Originally Posted by
Tindomul
Hi all,
I have been waiting for a while to present my results. I wanted to do a few rounds of testing to be sure of the results. I setup my 75 gallon aquarium with a sump giving me a 95gallon system. I set it up as a fully planted tank with a plenum, a layer of laterite, a layer of cat litter and topped it off with a thick layer of ADA aqua soil. I placed 5 brand new baskets of the BCB's built following Dr. Novak's directions from his youtube channel. This was on March 9th of 2018. On March 20th, I kicked started the aquarium cycle by adding a fully mature BCB from another tank. In the sump I have two mats from swiss tropicals to act as polishers for the water. I understand that some beneficial bacteria may be working there. This aquarium might turn into a Discus tank one day, but for now it is a fully planted, small fish tank. I currently am only stocking the tank with 5 Otocinclus, 5 Cardinal Tetras (I have an additional 40 in quarantine). I have two Nannacara anomala and a few amano shrimp. I plan to add 4 Bolivian Rams who are now in quarantine as well. For the last several months my water conditions have been exceptionally stable. I really wanted to test out the effectiveness of the BCB's and decided against any water changes. I have done 0 water changes since March 17th. I add approximately 4 gallons per week due to evaporation. My API testing results have been consistent for several months. My Ammonia levels are 0ppm. My Nitrite levels read at 0ppm. My Nitrate levels also read at 0ppm. See the attached picture, with Ammonia test on the left and Nitrate test on the right.
What I feed. I feed freeze dried shrimp, Cichlid bug bites, and flakes. I feed a combination of any two per night and usually feed the fish twice.
The picture of the tank was taken 3 days ago. I did a major trim and as you might be able to see, I have hair algae and a bit of Cyanobacteria which I have attributed to the very strong morning sunshine and the 8 hours of lighting from the aqua-illumination lights. I cut the artificial lighting time to just 5 1/2 hours.
I have not tested for phosphates, and I imagine a good regimen of water changes would go a long way with the algae, but I have essentially been conducting a long term experiment to try to replicate Dr. Novack's results.
Other parameters also show as
pH of 6.6,
Gh and Kh of 1. Basically my test-tube turns a pale green on the first drop for the GH and a pale yellow on the first drop on the KH.
In conclusion, I am a believer. As I increase my bioload, I have the ability to increase the number of BCB's to a max of 15 baskets if I feel I need to, since I have a 30 gallon tank as a sump. I hope to one day keep a few Discus in the tank so long as doing water changes does not mess up the water parameters.
Thanks all for keeping such a great thread, it was so very instrumental to the success I have experienced.
César