Bak2it's Nitrates Management Options

[Bak2it]

Thanks for the info Daryl, I'll keep that in mind if any of my $3.99 goldfish die and I have room for more fish.

[gold2dee]

Here's an older photo of the entire tank and the filtration system. Any comments either for or against are welcome.

Looking at the goldfish fins, i notice theres no red streaks at all. Which is good! If such long fin goldfish were to be kept in green water, red streaks in their fins can usually be seen. I wonder why. Even in those Chinese goldfish books, i always see those long fin variety with red streaks in their fins.

[CP]

Here's an older photo of the entire tank and the filtration system. Any comments either for or against are welcome.

For - Aesthetically pleasing.Filtration system concealed from view.Good low stock level.

Against - Gravel base, and is there driftwood as well?With an in-built IOS in the main tank,the tank water overflows into the sump to the filter.As fish poos generally sink, they will be trapped in the gravel base, am I right?How do you get the poo to be collected in the filter mats?

[Bak2it]

The basically vegetable diet, that I feed, seems to make the poop more neutral than negative in buoyancy. And the four outputs from the filtration system are adjusted so that they blow down toward the bottom of the tank which keeps the poop moving around until it gets caught in the currents flowing into the overflow box. It's amazing how much stuff get trapped by the pre-filter pads every day. Anything that does get trapped on the bottom is removed during a weekly very thorough gravel vacuuming. All the plants are even moved so that any waste under them doesn't sit in the tank and decompose. Although it looks like there is a lot of gravel in that tank, there's less than twenty pounds. The rest of the bottom decorations are rocks that were cut so they fit together. No, there isn't any drift wood in the tank, just rocks and fake plants.

[The Matrix]

cool setup for tropical fish ...

fishes look healthy enough.