grumpy

I have a freshwater setup in a 90 gal that I converted from salt water, and so it has an elaborate sump system, with an overflow in the back corner of the tank. The advantage to this setup is that the possibilites for filtration are pretty much endless. I have the overflow 3/4 full of bioballs, with a piece of cotton filter on top to catch the first of the gunk that goes in there. I replace that pad fairly often, and the best part is it's easy to see when it's getting dirty. The bio balls are easily removed if they need rinsing, which I have not done yet. ( If and when I do rinse them, I'll do only half at a time so as to retain the bacterial that is in there. ) The sump consists of three stages. I currently have the water going through carbon and zeo mix in a large margarine bowl. I drilled a couple of hundred tiny holes in the bottom of it, and it sits on a bed of filter material. This all stays pretty clean for at least a month since I'm changing the filter in the top of the overflow regularly. The first stage of the sump itself acts as a collector for fine silt. The second is currently not being used. There is an overflow area into the third, where I have a couple of bags of phosphate remover, and in the final stage I have my heater, the main pump, and my DIY CO2 system. It all works great. Clear water, and easy maintenance. Plus as I said it's easy to add or change any of the filter components. Also, you can in fact just shut down the pump and use the python in the sump to do a water change. Midewaiter's DIY sump sounds great too. Every bit as practical as mine. I have a question though for anyone who uses canisters or just knows lots about filtering: Is it best to have the carbon before or after the filtering media? OR does it even matter? The carbon of course is easily rinsed whenever needed.

Toirtis, thanks for the reply. That's kind of what I was thinking too. I figure I've been pretty lucky so far, and maybe shouldn't rock the boat. So.....maybe it's about time for tank #2.

Well, firstly I'm going to use the 'store' names, since I'm just not up on the scientific names. Never thought I'd get so caught up in this hobby, but going from a 20 gl to a 90 I guess will do that! Here's my list so far: 4 tinfoil barbs, ( have grown from 1" to 3-4" in 3 months! ) 5 tiger barbs, 1 1/2" 5 cherry barbs, 1" 2 angels, 2 1/2" 3 blue choral platys, male, 1 1/2" 1 sword tail, 2" ( left from 4 that I purchased when setting up ) 4 serpae tetras, 1 1/2" 2 red/blue neon gouramis 2" 2 pearl gouramis 2" 3 ameca splendins ( thanks all who advised me on these! They do their job. ) 1 golden algae eater ( also doing a good job ) I'd like to add a nice school of smaller fish, but tried some neon tetras recently and the tinfoils ate them for lunch. Would also really like to add some other gouramis. Need some more color, preferable some yellow and blue or green. Any suggestions? Or should I just leave well enough alone? So far everyone gets along well. Also have a few assorted plants, and some rocks arranged to provide tunnels and cover for the smaller fish. The tiger barbs and serpaes seem to love it. Grumpy

Thanks very much for the replies. I will try to eliminate the worst contamination and then I'll do the disinfectant bath as suggested. I also want to add some critters as a preventative measure. I'll probably go looking today. Undecided as to snails, shrimp or algae eaters. I already have a golden algae eater who's doing a nice job of keeping the tank (glass) clean. I don't want to infringe on his food supply, but rather it would be nice to have some help with only the algae that is on the plants. I've been reading up on the Ameca Splendens and they appear to be a good option. I may add a couple of them.

I seem to have a black algae that is making a mess of the leaves on many of my plants. I'm new to using live plants, so I'm not sure if it's even algae or something else. I'd gladly buy some snails or fish to take care of it, if I knew what to get. I'm hesitant about adding chemicals; would prefer to take care of things naturally if possible. Any advice?

I'm just experimenting with a DIY setup. I brew beer and so I already have lots of experience with getting rid of co2, but have never tried to produce it for the aquarium until recently. I have a few questions. Where is the best location for the bubbles to enter? I have the tube going just below my water return (from my sump system). Would it be beneficial to have it go into the sump just before the pump? I'm thinking I might be better dispersion of the bubbles. ?? Also, in the elaborate system detailed here, what does the reactor do? It appears to be full of bio balls. Is that meant to handle the CO2 somehow or is it unrelated? Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim.

Thanks, I'm in Calgary.

Hi all, After ten years or so, I'm getting back into the hobby. Got a saltwater setup and tried for a year to nurture coral ( what a fiasco ), and finally gave it up. Drained the tank, sold / gave away the critters, cleaned A LOT, and finally filled the 90 gal tank with fresh water. Now I have a nice community tank: 4 tinfoil barbs, 5 tiger barbs, 4 serpae tetras, one red tail shark, one bala shark, 2 angels, 5 cherry barbs, one swordtail, 3 coral platys, one gold algae eater...I think that's the lot of them. Recently did a DIY CO2 injector, since I also decided to go with live plants this time. I'm having some success....but could probably use LOTS of advice.