on the species.
Gouramis live in still water in the wild. They don't like moving
water. Moving water also destroys their bubble nests.


Yes - i noticed him (it? dunno - my wife wanted an electric blue fish and i
know which side my bread is buttered - or rather who butters it) blowing
bubbles - but his mate died in a loss of plot incident in my old tank (about
half the size ) about a year ago. so it will have to remain spinsterish
becuase i understand two male gouramis get territorial and that winds me up.

Of my 3 Blue Gouramis, 2 are males. They have their territories and
will sometimes attack the visitor, but not often and no damage has
ever resulted in over 2 years. The males are about 6 inches in
length.

My advice is to turn your filter to maximum water flow and aim the
water stream at the nearest wall. This way you have maximum water flow
without the excessive water movement.

My two 330s flow directly from back to front. I see fish swim in the
flow all the time.

Thanks.

You are wrong. The filter does not remove nitrate. It converts
ammonium and nitrite into nitrate.

i understood that the bacteria turned ammonia to nitrite and that others
turned that into nitrate - and that the name of the game was to encourage
the wee beasties to grow on the filter media - but i also thought that the
nitrate was gobbled up by the live plants (aside form the water change
method) but that it needed lots of aeration of the water to do so. when i
turn the flow up I twiddle the aeration button at the same time to give lots
of bubbles and i thought that was helping to reduce the nitrate level BELOW
the level coming in from my tap water (as it is eg today). Can't find where
i got this notion from though - how far out is it?

ken



Have you measured your tap water for nitrates? Mine comes in at zero
nitrates.

In article ,
says...
Have you measured your tap water for nitrates? Mine comes in at zero
nitrates.

You obviously don't live in farm country :-).

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005 08:49:56 -0700, lgb wrote:

In article ,
says...
Have you measured your tap water for nitrates? Mine comes in at zero
nitrates.

You obviously don't live in farm country :-).

Your right, I live in ranch land, no crops and only very natural
fertilizers. All the water is coming from our local community wells
and the community keeps a close watch on the water maintenance to see
the guy that controls the chemistry keeps the chlorine to a minimum.

dick

"Dick"
Have you measured your tap water for nitrates? Mine comes in at zero
nitrates.


Mine came in last time at 30. England - water off the South Downs at
Portsmouth.

and its hard which is why i enquired elsewhere about the external filters -
reading up i need to put some peat in to acidify it back to neutral as
well - and that seems to need a multicompartment filter which means external

"Ken Wilson" wrote in message
...
"Dick"
Have you measured your tap water for nitrates? Mine comes in at zero
nitrates.


Mine came in last time at 30. England - water off the South Downs at
Portsmouth.

and its hard which is why i enquired elsewhere about the external
filters -
reading up i need to put some peat in to acidify it back to neutral as
well - and that seems to need a multicompartment filter which means
external


It's been my experience that filtering and water softening with peat
fibre work best in their own separate external filters. Putting them
together is somewhat klugey, as i) peat clogs easily starving the
filter's biological function, ii) typically requires more room for the
peat than is available and iii) the peat and filters don't often have the
identical maintenance interval. Just my observations. I'm sure many can
make it work. If you want to try it, I suggest you look into
concentrated peat pellets, which are better designed for this.

For your 'natural' nitrates, look to natural plants, either in the tank
or in a planted reservoir (ie: algae scrubbers).
--
www.NetMax.tk

"NetMax" It's been my experience that filtering and water softening with
peat
fibre work best in their own separate external filters. Putting them
together is somewhat klugey, as i) peat clogs easily starving the
filter's biological function, ii) typically requires more room for the
peat than is available and iii) the peat and filters don't often have the
identical maintenance interval. Just my observations. I'm sure many can
make it work. If you want to try it, I suggest you look into
concentrated peat pellets, which are better designed for this.

For your 'natural' nitrates, look to natural plants, either in the tank
or in a planted reservoir (ie: algae scrubbers).

Ok Thanks.

two external filters? Oh dear - still negotiating to be allowed to put ONE
on the floor behind the unit.......

can you put the peat pellets in loose?


I have it quite heavily planted - and after a couple of years of replacing
plants every few weeks I thought to ask the chap in the shop. His
recommendations for this area are going like the clappers.

But i have just tested my tank and tap water this evening at the same time -
and I couldn't tell the two purples apart - both about 20. makes it a bit
academic to change the water to reduce nitrate levels.... still - need to
siphon off the wastes i suppose.

ken

"Ken Wilson" wrote in message
...

"NetMax" It's been my experience that filtering and water softening
with
peat
fibre work best in their own separate external filters. Putting them
together is somewhat klugey, as i) peat clogs easily starving the
filter's biological function, ii) typically requires more room for the
peat than is available and iii) the peat and filters don't often have
the
identical maintenance interval. Just my observations. I'm sure many
can
make it work. If you want to try it, I suggest you look into
concentrated peat pellets, which are better designed for this.

For your 'natural' nitrates, look to natural plants, either in the
tank
or in a planted reservoir (ie: algae scrubbers).

Ok Thanks.

two external filters? Oh dear - still negotiating to be allowed to put
ONE
on the floor behind the unit.......

Well, that negotiation I can't help too much with, however letting your
spouse pick some of their own fish will make them more tolerant to the
mechanical add-ons to keep everyone happy.

can you put the peat pellets in loose?

In theory yes, but the closest I've seen in practice is putting them in
filter bags (fine mesh bags) and locating them in the tank, near the
output of the filter. I'm not convinced that you really need/want peat
filtering though. Generally, if you have water that *really* needs it,
then the peat will not be strong enough to make much of a difference.
Peat really has a narrow range of usefullness in the small quantities we
are discussing, though the pellets are probably 2 or 3 times as powerful.

I have it quite heavily planted - and after a couple of years of
replacing
plants every few weeks I thought to ask the chap in the shop. His
recommendations for this area are going like the clappers.

I'm not familiar with the term 'clappers'. There are plants which do
reasonably well in harder waters, such as Hornwort, some Vallesneria and
Echinodorous. Here are some plant search engines which will help refine
your search according to your water parameters:
http://www.disky-design.dk/fish/Plan...antSearch.html
http://www.aquaplant.org/cgi/search1.plx

But i have just tested my tank and tap water this evening at the same
time -
and I couldn't tell the two purples apart - both about 20. makes it a
bit
academic to change the water to reduce nitrate levels.... still - need
to
siphon off the wastes i suppose.

Yes, controlling NO3 to a certain level is often used as a water change
indicator, but it really isn't just the NO3 which needs to be controlled.
I wonder if you shouldn't go the CO2 & higher light levels approach.
This will acidify your water (the carbonic acids), soften the water
(plants use minerals in the water to grow) and suck the NO3 out of the
water. Of course, if you're having trouble getting the ok on an external
filter, then an external bottle of DIY yeast reactor won't go over very
well either ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk


ken

"NetMax"
Well, that negotiation I can't help too much with, however letting your
spouse pick some of their own fish will make them more tolerant to the
mechanical add-ons to keep everyone happy.



2 yellow platy = 1 fluval 204 external

:-)

ken

"Ken Wilson" wrote in message
...
"NetMax"
Well, that negotiation I can't help too much with, however letting
your
spouse pick some of their own fish will make them more tolerant to the
mechanical add-ons to keep everyone happy.



2 yellow platy = 1 fluval 204 external

:-)

ken


Good bargain, especially if you got a pair - who are going to increase
the filtration requirements ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk