Batt4Christ said:Do you have any specific suggestions?
Whatever you want out of all the plants I have. I would post a list, but I am on my iPad. I'm sure you can find my lists in my signature link. All plants except the Buce.
Batt4Christ said:Do you have any specific suggestions?
Batt4Christ said:Yes, nitrates much higher in my 55g tank. In the smaller 29g tank, nitrates have been hovering at about 5ppm.
I struggle to keep the 55g under 40ppm.
Water clarity and water quality are not necessarily equal. More often than I care to mention, early in my aquarium keeping, I had clear water (for a time), with way-too-high ammonia or other water issues. But it rarely stays clear if you have such problems.
That all being said - regardless of tank size, my own rule is - filtration needs to be a minimum of 5X tank capacity.
So - a 10 gallon aquarium should have a minimum of (10x5=50gph). But that is only a baseline assuming light stocking and regular water changes.
I prefer 10 X tank capacity. So a 55g tank would be 550gph. The Emperor 400 is 400gph. The HOT Magnum is 250gph (all in rated capacity - reality is usually a bit lower) . So I'm running a rated 650gph on my 55g which explains why clouds from rearranging tank items doesn't last long.
My 29g - the AquaClear 50 is rated at 200gph, so I'm at a little under 9X.
I really wish I had an AQ70 for it - but things seem to be doing well as they are.
One thing I learned about filtration, with some help from right here on AA - I haven't had carbon in my filters in a long time. It serves a purpose, especially if you have something you actually need it for - such as removing medications or excess tannins. But otherwise, it really doesn't help (and is actually adverse to planted tanks, as it removes nutrients the plants need).
CorallineAlgae said:That's what I thought. It's your bio-wheels. They constantly produce loads of nitrate. I'd take them off of the Emperor. Trust me. If you want you could add a couple of sponges inside the filter for biological filtration. probably isn't necessary but you have room in it (it's a big filter).
Batt4Christ said:Ammonia-Nitrites-Nitrates. Isn't the end product (Nitrates) the same, regardless? My understanding is that biowheels are just more efficient... Am I misunderstanding?
CorallineAlgae said:You understand the nitrogen cycle very well. The only thing that tricks people up is how plants interact in the process. Plants actually use ammonia directly like a fertilizer. This means that the ammonia that plants absorb gets converted into new plant matter and not nitrite and nitrate like bacteria on the bio-wheels do. The bio-wheels are so efficient, most of the ammonia gets consumed by the bacteria before the plants can use it. End result... high nitrates and more algae. Does that make sense? lol I'm pretty distracted while typing this. That's why removing the wheels can help with high nitrates. Instead of letting the wheels make nitrate you allow your plants to use some of the ammonia grow bigger plants.You end up with less nitrates and better plants. Neat right? -_^
rkilling1 said:That is not entirely correct. Plants still us the N from the NO3. Why else do we add NO3 directly to our tanks? Bio wheels are no more of a nitrate factory then the bacteria that's everywhere else in our aquariums.
TankMan said:Batt...
What type of light fixture do you have as well as the bulbs? Also, what was the price?
TankMan said:For the 55g
Batt4Christ said:Odyssea 3xT5HO
1- 10000k
2-6500K
Has built-in timer
Price was around $90 or so
Batt4Christ said:That fixture has three "on" settings:
#1 is one of the three bulbs
#2 is the other two bulbs
#3 controls the blue LED moonlights.
It can operate in any combination of the above three, or even all three on at the same time (kind of pointless).
I currently have the first to come on in the morning and run until evening. #2 comes on right at mid-day for a couple of hours (thus all three tubes go for just a couple of hours - a lame attempt to simulate the high mid-day sun).
Lights out in the evening, blue LEDs come on for a few hours (no contribution to plants).
I was told I couldn't put angels in a 55 gallon....