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Maintenance
Happy but a little ratty after being moved
from his previously cramped quarters.
I change out 7 gallons of water per day to cancel nitrates. (I can't have plants because Bongo sees fish salad.) I have a 45 gallon Rubbermaid® trash can that has always and only been used for transporting fish and water. I fill that, add SpaTime® pH Minus to bring the KH down to 3 degrees, Prime and Stress Coat, and I keep a Dolphin DP-800 pump at the bottom. I also keep a Dolphin DP-385 at the bottom of the sump. I use that pump to send ~7 gallons of water into the garden outside the garage, then I pump the same amount from the Rubbermaid into the tank. Every 5 days or so I fill the Rubbermaid back up with the garden hose. Even with this daily regiment - which amounts to a 75% water change a month - nitrates have risen from 12.5ppm to 20ppm over the past 4 weeks.
Update 2/27/02: I added denitrator media to a slow-flow filter in hopes of reducing nitrate to ~5ppm, but two months into this experiment, nitrate is still slowly rising and is now at 50ppm.
Update 4/17/02: Clicking will take you to the experiment page. Bascially I gave up on de*nitrate (removed it) and stepped up vacuuming to every other day, which eventually reduced nitrates.
Because of Bongo's size - not to mention the catfish - the biological filter is large. Twin 21 gallon Sterilte® tubs house 7.5 gallons of Lees Bio-Balls, and 45 Bio-Chem Stars. They also have a 2" layer of foam, and atop of that, a very thick pad of filter wool.
I have always had an undergravel filter - until now - and I miss it. It keeps all the pea and corn husks and poop tucked firmly and discreetly in the substrate until the vacuuum fairy picks it up. Since I don't like seeing any crud ever, not even one piece for one moment caught in a freak current, I miss the UGF. I have to vacuum this tank once a week. (Update: Make that twice a week.) (Update: make that every other day.)
When I do vac, I stick the end of the tubing into the top of a plastic water bottle and let it hang in the sump. The bottom of the bottle has been cut out and the bottle is filled with wool and plugged with a sponge. This way I can take my time vacuuming because all of the water is returned, clean, to the system.
For details of my nitrate experiment go here.
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