Making a nitrate filter!!

[Miyavp]

Google freshwater deep sand bed, some people do them. I'd use plants to reduce nitrates, my goldfish eat many plants but seem to also leave many alone. They love duckweed but don't touch salvinia, they also don't hurt the anacharis. The 40ppm nitrate reading and fish lethargy is likely coincidental, that level really isn't extreme at all.

You think? It always happens tho. Its how I can tell the levels are going up again

 

[blert]

You think? It always happens tho. Its how I can tell the levels are going up again

Maybe you have stated this already but...
After a PWC, what level does the nitrate start out at? How fast does it increase to 40ppm? What, and how much, are you feeding?

 

[Miyavp]

Maybe you have stated this already but...
After a PWC, what level does the nitrate start out at? How fast does it increase to 40ppm? What, and how much, are you feeding?

I'm gonna start testing it more frequently but with the last two months of doing this I've been busy. 40ppms is the level in my tap water, which is what created this problem. At about 35ppms the fish start with the bottom sitting and lethargicness. My problem is my goldfish are growing. 37gal isnt really big enough for them anymore but until I have the money a larger tank will have to wait. So until then I need to find a way to keep they're water clean and healthy. If I do a water change sunday around wednesday to thursday I'll start seeing them bottom sit. I worry that a few months ago when I rinsed the filter I killed some important bacteria. Thats also when this began.

I feed them hikari gold koi food, the mini pelets. Once a day and not any more then they can consume in about three minites. Often times I'll also cook them some peas and feed them that or some brine shrimps. I try to do that at least once a week with the peas and maybe once every two weeks with the shrimp as i've been told they're kinda like junk food.

 

[Cynic]

No way the nitrates would affect your fish that rapidly...if you can maintain 40ppm most fish should be fine at that level

 

[Miyavp]

No way the nitrates would affect your fish that rapidly...if you can maintain 40ppm most fish should be fine at that level

Well for a while they'd stopped bottom sitting all but one fish. And I read sometimes males chasing the females makes them tired and they'll sleep on the bottom of the tank during the day and when my male ryukin stopped chasing her as much she stopped doing it. But now its my male bottom sitting and I dont understand. Its always in the same corner area its the only place I catch them bottom sitting.

 

[blert]

I'm gonna start testing it more frequently but with the last two months of doing this I've been busy. 40ppms is the level in my tap water, which is what created this problem. At about 35ppms the fish start with the bottom sitting and lethargicness. My problem is my goldfish are growing. 37gal isnt really big enough for them anymore but until I have the money a larger tank will have to wait. So until then I need to find a way to keep they're water clean and healthy. If I do a water change sunday around wednesday to thursday I'll start seeing them bottom sit. I worry that a few months ago when I rinsed the filter I killed some important bacteria. Thats also when this began.

I feed them hikari gold koi food, the mini pelets. Once a day and not any more then they can consume in about three minites. Often times I'll also cook them some peas and feed them that or some brine shrimps. I try to do that at least once a week with the peas and maybe once every two weeks with the shrimp as i've been told they're kinda like junk food.

Rinsing your filter would not contribute to a nitrate rise, it would only help. Try doing it more often.

For sure slow down on those fatty proteins (shrimp), it is not real good for them and can muck up the water. Try feeding more cooked vegetables, it's better for the fish and water.

 

[Wroberson]

Sure would be nice to be able to bubble this stuff out of the water like CO2 or chlorine. Of course then everyone would have deficiencies.

I was thinking about an automatic process. Not such a filter, but a continuous water change set up where you have water being removed and replaced at the same time 24/7. It's not difficult to add the water pipes. You would need to tap into the cold and hot water and then add them together like a faucet. You would then set the temperature and then have the tap feed the tank.

The drain is the tricky part. In the basement I have a floor drain. I guess it requires a pump with flow volume controls that you can set to be slightly more than the flow of the incoming water. I say lower so that the tank won't overflow. Matching it would take some fine tuning. It's a gutsy move, and one I'll try when I have my own house. Not very practical for a small tank, but 100 gallons and up might be okay. And best if you're within a few feet of a sink. Then you already have the hot and cold pipes inches apart.

I estimate the cost for the valves, copper pipes, connectors and drain hose to be under $100.00. I've visualized it and would put an end to water changes.

 

[blert]

Sure would be nice to be able to bubble this stuff out of the water like CO2 or chlorine. Of course then everyone would have deficiencies.

I was thinking about an automatic process. Not such a filter, but a continuous water change set up where you have water being removed and replaced at the same time 24/7. It's not difficult to add the water pipes. You would need to tap into the cold and hot water and then add them together like a faucet. You would then set the temperature and then have the tap feed the tank.

The drain is the tricky part. In the basement I have a floor drain. I guess it requires a pump with flow volume controls that you can set to be slightly more than the flow of the incoming water. I say lower so that the tank won't overflow. Matching it would take some fine tuning. It's a gutsy move, and one I'll try when I have my own house. Not very practical for a small tank, but 100 gallons and up might be okay. And best if you're within a few feet of a sink. Then you already have the hot and cold pipes inches apart.

I estimate the cost for the valves, copper pipes, connectors and drain hose to be under $100.00. I've visualized it and would put an end to water changes.

An easier, and safer, route would be to run the drain pump on a timer and use an ATO to refill. No need for tweaking the input and output but you would need an automatic shutoff valve on the drain so the siphon doesn't empty the tank.

 

[jetajockey]

A heavily planted sump would be a viable alternative.

 

[Oceangirl]

I agree with jetajockey, plant! You could do a planted tank, lots of java fern! Plus I would use the water from the grocery store Like I suggested. Ever tried hydroponics?

This one is the best, cheap and most likely you have all the supplies.
Aquaponics (Growing Plants with Fish Poo)

Small Aquaponic Unit


This person is using a goldfish!

Simple aquaponics

 

[Miyavp]

I agree with jetajockey, plant! You could do a planted tank, lots of java fern! Plus I would use the water from the grocery store Like I suggested. Ever tried hydroponics?

This one is the best, cheap and most likely you have all the supplies.
Aquaponics (Growing Plants with Fish Poo)

Small Aquaponic Unit

This person is using a goldfish!

Simple aquaponics

I have a westeria plant (dont know if I spelled that right) but its not doing well.....over run with algae. It grew well at first then started dying. Idk what to do to save it.

 

[Miyavp]

I agree with jetajockey, plant! You could do a planted tank, lots of java fern! Plus I would use the water from the grocery store Like I suggested. Ever tried hydroponics?

This one is the best, cheap and most likely you have all the supplies.
Aquaponics (Growing Plants with Fish Poo)

Small Aquaponic Unit

This person is using a goldfish!

Simple aquaponics

I love the hydrophonics idea. I'm great with normal plants. My only issue is my tanks a show tank so its tall. I like the one with the goldfish using the water bottles and the air hose. Simple and with stuff i already have. I wonder how -wait....maybe I could somehow secure the bottles to the hood on my fish tank so they'd hang in the water not sit on the bottom.

 

[Oceangirl]

There are more examples on the main site
instructables.com
they have an entire section on aquariums, and a LOT of Aquaponic/ hydroponics, very green. Plus I'm sure I remember having a member here that has plants growing right out of the water. I think anacharis grows fast but your goldfish like to eat it. supposedly sold as goldfish food.

 

[Miyavp]

There are more examples on the main site
instructables.com
they have an entire section on aquariums, and a LOT of Aquaponic/ hydroponics, very green. Plus I'm sure I remember having a member here that has plants growing right out of the water. I think anacharis grows fast but your goldfish like to eat it. supposedly sold as goldfish food.

I'm sure I can find a way to keep them up. Maybe some sort of shelf in the water to hold them up?

 

[ownedbycats]

I've been looking into growing terrestrial/marsh plants out of the back of my tank, since I saw someone else doing it. They had taken a narrow plastic basket, one that had lots of space for water to flow in and out, and attached suction cups to hold it on the back of the tank, cut up a large sponge into chunks, and rooted the plants in there. Other people had tied single plants directly to a suction cup, which is what I'm doing with a piece of lucky bamboo (not real bamboo, actually a type of water lily that needs its roots in water, but its leaves out). You may not like the look of roots floating in your tank, but the fish seem to love swimming in and out.

 

[Miyavp]

I've been looking into growing terrestrial/marsh plants out of the back of my tank, since I saw someone else doing it. They had taken a narrow plastic basket, one that had lots of space for water to flow in and out, and attached suction cups to hold it on the back of the tank, cut up a large sponge into chunks, and rooted the plants in there. Other people had tied single plants directly to a suction cup, which is what I'm doing with a piece of lucky bamboo (not real bamboo, actually a type of water lily that needs its roots in water, but its leaves out). You may not like the look of roots floating in your tank, but the fish seem to love swimming in and out.

Wont my goldies munch on them?

 

[ownedbycats]

I was thinking if you did something like the basket with cut up sponges the basket would protect the plants roots from being munched on.

 

[Miyavp]

I was thinking if you did something like the basket with cut up sponges the basket would protect the plants roots from being munched on.

Thars a decent idea

 

[daveho]

im getting ready for a simmilar problem, i have a hevily brackish tank which needs to be able to swing between sg of 1.005 to 1.024 so i cant do live rock or plants and being well stocked means nitrates water changes with saltwater get expensive so i dont really wanna just double up on pwc, the results with denitrefing anarobic bacteria in areobic filters are mixed so it could be a waste of money so i think maby a denitrate coil is the way to go. how no one surgested this yet is beyond me. but with thease guys you HAVE to keep an eye on your ph cause blah blah blah science crap but as always THIS IS NOT A WAY TO AVOID WATER CHANGES!!!!!!

 

[Miyavp]

im getting ready for a simmilar problem, i have a hevily brackish tank which needs to be able to swing between sg of 1.005 to 1.024 so i cant do live rock or plants and being well stocked means nitrates water changes with saltwater get expensive so i dont really wanna just double up on pwc, the results with denitrefing anarobic bacteria in areobic filters are mixed so it could be a waste of money so i think maby a denitrate coil is the way to go. how no one surgested this yet is beyond me. but with thease guys you HAVE to keep an eye on your ph cause blah blah blah science crap but as always THIS IS NOT A WAY TO AVOID WATER CHANGES!!!!!!

Oh I dont mind the water changes. Its the three+ a week is whats getting me.