Sustainable tanks

[GodFan]

Hate to tell you GodFan but ponds need spring and fall cleaning at least. We have 2 ponds and a steam. The biggest pond is 4000g and we have a pond vacuum. We do 2 or 3 large WC's from spring to late fall. A lot of muck, leaves, and other things fall to the bottom of ponds raising nitrates and phosphates. Not all ponds have filters either which makes periodic cleaning very beneficial. Plus depending on the type of fish dictates what types of plants you can use. Koi such as we have are plant eaters so even marginals are hard to use as they eat and pick at the roots. Larger floater such as water hyacinth and water lettuce work.

Ponds are very different than tanks as already stated and don't make for good comparisons in this instance.

Hmmm... I dont know that I want a pond then anymore lol

 

[Rivercats]

Ponds require maintenance even tho many don't do it and then wonder why each spring they have algae blooms and massive amount of hair and string algae. We have to use hydrogen peroxide every spring when temps warm up on the water fall rocks.

Also the stock you use makes a difference in how much maintenance a pond needs. Large fish like koi require more water care where as keeping something small like mosquito fish or American flagfish require less and gives you more plant options.

Here's a link to our largest pond which is 3 feet on the left side. For scale the largest Koi are 24" long... Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rivercats's Album: 4000g pond

 

[AquaDave]

If you're willing to top off the water that's lost to evaporation, these open tanks will easily run for years. You'll need to prune the land plants and feed the fish occasionally, but the tanks are as close maintenance free as possible. They take much less maintenance than a standard aquarium.

I call them "terratope" tanks. You use emersed land plants to maintain pure water conditions and the system is similar to areas around the northwestern part of the US. The salmon in this area spawn and die and the root systems in the area takes in the forms of nitrogen produced from the dead fish.

The tank works similarly. The fish wastes dissolve in the tank water and produces nitrogen. The plant roots remove the nitrogen from the water and use it as nutrients.

I emerse Chinese Evergreen plants in all my planted tanks and the tank water stays pure for much longer periods then normal. The more plants the cleaner the tank water.

B

So it's a bit like aquaponics except that the plants are actually in the tank. I've got a 60 Litre tank (with a lid) so maybe i could put foam rafts with watercress in them, as well as some more pond plants, to help with getting rid of Nitrates.

 

[Rivercats]

This is a good way to go if you want to reduce nitrates... Planted HOB thread..

 

[AquaDave]

Turning my tank more sustainable

Hi all, thanks for all the comments.

OK, my tank is a 60 Litre tank, with an 8 cm long (from tip of the mouth to the tip of the body excluding tail (tail's about 5 from the body tip to the tip of the tail)) orange Oranda called Orangey, and two recently-bought (about a week and two days) 3 1/2 cm long (including tail) Hong Kong plecs called Fin and Wings. The Loaches poo a lot. I have a nice leafy plant that grows out of bog wood with long leaves (but not thin like grass, more thick) with some going slightly brown (not many). I've got a HOB filter with 3 cartridges (not in use @ the minute because Orangey needs medicine) and a sponge filter up until the medicine isn't needed, but if I needed I could keep the sponge filter up as well as the HOB filter.

I am planning on getting lots more plants over the next few weeks, and I could either put duckweed or floating rafts with cress in it on the surface to help with Nitrates. I could also do with help on finding a snail, or any type of organism that can eat fish waste matter and dead leaves, excess food etc. Any ideas? Also it needs to be something not eaten by the fish. I want the tank to be more self-sustainable than it is now, meaning less water changes. I am OK with water top-ups, washing filters off, replacing old cartridges, the odd water change (as little amount as possible but as many as I need) as well as feeding slightly less than I do now (Orangey could eat more plants than she/he does now).

Thanks for any advice greatly appreciated

 

[AquaDave]

So could i grow plants in my (internal) sponge filter? Also, my filter probably wouldn't be able 2 grow plants in it.

What r good plants to get rid of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? So i could grow some out of my sponge. Interesting.

 

[GodFan]

So could i grow plants in my (internal) sponge filter? Also, my filter probably wouldn't be able 2 grow plants in it.

What r good plants to get rid of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? So i could grow some out of my sponge. Interesting.

Wisteria. Dude wisteria. That stuff grows so fast and sucks up so much nutrients that withought enough fish to resupply it will stunt other plants!

 

[Joeysdiscus]

Here's a pic of the plants rooted into my rear sump I added them two days ago!

 

[GodFan]

I actually love emmersed plants however I will not have any because they can sprout bugs.

 

[Rivercats]

You have roughly a 15g tank and none of the fish in it are suitable. The Orando alone needs 30g and the 2 Hillstream loaches both need a tank that large but also needs a swift current and a lot of algae as that is what makes up the bulk of their diet.

If your having ammonia and nitrate problems it's because the bio-load is too heavy for that size tank. Plus no amount of plants will take care of that issue either. You need to be doing 50% water changes at least every other day. There is no way you can have a sustainable tank.

IMO you need to return these fish and then do some research on fish suitable for a 15g tank.

 

[AquaDave]

You have roughly a 15g tank and none of the fish in it are suitable. The Orando alone needs 30g and the 2 Hillstream loaches both need a tank that large but also needs a swift current and a lot of algae as that is what makes up the bulk of their diet.

If your having ammonia and nitrate problems it's because the bio-load is too heavy for that size tank. Plus no amount of plants will take care of that issue either. You need to be doing 50% water changes at least every other day. There is no way you can have a sustainable tank.

IMO you need to return these fish and then do some research on fish suitable for a 15g tank.

I thought each coldwater fish need 1 litre of water to 0.5 cm fish (or at least the booklet at pets at home as well as some internet sources said that). It was just after Christmas I got the tank (because of the deals) and before that I had a 21 Litre tank with Orangey (much smaller back then) and Loachy (a common Loach). I didn't know that after a while Loaches could get up to 25 cm long.

At summer the Loach jumped out somehow (most of the tank had the lid covering it only a gap for the HOB that came with the tank) but Orangey still seemed fine (I got her/him November 2010 a few weeks after purchasing the 21 L tank). A week and a half ago I got two Hong Kong plecs because the bloke said that Loaches grow up to 25 cm pretty quickly so it would be wiser to get two Hong Kong plecs because they can only get up to 5 cm long.

In a couple of years (or sooner if I have to) I plan on getting a bigger tank but if Orangey's 8 cm long (excluding tail) then she would need 16 L of water, and the Plecs would need 12 cm of water. 16 + 12 = 28 L of water. If I am correct I should have enough.

BTW I know they're rubbish names but they're OK.

 

[jlk]

Unfortunately, this store has offered you very poor advice in respect to fancy goldfish. A more realistic stocking estimate for goldfish is 10 gallons per inch of fish. At 8cm or about 3inches, 30g is a realistic sized tank for the oranda as this fish will likely not have large amounts of growth in the future from growth restriction while it was a juvenile.

 

[AquaDave]

Slime

On the side of the tank I have clear slime but in the HOB filter all over the sides and everything there is loads of brown slime. Any ideas what it is? BTW for a couple of days my tank was clouded after putting in Aquafin cycle which I guessed was a bacteria bloom but I'm not sure if the slime is bacteria, algae or what.

 

[Rivercats]

If the tank is new your most likely going through the diatom phase. Diatoms are self limiting and once excess silicates in the water are used up it will go away on its own. Limiting lighting to 6 hours a day will slow diatom growth. A picture of the algae would help so proper identification can be done as I am just guessing it's diatoms.

 

[AquaDave]

I got the tank just after Christmas so quite a few months ago now.

 

[Rivercats]

Then the only way to figure out what you have is to post a picture showing the algae.

 

[Fishlover3578]

This is a good way to go if you want to reduce nitrates... Planted HOB thread..

That looks beautiful

 

[AquaDave]

I'm going to buy a 6 in 1 test kit tonight as well as ammonia test kit, and then tomorrow I'll take the water to pets at home so they can test the water (they used to do it free), and then another day get loads of plants including water wisteria, and finally put really thin foam rafts on the surface and grow cress in them.

 

[Joeysdiscus]

I'm going to buy a 6 in 1 test kit tonight as well as ammonia test kit, and then tomorrow I'll take the water to pets at home so they can test the water (they used to do it free), and then another day get loads of plants including water wisteria, and finally put really thin foam rafts on the surface and grow cress in them.

these are my test results the tank has only been set up for two weeks so the plants must be doing something right???

 

[AquaDave]

Sorry to say this guys, but u guys were slightly wrong about my tank being too small, the water polluting up highly and me having to do 50% water changes every other day. I did an 80% - 90% water change last week (hadn't done one in a few weeks), as well as cleaning the HOB, adding medicine, gravel cleaning, bacteria adding, making a sponge filter and not putting any cartridges in the HOB (because they would neutralise the medicine).

Today, a guy at pets at home tested my water and told me it was all good except a tiny amount of ammonia, which is probably due to me adding a couple of Hong Kong Plecs last week and also not using my HOB filter. I have one plant in bogwood (that I have already spoken about).

I asked a women working at the fish department asking about whether my Oranda had enough water and she said 20 L should be enough - because of growing space. I told her about my tank and she said that the 1 Oranda and the Hong Kong Plecs were the limit the tank could hold - which I already knew - but she didn't say anything about it being over-stocked.

So I think my tank's fine. Orangey seems a bit tired (by not moving around much) but today I was due to do another water change and medicine - which I'll do tomorrow now. The Loaches seem fine, so does the plant and I'm pleased with my water test results - the ammonia's not much and can be dealt with using ammonia remover so no worries there.

Thanks for all the advice though