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Living Room Aquastyle 35L (Fluval Stratum Test)


jumpsmasher
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Not much update this weekend, tested my top row of tanks on my new rack after a water change and there is still some nitrates so looks like it will be another week or so until they are ready.

In the mean time I started tearing down some of the tanks on the original shrimp rack; even after three years and with an OG filter hooked up to canister / hob filters, they were still buffering fine but they will need to go to make room the second section of the new rack.

I got a call from one of my friends who run a local fish shop to tell me that he finally has some of the new Fluval Stratum for me to try out. I had conflicting reports that it is new source but even the Hagen rep said it is just a repackaging of the old stuff so I wanted to try it out myself and see. Original plan was to use of the tanks on the new rack but the local Hagen had some major issues filling orders after they moved their warehouse so it has been backordered for the last 3-4 months.

I decided to clear out my Ehiem Aquastyle 35 that been running for a couple years and start flesh with the Fluval Stratum. I wanted to really test out buffering capacity and there is no better way to do that than with an UF filter hooked up to a canister / hob filter; pretty much a standard setup for me prior to switching over to HMF’s for the new rack. I also wasn’t too impress with the stock filter so this will give me the option of leaving it turned off even though it still need to be in there as it is what holds the LED light

I done a dozen tanks like this before so this will be familiar to those who have seen my previous tank setup's.

Jump’s living room Aquastyle 35L

Tank: Ehiem Aquastyle 35L
Filter: stock, UG + Aquaclear Mini
Lighting: stock
Substrate: Fluval Stratum (new version)
Hardscape: Branch wood + ADA Kobe stone
Shrimps: TBD

Here is the tank after empting it out
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Grabbed an old AquaClear Mini and hooked it up to my usual CPVC DIY UG pipes

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When filling in my UG filter I like to layer the material with the coarser lava rocks first:

_1251889_zps573a94a7.jpg

Then my biological filter media (hex media / rings, Seachem Matrix, Ehiem Substrat, etc;)

_1261892_zpsa5ae57c7.jpg

Then add old sea mud powder and bacteria additives (Benibachi BeeMax, etc;)

_1261894_zps131747b4.jpg

And then finally the Fluval Stratum and a piece of branch wood and some Kobe Stones

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And now to fill it up with water..

As far first impressions goes; it as darker than I remember than the original Fluval shrimp stratum and definitely darker than Amazonia; It is basically black whereas Amazonia is a dark brown. Also it seems a lot less drier than Amazonia, the granules were quite solid, even moist like; maybe it is just packaging but there is no dust when placing it in the tank or when filling it up with water.

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It has been approx. 24hr since the tank was set up and today the water is fairly cloudy - probably a bacterial bloom as I added a full dose of cycle last night after it was filled with water. It is also a lot lighter in the water, i would say it is comparable to Amazonia so perhaps the foil packing keeps moisture in better and results in the darker colour and less drier look.

_1261909_zpsa23e6a8d.jpg

I just tested the water in the Aquastyle 35L and got some Interesting results:

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: < 0.25ppm ( I would say it is barely over 0ppm)

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: 80-160ppm

It buffer the ph lower than I would expected, remain to be seen how long it stays that way. As for the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates; I added the recommended dose of Cycle to the tank and the biological media as taken straight from the UF bed of one of my shrimp tanks that I torn down the previous. Plus, the stock ehiem filter was running right up to when i took the tank down to redo it so not sure what to make of it;

either:

1) the new fluval stratum is leaching very little ammonia and the nitrates are from my old filter media

2) the combination of cycle and old media is converting the ammonia to nitrite to nitrates at a rapid pace

3) it leeches very little ammonia and the "nutrients" that this it is suppose to have is contributing the the high nitrates

I guess I should have tested this with brand new media to control the variables but than again I rarely do so when setting up a tank.

I have hoping the pH would be a bit higher as it it will fill a gap in my substrate lineup but for now the resulting PH is exactly the same as my Amazonia tanks. Will see how things settle down int he next few days

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What pH are you looking for?

I know you're not a big fan of akadama but I whipped up a tank for my erios that are on the way and I have a steady pH of 6.4, I believe my old tanks with Florabase resulted in similar pH. I have half a bag of akadama and almost a full bag of Florabase sitting around, you can have them if you'd like.

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I really like you filter mods, that is absolute genious. I might have to try this in some of my tanks...

Thanks Vince0! Can't really take credit for it has been used by many shrimpkeepers in asian for some time now. Not sure how applicable it is for fish either. For a true zero maintenance filter you have to be very careful on which type of media you use and order you put them in. This is how I do my canisters

1) Eheim MECHpro - basically black plastic rings that last forever (unlike ceramic ones), but very light. Traps any substrate or dirt that gets thru the UG filter

2) Coarse Sponge

3) Eheim bioMECH - a hybrid biological / mechanical media that trap any particles that makes it past the 2 media and provide some biological filtration as well

4) Eheim SubstratPRO / Seachem Matrix

The first three makes up around 1/4 to 1/3 of the filter and if I use a second prefilter unit they go in there. For HOB's I usually empty them out or mod them to hold as much biological media as possible.

What pH are you looking for?

I know you're not a big fan of akadama but I whipped up a tank for my erios that are on the way and I have a steady pH of 6.4, I believe my old tanks with Florabase resulted in similar pH. I have half a bag of akadama and almost a full bag of Florabase sitting around, you can have them if you'd like.

ideally 6.6 to 6.8. I still have an empty bag of Akadama; I don't think it buffers very long and in general do not create a very stable environment. I keep getting these weird hairline algae and last time i had neo's in them, they didn't do very well.

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do you remove the media basket from the filters then?

depends on the filter, but most of the time I leave them in there as they are require to direct the flow inside the filter. But most of my standard canister filters are the older eheim classic 2213 (without basket) or 2215 which also doesn't have baskets. For HOB most of the ones I have are the Aqueon Quietflow as they came with my first few tanks; they work quite well as they already have 3 different sections that are partitioned vertically so I have access to all 3 section from the top And having the pump inside the tank and basically connected directly to the uptake stem of the UG filter helps with the flow and priming.

Check the tank again tonight, water is much more clearer but parameter remained mostly the same. Nitrates might have a dropped a bit but still very high

Day 2 test results:

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: < 0.25ppm

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 80ppm

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Added some plants to the 35L the other day, nitrates continue to drop but looks like the amount went up a bit but my pH also dropped a bit today



Day 3 test results:


pH: 5.5


Ammonia: 0.50ppm


Nitrites: 0ppm


Nitrates: ~ 40ppm


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been a bit busy last while so haven;t been able to test the parameters regularly the past week. Did a do a top up with RO water on the weekend though and tested the water today:

Day 10 test results:

pH: 5.5

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 20ppm

looks like the pH is holding steady at 5.5 and it is still leeching a bit of ammonia. Nitrates be going down slowly as well

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Sorry forgot to mention that added some plants around the 5th day.

The (seeded) biological media in both filters and UG will also lower the nitrates over time as well.

Will probably do a water change this weekend and post some updated photos

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Did my first water change on the AquaStyle 35L yesterday and tested the water today.

Day 13 test results:

pH: 5.8

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrites: 0ppm

Nitrates: ~ 20ppm

Looks like it has finished leeching ammonia but there is still some nitrates. The interesting thing is the pH level went up a bit; will be interesting to to see if how long the fluval statum will be able to buffering and how low it can maintain the pH from the base pH of the water (my RO water is around 6.4). I have to decide what shrimps i want as well. Thinking of moving some of my PRL / CRS culls but a bit concern about the temperatures. So far the temperatures is within range for the winter but they can get quite high in the summers. Might have to add a fan for the summer.

Here is a updated photo of the tank:

_2081987_zps30e1430d.jpg

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