My first 4ft semi biotope setup

[Kiang]

Running on a 2.5ft sump

Group photo time

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/8877/9P9SYi.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/2830/slXKSu.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img911/2969/BQfSK1.jpg

Sizing up

http://imageshack.com/a/img538/7228/oP11UP.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/5506/3kalEl.jpg

[Larry Grenier]

Very nice Kiang. Are those Altumns?

[plecocicho]

Nice, but i would put a thin layer of sand on the bottom, Cories and discus will appreciate it.

[Kiang]

Very nice Kiang. Are those Altumns?

Thanks.

Yup. They are altum angels


Nice, but i would put a thin layer of sand on the bottom, Cories and discus will appreciate it.

Had shifted to bare bottom for easier maintenance

[yogendra101]

Amazing set up !! Cant believe it's first one !!

[Kiang]

Amazing set up !! Cant believe it's first one !!

Thanks for the kinds words. Lot to learn still.

[OC Discus]

Great looking setup. Give us the history of those 6" Angels. How long have they all been together in the tank?

[Kiang]

Great looking setup. Give us the history of those 6" Angels. How long have they all been together in the tank?

Thanks.

The altum are from 2013 batches.

They had been in the comm tank since Jun 14.

[jmf3460]

I agree with a thin layer of sand, corydoras love sifting through sand...plus it will look more natural. With adult fish you can do substrate and still maintain good water quality. Beautiful angels and beautiful discus.

[Kiang]

I agree with a thin layer of sand, corydoras love sifting through sand...plus it will look more natural. With adult fish you can do substrate and still maintain good water quality. Beautiful angels and beautiful discus.

Thanks for the advise. Will consider it during the future scaping.

[Kiang]

Did some minor arrangement of the sump and installed a DIY algea scrubber.

http://imageshack.com/a/img537/576/KbNCEg.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img908/64/MSPjec.jpg

[Kiang]

Need some advise from Fellow brothers here.

Just tested water on my 4ft tank.

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrate about 80 (red zone)

Using API master kit.

Got about 20 rummy nose, 20 cories, 3 altum, 2 discus, 1 L128, 1 L183 and about 10 nertie snails. In the set up.

Feeding twice per day. Each time about 35 sinking carnivore pellet (all food will be cleared within 5mins)

Water change regime is 50% twice weekly.

Any things I had did wrongly which caused the high nitrate?

Overpopulation?
Over feeding?

Thanks in advance

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Kiang, two suggestions; up your WCs and test your source water for nitrates.
Pat

[Kiang]

Thanks Pat.

I had started the increase as we are speaking.

50% mid week and 80% end of the week. Will carry on to observe the nitrate level.

Thanks for the reply.

Cheers

[OC Discus]

A couple near 100% might be needed to get it down to 10. Then larger % each wc or more often to keep it down. The one 80% weekly might help keep it down.

[Kiang]

Thanks buddy.

I am still puzzling about the cause is the high nitrate. Wonder if it is due to over population or over feeding.

[Len]

You have a lot of fish in the tank, so they are going to produce a lot of ammonia through both waste and respiration. Your filtration will break it down into nitrate in the end and the only effective way of getting rid of it is to do water changes. Increase the frequency of your water changes and you should see an improvement.

[Kiang]

Thanks Len.

Will do more wc and control my hand from adding in more fishes

[OC Discus]

That is an awesome looking sump. Do you just have the one tank connected to it? You have a factory for breaking down waste, but like Len said, nitrate is the end result and it is only removed by water changes. 80 % on two consecutive days, or twice in one day, should reduce it considerably. The sump likely contains a great deal of nitrate as well as the tank.

[Kiang]

There is only 1 tank connected to the sump. Accumulated Waste which are not picked up by the filter will be cleared manually before each feeding. The sump had been cleaned recently.

So my guess for the high nitrate is a result of high bioload as Pat had highlighted

[wanderingfish]

doesn't scrubber remove nitrate?

[Kiang]

Either it is not working well enough or my nitrate is too much for the scrubber to work