10 Tank's fish and tanks

[10 Tanks]

Today. I changed roughly 60 percent of the tank water in a 55, 60, 100 and 300 gallon tanks. If you do the math, that comes to about 395 gallons of water. If I lived any other place but Colorado, using that much water would be pretty costly. But, here my water bill seems to be next to nothing no matter how much I use. I did notice that the highest mountain range just west of us got quite a bit of snow. The foothills near them are still clear. Last year we received quite a bit of snow, so that's probably why my water bill is so low. Typically, I change the water in all my tanks from Monday through Thursday. The tank I manage gets a large water change twice weekly. I've noticed the sponge filters don't need to be squeezed out very often if I'm always removing and replacing most of the water every week. So, the fish get near pure water conditions and I don't have to do as much.

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[10 Tanks]

Hello again. Well, it's Thursday and I typically have a couple of tanks to work on. I have a 300 gallon outdoor water trough that has four Koi and a couple of dozen Goldfish of different sizes. Some are nearly as large as the Koi and others are a couple of years old and still dark. Goldfish can change color early in their lives, but I have some that remain dark as adults. I also change the water in a 55 gallon tank I have in our living room. It has roughly 20 Giant Danios. I siphon the water from the outdoor 300 into a large tomato bed. The plants really grow from the fish water and always produce a large number of tomatoes. My wife uses the water on the rest of her outdoor and indoor plants. The stuff is much better than the fertilizers you have to pay for and much more natural. Here's a picture of a portion of her garden.

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[10 Tanks]

Another entry. Went around this morning to feed all the fish. I feed a little variety every other day. This keeps the tanks cleaner and encourages the fish to forage around the tank. This gives them some exercise and they do their part to keep the tank clean. Aquarium fish in their natural habitat are fortunate to eat a couple of times a week, so I can't understand why we feel the need to feed more often than that, but we do. Anyway, I found a Nerite snail had somehow made it through a small section of one of the tanks that's not completely covered and dried itself out! Go figure. Guess there's a first time for everything. Just goes to show you that a tank needs to be completely covered. I have some used tanks that didn't come with covers, so I've made do with some glass that doesn't quite fit. Looks like I paid a little price for that decision. Oh well, live and learn.

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[10 Tanks]

Hey again. This is a bit strange, but the Nerite snail that slimed its way out of one of my tanks and appeared dried out has been granted another life! I just put the shell back in the tank as soon as I found it this morning and the thing is back slithering up the glass again. I've moved the glass cover around a little so it can't escape again. So, all is well in snaildom. Hard to believe, but stranger things have happened.

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[10 Tanks]

Hello. This post is about sponge filters and in particular the rate of the flow of the bubbles coming from the sponge. I'm sure everyone has noticed that the longer the sponge goes without being squeezed, out the lower the rate of bubbles. Now, if you remove and replace quite a bit of tank water, you remove the dissolving fish and plant waste that would be attracted to the sponge. So, you don't need to squeeze out the sponge nearly as often. I don't notice a slowing of the bubble rate in other words, the sponge filter filling with material from the water for from two to three weeks. After quite some time, you'll know how often to clean out the sponges. But, as I say, the more water you change and the more often you do, the less material will accumulate in the sponge.

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[emeraldking]

Hello. This post is about sponge filters and in particular the rate of the flow of the bubbles coming from the sponge. I'm sure everyone has noticed that the longer the sponge goes without being squeezed, out the lower the rate of bubbles. Now, if you remove and replace quite a bit of tank water, you remove the dissolving fish and plant waste that would be attracted to the sponge. So, you don't need to squeeze out the sponge nearly as often. I don't notice a slowing of the bubble rate in other words, the sponge filter filling with material from the water for from two to three weeks. After quite some time, you'll know how often to clean out the sponges. But, as I say, the more water you change and the more often you do, the less material will accumulate in the sponge.

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But you also know that sponge filters come in different densities? How higher the density of the foam, the faster you should clean the sponge filter. I've got several sponge filters of different manufacturers and the density of each brand of sponge filter does differ.

 

[10 Tanks]

But you also know that sponge filters come in different densities? How higher the density of the foam, the faster you should clean the sponge filter. I've got several sponge filters of different manufacturers and the density of each brand of sponge filter does differ.

Hello and you've made an excellent point. If you change out enough water, the density of the sponge is less of an issue. I prefer a sponge with larger holes or you'd say less dense. There's less clogging and the bubble stream is consistently stronger. But, back to your point, you're correct. A denser sponge will need to be squeezed out more often. The tank keeper will be able to judge how often through time. But, whatever sponge type you use, if you remove and replace a lot of tank water, the sponges will need cleaning much less often.

Thanks for your opinion. I was thinking I was just noting things for my own benefit. But, there are some useful tips that I hope to present on this thread.

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[10 Tanks]

For today. It's Saturday and we go to the government office to change out the tank water and check the filtration on a 55 gallon tank with about 20 or so Glo fish. There are some Tetras, Tiger Barbs and Pristellas. There are some type of small sharks as well. The tank has some Zebra Nerite snails and some larger Anubias plants. It's heated with two Eheim Jager 150 watt heaters. The tank has been running since Spring and the fish are doing very well as are the snails. It's a shame a pretty snail like a Nerite only lives a year or so. There are some large Rams Horn snails in the tank too. The tank water is warming up. Today, the temperature was about 77 degrees. A couple of degrees warmer and we should begin to see some fry. Here's a photo of the tank.

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[10 Tanks]

Today. I lost a feeder Goldfish that lived for six years in a 55 gallon tank with some Guppies. Now, if you're reading this and have ever kept feeder Goldfish, you know they're bred by the hundreds in pretty poor living conditions. So, they never develop a strong immune system. Both good and bad bacteria live in all fish tanks and a healthy fish is essentially immune to most bad bacteria that can infect them. However, feeder fish of any kind start out with a weak immune system and generally don't live long. So, a feeder Goldfish that lives several years is quite an accomplishment and shows that with optimum water conditions, a fish can live a fairly long life.

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[10 Tanks]

Good day. Today being Monday, we work on changing roughly half the tank water in a 45 and two 55 gallon tanks. We have a decent number of fish in these tanks, but for the most part, the fish are small to medium sized and by feeding a little roughly every other day, there's no chance of toxins building up before all that is removed through the weekly water change. We keep the tank water a little bit cooler than normal, so the reproduction process has essentially stopped. However, after changing the water in one of the 55 gallon tanks, I notice two bright red Platy fry. So, here's another example of nature finding a way to do her thing.

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[10 Tanks]

Tuesday: Changing the tank water in three tanks. This time, it will be three 55 gallon tanks. I'm using Seachem's "Safe" as the water treatment. I've used it for some time and it works very well. I use a water pitcher to mix the water treatment and always add a handful of standard aquarium salt. I started using it about 2006, because it helps the fish deal with higher levels of nitrogen in the water. This higher level is typically because most people new to the hobby of fish keeping don't change the tank water often enough and the salt allows a little room for error. But, if you keep the water extremely clean all the time, you really don't need it. I continue to use it out of habit. I have lowered the dose over the years.

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[10 Tanks]

Well, today, I changed roughly half the tank water on a 75 and 100 gallon tank. The 75 is heavily planted with 20 to 30 Guppies and 10 or so Platys of different types. The plants are Anubias and Anacharis. The 100 is a heavy plastic tub with some floating Anacharis and Dwarf Water Lettuce. I set the tub up about 6 years ago in my basement and used a four bulb shop light to grow the plants. I put a dozen or so feeder Goldfish in and they've really grown. The largest are about 7 inches down to maybe four. Goldfish are very social and need a lot of company if they're going to do well. Feeders aren't raised in the best of conditions, so they don't live that long. Seven years is about the best I can do.

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[10 Tanks]

After changing the water on the 75 and 100, we went to the government office to change the water on their 55 gallon. They have some Zebra Nerite snails that are trying their best to reproduce. There are at least a couple of dozen tiny white eggs in the tank, but unless we start adding some aquarium salt to the water, their efforts are going to be in vain. The temperature of the water was about 78 when we drained half the water and when we finished the temperature was 76. Haven't seen any eggs or fry at this point. The tank has mostly Tetras and some Barbs. There are some small shark type fish and a decent sized Pleco.

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[MuddyWaters]

Had an idea for a tank. Something fairly large, say 55 gallons. No filtration, just strong aeration. And, the secret, but really not so secret large and frequent water changes. I'm thinking I don't need any filtration if I just remove and replace most of the tank water every few days. More than half weekly, I'm thinking. Well, let's not just think about it, let's do it. Okay, done! This a a great hobby!

10 Tanks (Now more)

You could do a Walstad tank and skip all of it. I like messing around with it, though- I don't think I could just leave one alone.

 

[10 Tanks]

You could do a Walstad tank and skip all of it. I like messing around with it, though- I don't think I could just leave one alone.

Hello. Yes. I'm a little bit familiar with the Walstad method. But, even using organic soil, you still need to do periodic water changes. So, it's not completely self sustaining. If you want to go that route you can keep a "Terraphyte" tank. It uses a terrestrial plant called a Chinese Evergreen" to use the three forms of nitrogen produced by the fish. You just replace the water lost to evaporation with distilled water. So, the minerals never build up. This type of tank really requires no water changes. I'm thinking about just using strong aeration and changing half to two-thirds of the tank water weekly to remove the dissolving fish waste before it ever builds up. If you change out enough water and often enough, you shouldn't need mechanical filtration at all. We'll see.

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