Is this setup correct..

Hey guys, I want to ask of your expertise here. I made a wet/dry filter out of my old tank. There are three levels to this filter. First of all, water goes through a micro filter bag, then down to the black carbon. From the black carbon, water drips down to the white carbon (ammonia remover), then to the sythetic sponge and to the bio balls. Does it matter if I place the black carbon before the white carbon? The water is cloudy, yellowish color. I suspect the level of ammonia is high. Take a look at these pics below. Let me know what do you guys think about this setup and what needs to be change if any.

Thanks guys.

 

Not sure about the carbon... hmm.. I think it would be fine... in my old canister for my turtle I kinda switched between the two - one on top, one on bottom when I changed them out.. gotta rinse that white stuff really well.

Half your bioballs are submerged... did you do that to try and reduce nitrates? if you have a high bioload you might want to get more of them out of the water..

Is this a fish only tank? Wet/drys are good for those.. for coral tanks maybe softies but the more delicate stuff generally just goes for skimmer and rock..

Thanks for joining 3reef!

matt

 

Thanks for your respond Matt. My tank is 100G with one large ryukin and 2 small ranchu. I have live plants in there as well. My ryukin is gasping for air since I moved it to this tank, but the ranchus are fine (knock on woods). Why is the ryukin gasping for air, do you know? As for the bioballs, they are submerged because I put a filter sponge at the outlet (where water flow out to the pump) to filter any debris. Should the bio balls be out of the water? Do bioballs reduce nitriates when they are submerged?

Thanks Matt
Peter

 

This is a freshwater system? I think yes...

Bioballs are very efficient at reducing ammonia to nitrites, and nitrites to nitrates, when they are exposed to air. Submerging them lessens this positive effect. You will get nitrate build up, but that is what the water changes are for. Your live plants should help with that as well.

I don't know anything about the fish you mentioned tho :

 

Thank you for your input Birdlady. Yes, it is a freshwater tank. I just tested the nitrate and its level are very high, dark yellowish. I think what you mention about submerging bio balls into water builds up nitrite and nitrate is correct..boy it looks like a long island ice tea ;D . The nitrite is ok, but could improve. I'll get them balls out of water for a week and see what happen. Ryukin is a breed of goldfish and so is ranchu. Goldfish puts out a huge amount of ammonia because that's the way that they're created, very dirty pet.

I have plants in my tank, but I think I need more than what are in there. I have java fern and nana anubia, which goldfish can't eat. Other than these 2 plants, it's a salad bar for them. :-[

Thanks for the tips Birdlady.

 

Goldfish. Oh Yeah! Get them bioballs out from under the water! Your nitrites should continue to drop.

Nitrates are really only removed by water changes (to any measurable degree) ;D (in a freshwater setup)

 

I just raised them bioballs, now they are out of the water. I was hoping that you'd say your nitrate should continue to drop. My nitrite is ok, not alarming, but it's the nitrate that's in the danger zone. Anyway to get rid of them nitrate other than water change? Will the nitrate ever go down to zero with consistant water change?

 

I'd be pretty impressed if you could maintain 0 nitrates in a goldfish tank. But under 40ppm would be nice. Why is the water like tea? Do you have a lot of driftwood in your tank? What kind of substrate are you using?

 

Yeah I have 2 Malaysian drift woods which my plants are attached to. I only use regular gravel as subtrates. Do the drift woods pose any chemistry issue?

 

Well I am not entirely sure, but I've read that some wood does become a phosphate source down the road. My own experience seems to concur in the sense that the piece I had was clean for a year or so and now is crumbling and covered in algae. But really I am not confident enough to conclude anything.