A suggestion for new small puffer owners

[BedScien]

Awesome, Bert. Thanks for the tip! I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I've netted out bits of crap wherever I've seen them and my ammonia levels are reading a bit lower now.

I might slowly remove the really tricky decorations I have (fake hollow log + little pile of pipes) when I get my new fake plants
I might though, on your advice, keep the cave wall I have to ensure that there is an area where the current is blocked.

How often would you clean a 100 and something liter tank?
Also, Do you clean the walls of your tank? Do you find that they affect the water quality as well as aesthetic quality?

[GSP32]

You shouldn't have ammonia in a fully cycled tank, you say that you want more bacteria? A fully cycled tank would have plenty. It also seems from your other thread that maybe you started the tank end of November? It's not long enough to cycle a tank unless you had seeded media. I don't know your situation so maybe you did have a fully cycled tank and it's just extra food in there causing the ammonia... Either way ammonia and Nitrites are incredibly harmful to your puffers... you should do big water changes and not leave it in there "to get more bacteria" in my opinion

As for water changes I think that we probably all do about 50% at least once a week... puffers are messy. I clean the glass as needs be, I don't like the look of algae. You can alternate panes or some just clean the viewing panes.

Good Luck

[RTR]

Prime does not block ammonia from being oxidized to nitrite, or nitrite being oxidized to nitrate. It complexes un-oxidized ammonia and nitrite from being toxic to gills (fish) and most sensitive inverts. Normal nitrification can occur in the presence of Prime.

The nature of bacterial growth (by division) means that the "normal" population of active nitrification bacteria (two different species are required, one for each step) which convert ammonia to nitrite and the ones which convert nitrite to nitrate will average at least 50% greater than the minimum require number of bacteria. Under the best (i.e., "normal" operating conditions) the number present will fluctuate from exact the number neesed to one division past that number, or 2x the minimum number required. That means that most stable operational tanks run about 50% more nitrification bacteria than they actually require. Bacterial populations are dynamic, not static. All "stable" or "balanced" or mature biological systems operate this way. That means that you should never see any ammonia or nitrite detectable in such tanks, due to the nature of bacterial systems. Pufferpunk is exactly correct in what she said, she does not need to be a bacteriologist to know this, it is nature's gift to hobbyists. Immature tanks can or will show occasional ammonia or nitrite because they are not mature. Once they level out, such readings are not seen with normal and properly cared for systems. In most hobby yanks you will see nitrate, and that the operator must deal with, trasitionally by partial water changes at frequent intervals, or by live plants, or by bacterial denitrification. But the simple water change is the most comprehensive practice. water removal and replacement is the most effective and comprehensive water maintenance process we know. But in some conditions (especially SW) it is quite costly. Alternate processes are commonly used there. For FW and low-end BW, water partials are relative inexpensive.

HTH

[bertie 83]

Awesome, Bert. Thanks for the tip! I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I've netted out bits of crap wherever I've seen them and my ammonia levels are reading a bit lower now.

I might slowly remove the really tricky decorations I have (fake hollow log + little pile of pipes) when I get my new fake plants
I might though, on your advice, keep the cave wall I have to ensure that there is an area where the current is blocked.

How often would you clean a 100 and something liter tank?
Also, Do you clean the walls of your tank? Do you find that they affect the water quality as well as aesthetic quality?

You should never clean 100%, if you mean empty clean all decor/substrate and replace all water. That's an unnecessary headache and will cause more problems and stress than it will solve. My tanks each get an hour of my time 3x per week, plus a long day once a week sorting any major tasks. I simply perform a water change and vac around half the tank each time I spend the hour, it seems like a lot of work but it really isn't. It's a routine I perform whilst listening to music or talking on the phone etc, I find it takes all the hard work out of the hobby with this little and often approach. I am a little OCD though,,,

[Pufferpunk]

I bet there's uneaten food that has floated inside that hollow log. Take it completely out of the water & empty it. Also, forget the netting of detritus. Get yourself a Python to clean the gravel & do water changes. Or at the very least, THOROUGHLY stir all the substrate under everything in there & do 50% WC daily, until the ammonia/nitrate remains at 0.

[GSP32]

I was reading the responses and I'm not wondering if you have a python and vaccum your substrate... if you don't at all then your water quality will go down the drain pretty fast, all kinds of stuff get stuck in there...

[BedScien]

@gsp32 Hi! My first tank was pretty terrible in terms of ammon and nitrite as i bought my fish on impulse . I moved my filter from my first tank to my new one along with the fish and another bigger filter - My thinking was that the biological filtration would have the same load to deal with as it was the same fish just in more water.

@everyone
I have playsand substrate which I stir weekly before 30% water changes. I could change that up to 50% water changes easily enough but I'd like to avoid having to maintain three water changes weekly for their entire lives :/. Would a protein skimmer cover my buttocks on that?

I'll have a look inside my fake log + pipes tommorow and have a look inside them for rotten stuff. I should be careful that I don't unnecessarily kill the good bacteria though, yes? Do any of you use gloves for maintenance to avoid contaminating the water?

I'm looking into buying a small pump which would make it easier continue to do accurate water changes and do them more frequently. (and maybe utilize it in building a DIY protein skimmer if that seems to be viable).
Any recommendations?
I'm currently looking at the New Jet NJ400 as I've read a few good things about MaxiJet.

Thanks again for the help!

BedroomScientist

[GSP32]

How long has the filter been running? It will take over a month, maybe even up to two months or more from starting to being fully cycled. Was the first tank fully cycled? Do you clean the filters at all? Usually you should clean only half at a time using old tank water in a bucket and then discard it but your filter may not be old enough for you to do that yet.

I can't imagine having a tank without a python, wc in a few minutes and no buckets to carry around, nothing.

I would stay with one 50% wc a week unless you see any sign of ammonia or nitrite or you can't keep up with the nitrates (they keep getting too high) then you might have to do 2-3 a week but that may also mean that you need more filtration or that you are overstocked. I would tend to think that most people do one a week

[BedScien]

@ RTR Cool, thanks! I'll try and do a water change tommorow.

[BedScien]

@gsp32 I'm afraid it wasn't. I bought the tank and fish on impulse and so they've been in there the whole time . On my first tank I'd been doing regular water changes the ammonia went to 0 so I wrongly thought that meant it was cycled.

I use a gravel vac but only to do water changes with.

What particular python product is it that you use?

I'm underemployed, by the way. No unemployed, but my income breaks generally breaks me even if I don't push it. So, basically, I'm trying to save money where I can do it without detriment to the fish.

[GSP32]

We all learn somewhere Unfortunately tho it might be a tough go for a while but that means that you need to do more water changes for a bit. Pythons can be a bit expensive ($50-100 CAD)but you may want to look to see if you can get a used one somewhere. They hook up directly to your faucet, one way it sucks out, the other way it goes in the tank... no buckets and no broken backs

http://www.pythonproducts.com/

[BedScien]

We all learn somewhere Unfortunately tho it might be a tough go for a while but that means that you need to do more water changes for a bit. Pythons can be a bit expensive ($50-100 CAD)but you may want to look to see if you can get a used one somewhere. They hook up directly to your faucet, one way it sucks out, the other way it goes in the tank... no buckets and no broken backs
http://www.pythonproducts.com/

Thanks what my plan is to save money and allow regular water changes is this -
Removing canister from one of my two internal filters but keeping it in tank water, I will use that powerhead to slurp water from the tank into an old bucket - It shouldn't be too much stress for the power head as after the water gets over the side of the tank, suction should do all the work

I have an uninhabited 50l tank which I just run a hose into then I add some hot water from the house which does take carrying a bucket but it's no problem for me. Then add conditioner and salt and allow my new pump (a NJ600 which I have just ordered for 13 Great British Pounds ) to mix the water and then attach some 1/2" tube (from my gravel vacuum) from the pump to the aquarium. After some fiddling about should hopefully able to have the powerhead set at the right height that it won't take out any more or less than the desired amount of water.

Then, apart from one bucket, It'll be a matter of turning a tap on, chucking some salt and cond. in and flicking a couple of switches. (Hopefully)

Cheap and proud.

[BedScien]

I also just drew up some plans for a DIY protein skimmer I might put together at some point

[Pufferpunk]

Look for DIY Python info on Youtube.

[RTR]

To me, the Pythons are the "Cannot be without" items for keeping fish tanks. Without then, I'd be out of the hobby. I haven't carried buckets of water since I got my first one. Within a short period after that. my tank upkeep time was cut by a huge margin. Water is always pumped or siphoned, never carried. The time and energy savings are huge. How else are old fogies supposed to keep up with their tanks?

FWIW