Noob questions :D

beetlebz

oh oh let me clarify.

first off, i never touch my bio filter. its a totally separate pad from my regular mechanical filter pad.

second, as far as dechlorinator, I live in rural connecticut. we have a well, not a town fed water system. nothin in there but silt, and I have a silt filter for that ;) its a private well from a private aquaphir, there are no chemicals added to the water in any way, so chlorine isnt any concern here ^_^

willow

hopefully the water changes will do the trick for you.
:)

jones57742

BBZ:

I have not posted in this thread lately as you have been getting excellent advice in this thread but I feel that I now need to clarify and/or further explain several items.

The Ph and nitrates are OK but cringing is appropriate.
The concentration of ammonia which you have reported is TOXIC to your fish over a very brief period of time (ie. days and not weeks).
In addition without the WC's recommended in this thread the nitrites concentration will rise to toxic levels also.

What I am going to say here is not universally accepted in the fish keeping community but are my views.
Mechanical and biological filtration should be considered as separate processes.
Mechanical filtration media should not be relied upon for biological filtration and if portions or all the mechanical media is functioning as biological filtration then "it is way past time to wash or change the mechanical media".
I am not familiar with HOB filters but if indeed the "pads" which you believe to be mechanical filtration become even a light brown it is "past time for the pad to be washed/replaced.
I prefer washing due to the cost savings.

My knowledge is that if you live in the United States this condition just cannot exist according to EPA rules as enforced by the states.
Folks get fined $100,000's and/or go to jail for implementing such a potable water system.
Having said the immediate preceding there is "nothing wrong" with washing the mechanical media in tap water (or for that matter a mild chlorine solution and rinsing thoroughly as this will disinfect the media as well as "kill" any algae which might exist in the media).
Dry the media "as best as you can" and add a small quantity of dechlorinate to the tank when you return the washed media to the filtration process.

IMHO I would not do this one.
Even though I fairly regularly employ very fine mechanical media I still rinse the biological media in tank water "every month or so" (with the exception of the bioballs).
The tank rinse water always turns brown and sometimes "gunk" is present in the tank rinse water.

TR

willow

^^ gosh well said.
:)

beetlebz

i couldnt agree more willow! Jones, you should get paid for those posts ;)

immediately after I took those readings yesterday I did a water change. the levels were slightly lower today, the ammonia not by much but the nitrates were a smidge lower, and I did another smaller water change tonight, maybe 15% or 20% is all. as long as im keeping up on my WCing the fish seem to be happy, though one of the balas has a small red spot on his rear fin. no more tetras have gotten sick or died, and their colors are returning :)

as for the HOB filter, there are 2 separate back to back pads. one is blue, and has what im 99% sure is some kinda charcoal in it, the other is dark grey and says "DO NOT REMOVE" on it. soooo even though im a kid at heart i dont mess with it lol but for their information its like giving me a big red button and telling me not to press it!

as for my well, id say a good 60% if not more houses in my area still use good ole fashioned wells. instead of having the water company pump water to the house you just dig a really deep (up to 300 feet in some cases) hole, stick a pipe down it, and youre done. kinda sucks when the power goes out, but theres something to be said for drinking tap water without gagging :D

and once again jones, thank you for such a throughly informative post!!!

jones57742

Thanks Willow and Bbz:

Yall's comments make the several hours required to compose and perform multiple edits those type of posts make "it all worthwhile".

Bbz: your last post has me a "little concerned" about a few items.

1) As I indicated I am not familiar with HOB filters but what you described in your last post "just does not make sense to me" and it is probably me but can you post a link to a page which describes you HOB filter.

2) The nitrates are not a problem. The ammonia (as well as the nitrites which will be generated by the bacteriological digestion of the ammonia) is.

3) The ammonia should be "really going down" with the WC's which you are performing. Have you checked your tap water for ammonia? If not then please do so and post the results.

4) Are you bringing the temperature of the water which you are using for you WC's to the temperature of the tank water before inducing it into the tank?

5) I still not understand "this well business" . I understand that folks drill wells for the production of personal potable water.
As best as I remember the EPA rules (has been years since I have "studied them in detail") a maximum of 3 "properties" can use a common well "as long as" each property has direct flow from the well to the property and no commercial activity exists.
Once a "water main" is used for the distribution of potable water to "even two" properties then this "water system" is governed by EPA rules which are implemented by the states.
This governance requires many standards relevant to water quality including the typical disinfection via chlorination.

TR

willow

I was looking on a forum last night,and someone
was talking about the problems with their aquairum,
they said that the water they were using was from the well
on their property.
the person who replied said that maybe they should test
the well water !
to be honest,i think i would give it a go,so just to
illiminate any possibilities.perhaps.

willow

is it one of these.?

beetlebz

its one of these hehe i took a top down picture of my filter so you guys can see what im talking about. the blue is the regular filter media pad. the black pad infront of it is the bio filter pad. these are the cheapo power filters that can be converted into the biowheel filters with some parts and a little ingenuity.



and here we are the only house on the well :)

oh and the ammonia test i just ran on my tap water is MAYBE between 0 and .25, but closer to 0, if above zero at all. the ammonia level drops significantly after the water changes but doesnt stay down for too long. the next night its up around 3-4 ppm.