Starting new tank - codename Frankenstein - critique wanted

[Biollante]

Hi Florin,

I love Crinums and have plenty of them in sand, as you said sand is among my favorite substrates.

Crinums are odd in that planting with roots already begun seems to induce rot; I really have no idea why. They will quickly develop wonderful root systems that improve the substrates and really help the substrate remain oxygenated and provide a good deal of filtration.

I would wait at least 3-weeks before dosing anything and even then, it may be a while before anything is really necessary.

With properly cured wood, an easy test is the PP test; I do not see any reason not to start adding it to the tank.

Once the Nitrites get to zero and you can pass the PP test; I figure about 3-weeks, it would be nice to see the ORP value go up a bit…

Unfortunately there really are no good ways to speed up the biological filtration part.

You should be ready to go, since you won’t be able to the add critters gradually, so you may require extra water changes at first to let the system keep up. Stay on top of the Nitrites, keep the pH under 7 for the time being and be very careful with the food, you should be fine.

Biollante

[Florin Ilia]

Hi Houston and Bio,

About 2 weeks ago my source promised me to hold the Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi until I ask him to deliver them, but today I received them in the mail, no email notification, no nothing.

So, we have an additional problem, like we were bored before.

The fish were supposed to be 6 but one died en route. They are juveniles, 3-4cm.

I need advice on how to keep them alive. I could hold them in a 30l sterile tank with a simple air-driven sponge filter and with daily (??? need advice) water changes, until their tank settles and they can move in.

The stakes have been raised!!!

Florin

Edit: a local cichlid guru advises dropping some floating plants in that tank and 20-30% water changes every 2 days.

[Biollante]

Hi,

It appears the decisions have been made for you.

If that is the only tank that is your only option.

Acclimate the fish as best you can.

You will just have to monitor the tank closely.

Be very careful in the feeding, worst case is you will end up doing more water changes.

I think the situation is manageable.

Biollante

[Biollante]

Hi Florin,

Sorry I left out the local guru’s idea is workable as well, I would definitely add plants and hiding places if you go that route.

Biollante

[Florin Ilia]

I did some testing to help me decide. 24 hours after a big water change I expected the nitrite level to be hardly detectable.

Results:
- ammonia in tank 0
- ammonia in DI water barrel 0.04 (so yeah, that plastic leaks! )
- nitrites 0.065

So I added a few grams of salt, changed 80% of the water, then added a little salt again.

The only explanation I can think of is that earlier I had planted the Crinums, and I disturbed the substrate (they are very buoyant and without their roots it takes a lot of fight to keep them buried).

So I didn't add the fish to this tank, and set them up with a Bolbitis in a small cube:



The fish are very shy now so all I could get was a bit of video.



Keep walking.

[Biollante]

Hi Florin,

My guess (or vote) is that the substrate being disturbed released more stuff that raised the nitrite level. Oddly enough extra DOC showing up as nitrite is an encouraging sign.

I still think it means you are 3 weeks or so away from having a happy tank.

Yeah many plastic containers can leach many things; generally, we want to look for food safe. The ammonia can be from the antimicrobial protection or because it once contained something (fertilizer?) that had high urea or some such content or it can be just because it is cheap plastic. It is also possible it is/was leaching other “stuff.”

The cube is a good quarantine tank.

If the Dwarves are going to be there a while, I recommend a little sand and some additional hiding places. Perhaps small drinking cups (Dixie cup) with a couple of stones to hold them down.

Biollante

[Florin Ilia]

Hi Bio,

If the Dwarves are going to be there a while, I recommend a little sand and some additional hiding places. Perhaps small drinking cups (Dixie cup) with a couple of stones to hold them down.

This, perhaps?



Maybe not

Alright, since it looks like they're going to be there for a few weeks, I will try to make the temp home cozier.

Did you salute the nitrite because it's better news than ammonia, meaning that at least some nitrification already works?

Thanks!

Florin

[Biollante]

Hi Florin,

Yes, the nitrite is good news since it indicates nitrification not just the plants sucking up ammonium,

• the Nitrosomonas bacteria are getting in the competition.
  
• It is a little trickier gauging the nitrobacter progress.
  
• This is part of the reason I would rather you keep feeding to an absolute minimum and no fertilizers yet. T
  
• his gives us a chance to see if there might be a small spike in nitrates.
  

There is another concern where Nitrifying bacteria, these in a many ways are fragile organisms. and often become self-limiting, as they tend to lower the pH and create a toxic world for themselves.

• By having you keep the water column acidic to keep the ammonia/ammonium balance in your favor
  
  
  • it is slowing the growth of the Nitrosomonas bacteria,
    
  • in fact varying it increases inter-species competition among already slow growers.
    
  
  
• This is an advantage to your plants, as you have documented,
  
  
  • but a disadvantage to your biological filtration.
    
  
  
• It is the second reason monitoring alkalinity is important.
  
• The general rule of a minimum 4-dKH (≈70-ppm) for aquariums turns out to be accurate.
  
  
  • I have been told by folks that study such things that an alkalinity of around 100-ppm (≈5.6-dKH) is probably optimum.
    
  
  
• (For the record, “they” say your 25°C is probably optimal.)
  

Then again, for all I know you have some weird Black Sea annamox reaction going on…

We are also at a point where I would hope to see a little shrimp baby action.

Biollante

[Florin Ilia]

Hi Bio,

Last night heavy rain took out my Internet so I couldn't post the test results:

KH=30 ppm=1.7 dKH (!!)
NH_3/4=0 ppm
NO₂=0.079 ppm (!)
NO₃=9.1 ppm (!!!)
Fe=0.07 ppm
PO₄=0.07 ppm
K=1.2 ppm

This is 24 hours after a big water change which was done 24 hours after another big water change. The changes in NO₂ but especially KH and NO₃ seemed to me very large for 24h. I measured KH with another kit (Tunze, less granular than LaMotte) - result 2 dKH. I measured tap water KH with both kits:
LaMotte said 72 ppm=4 dKH
Tunze said 3 dKH
(close enough, and clearly larger than the tank).

I also repeated the NO₃ measurement (similar result). Even if it looks like good news (nitrification works?) it seemed odd to me that a very small concentration of nitrite would generate a 100x larger concentration of nitrate. Of course the big interference is from plant consumption. Which maybe also explains the spike in values - yesterday I removed some plants for the dwarves' cube including a large mature bolbitis.

When I got to the nitrite measurement I paused testing, I added a little salt to the tank, changed 80+% water and added a little salt again. Between that, feeding the dwarves for the first time, trying to film them and replacing the leaking regulator which was going through CO₂ bottles like popcorn I didn't have time for the other measurements.

The fish are fine, still shy, but after the feeding got a little color and attitude:


(watch the beginning of this long clip then jump to about 6 minutes in to see the contrast pre-/post- feeding)

Other observations:
- before the water change the shrimp were sluggish, pausing for long times - I begin to associate this behavior with high nitrites
- there are a reasonable number of young snails, Melanoides and Physa
- no baby shrimp yet

[Florin Ilia]

Today I tried to predict the level of nitrite by looking at the shrimps' behavior. They looked "normal" so I concluded the nitrite is low. One exception - my only yellow Neocaridina held some of his front feet immobile.

Values:
NH_3/4=0? (again I have doubts about this measurement, I will have to do some more testing tomorrow to regain confidence)
NO₂=0.024 ppm
NO₃=4.4 ppm
KH=44 ppm=2.5 dKH

The trend seems the same as yesterday but less expressed - increase in nitrite and nitrate, decrease in KH. I added a tiny bit of chloride to the tank and did not change the water.

Red site:
t=25.5ºC
pH=6.74
TDS=210 ppm
DO=7.80 ppm
ORP=185 mV (going in the wrong direction I'm afraid)
CO₂=27 (I have a hard time stabilizing it; I think the new regulator may also be defective; this is the 177,263th defect of a CO₂-related device this year )

Florin

Edit:
And a PP test (4, 4, 8, 12):