Here in London I use Campden tablets, used for brewing, 100 tablets cost £3. One tablet treats 20 gallons of water. I get some algae on my glass, rarely wipe it off, every 3months or so, some on the plants which I like, for me l think the benefits outweigh the negatives. I find algae fascinating, single celled organisms to giant kelp. I don't filter my water, change 20% every 5months or so. Lots of plants, soil and sand deep substrate, Walstad style aquarium. Works for me, Happy fish keeping Dr. 🍀
I don't clean algae either lol. Everyone tells me my tanks look "dirty" lol BUT , algae is only helping filter the tank... I only get it because i have excessive lighting on my tanks lol.
I am just getting back into fish after a very long absence. I have been researching as much as possible to see what has changed in the last 35 years or so. When I found your TH-cam page I was amazed by your discussions regarding under gravel filters. Between 1980 and 1987 I was into fish in a big way. At the end I had over twenty tanks, the largest being two at almost 200 gallons each. The majority of the tanks were 35 to 50 gallons. At this time I was breeding Angels, Discus and Kribensis for sale and many others for sport. I think the interest this story may have to you is that all of my tanks were running with under gravel filters (with small short airlifts) and were heavily planted. In all of the years of keeping fish I did not hear of "Water Change" let alone do it. The only time I actually changed any water in my tanks was on the very rare occasion that they went really toxic. I never did find out why this happened, thank goodness it was only two or three times. So I am about to start keeping fish once again at the ripe old age of 76 and can assure you that under gravel filters will be the only way I will be going for filtration. Thank you so much for your insight as why I had so much success.
I agree. I started keeping fish when I was 11 years old and this month I will be 75. Those inexpensive under gravel filters that I purchased back in the first days of my fish keeping did an excellent job keeping tanks clean and excuse me when I say this, the plants grew like weeds. You are correct about water changes because back in 1959 nobody ever spoke of changing water in a tank they just said to keep it full to prevent the heater from malfunctioning. Today I change the water one to two times a month and before everybody out there has a heart attack the API test kit I have shows the water parameters are well within safe limits. My fish don't die prematurely of unknown causes, they live a full life and die of old age. Quarantine tanks were never mentioned either. I was told to float the bag containing the new fish for 20 minutes and occasionally add water from your tank then dump everything into your tank. I must admit that did cause an infrequent outbreak of ick. Today I still float the fish but I do a plop and drop into a quarantine tank before adding them to a community tank. I'm glad you're back into the hobby.
@@MrSerendipity01 I don't think you have understood what I have been saying in my post. Over a period of ten years, I had over twenty tanks, with a capacity of 35 to 200 plus imperial gallons. During that time all of my tanks were equipped with underground filters with 2 to 4-inch substrate. Over that period I conducted NO water changes other than replacing evaporation but did have two or three tank crashes for no known reason (at that time). Are you suggesting that had I done water changes every week on twenty tanks it may have saved the three that crashed? Do you think it would have been worth the time, effort, and expense? You obviously follow Dr. Novak's posts but I don't think you have understood one thing that he is trying to tell you. Keep up with your water changes and good luck to you.
@@davidcrofts1684 I used under gravel filters in the 1960 and changed 3/4 of the water every 2 years if it needed it or not. Then I went to a dyna flo because I could see it actually doing something and I got a gravel vacuum cleaner and never did water changes except just the water that went out with the gunk. Tearing down the whole tank was stress on the fish and never did it again.
Algae is always either increasing in quantity or decreasing. If you have enough things that eat it, it's difficult for it to increase. If it is decreasing, eventually it will become negligible. I keep 3 tanks, 30 gallon, 55 gallon, and 20 gallon tall. I used to scrape the algae off the glass periodically but that got really old. I ended up adding nerite snails and otocinclus cats and siamese algae eaters, and lots of floating plants and other plants, and dimming the light considerably. It took quite some time, months in the case of the 20 gallon tall, to finally get the algae under control. It is now such that I do not need to scrape the glass, ever (nor do I do water changes, and the 55 gallon does not even have a filter).
This is great! I just purchased a 4 lbs bottle! I did the calculation and my current dechlorinator costs around 30 times more per year than this solution as per the link you provided!! I am fairly sure the LFS is doing exactly what you just demonstrated, pouring it into 2 litre fluorinated jugs, slapping a sticker with their name on it, and marking it up approximately 30 times the cost!! Thank you! God bless!
No alge on my 4ft tank glass. Heavily planted. Floating plants. 4 Neralite snails. 4 ottocinlis . Under gravel filters. Pollyfilter on top of bubble up lifts. Kind regards UK
I managed to have a no algae aquarium using 2 inch sand on the bottom, a heap of fast and slow growing plants and water lettuce + duckweed, one small sponge filter and a whoping 55w led lighting. The aquarium is 2 years old and 6 gallon and i keep something like 8 chilli rasboras, tens / hundreds of cherry shrimp and tens of guppy fry which I put and take out depending on their size. With very strong light, floating plants can absorb the nitrate super efficiently. Nitrate was constantly between 10 and 25 ppm in all if my random tests. The feeding that i do is very funny and efficient haha. I suspend a bottle cap from a thin wood stick that comes from outside the water and put food inside. The shrimp go there and stirr the food making small quantities fall off slowly and the rasboras and guppy fry snack on the little pieces. It works great on feeding middle water colum feeders and preventing the snails from covering and devouring food pieces. I use pretty small quantities of food but the fish and shrimp get stuffed and the pesky snails stay hungry.
In order to have a pristine tank with no algae you can not have a tank in direct sunlight. You need a good light but only run it 6 hours a day and have a good amount of live plants eating all the nutrients so the agea can not grow without food. Also it is key to have a good biological/physical filter. Do frequent water changes and clean your physical filters with every water change. Another thing do not use lots of fertilizer or there would be enough nutrients for algae. Do this and you should not see algae at all. If you have autocyclis and or flying foxes they will eat what little algae at the microscopicall level there might be(use algae wafers to ensure they get food). Do all this and you will never have any visible algae ever. Your tank gets full sun therefore it will get algae. Autocyclis and flying foxes will eat the alge on glass, rocks, gravel, all tank furnishings, and off the plants without harming them. Also do weekly water changes. This will greatly minimize algae and you may even get rid of it.
When using a sponge filter and wanna clean it without making a mess. Lift it with the air tube and putt it in a plastic bag inside the aquarium. Then take it out for cleaning.
Seachem Safe is probably the same stuff. Sold as a powder and they provide a tiny scoop (200mg) that is used to dechlorinate 50gallons or 200litres. Had to order it online, the LFS here in Finland only have bottled dechlorinators for sale.
scalor I agree about Seachem Safe. I won’t change from Safe because my tap water contains Chloramines(chlorine & ammonia), and Sodium Thiosulfate converts the chlorine to ammonia...not safe for fish, at all.
That was a great tip, definitely cheaper than any bottle declorinator I have seen. I watch a lot of fish related videos and in none of them have I heard about this, I really appreciate the time you take to share with us Dr. Novak.
It is sodium thiosulfate right? Just because you called it sodium thiophosphate once or twice too, and I think that's a totally different chemical, but I could be wrong.
I get this type of green dust algae on the glass/acrylic only, it was building up in 3-4 days, the floor of my tank is bare bottom and seems to get covered first then the sides. Tank is in my kitchen with way to much light and indirect light from windows next to the tank on both sides. I cleaned it all off and added a small UV light to hob filter, stopped using led lights and blocked a glare the tank gets from a living room window everyday at 1030am and now the algae builds up around 6-7 days. Today I removed the build directly above the tank in my kitchen (I believe this is why the floor of my tank gets covered so fast). We shall see.
The “Flying Fox” (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) is actually not much of an algae eater. It is a misconception stemming from its superficial similarity to fish in the genus Crossocheilus (and the fact that they are sympatric), of which one or possibly two species are good at eating algae. The best one being Crossocheilus langei, which is the ‘true’ “Siamese Algae Eater.”
Thank you for the dechlorinate info Dr. Novak! Have come across this method several times on the net but no definite explanation for the dosage. As for the sponge filter, why not tried using pre (external canister) filter for mechanical filtration? I found it really helpful for collecting fish waste and detritus, so the main (bio) filter get cleaned less frequently.
Just a simple question. If 5ml of solution treats 10 gallons of water for chlorine do you triple the dose for chloramine? I've used Seachem Safe which is similar (very cheap) but it does have the ammonia binding agents which for some reason don't allow anaerobic bacteria to establish themselves in my tanks. I recently realized that my municipality uses chloramine in our water. This produces quite a bit of ammonia when using a dechlorinator. I don't think using only Sodium Thiosulfate in this situation is advisable as it creates a toxic environment. I conducted a test today. After a 50% water change my ammonia went to .5 ppm. 5 hours later it was reduced to 0.25 ppm. In the absence of an agent that detoxifies ammonia short term this would create a bad situation. Thank you for sharing once again.
Algae used to grow on the glass each week now it does not grow at all, the light was reduced to 40 percent using an led controller and a deep sand substrate was implemented. I use prime, one bottle treats 2000 gallons, yes it is expensive but I use about 10 drops per week so it will last a long time, someone with a pond or many tanks would benefit from this product, thank you for sharing.
I take my sponge filters by the water tube attached to the top, and then I put it in the bucket, remove the bubble stone and then squeeze out my filters. I just did two tanks today with that method and it doesn't let go of the garbage, until I squeeze it out in the water. I have two more tanks to do tomorrow and that is with three sponge filters, they are doing a great job. Also, I have a Berkey in case I need dechlorinated water. But I rarely have to use it unless I want to eliminate harmful elements in the tap water and to dilute the regular water if pH is an issue.
I've been telling people about sodium thiosulfate for some time now...very cheap and effective. It's mostly used to dechlorinate swimming pools but it can absolutely be used in aquariums or ponds.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums of course, they gotta make their money 💰...I literally had this conversation with the owner of a LFS here and he did the same - played dumb like he had no idea what it was.
Get a mesh intake filter, never gets blocked, alternatively you can just get a small net bag and put it around your intake filter, keeps your fry safe and doesnt get blocked! Also for declor, just get the usual declor but a big bottle of it, its a bit more expensive but will last forever, got mine years ago and its still pretty full!
Sponges get lifted slightly and placed in a fish bag before removing and cleaning. Less dirty water leaches into the tank than the crud from a filter being turned on again. If you don't run a filter outlet in a bucket first.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums its funny i came across this video i keep a 200L shrimp tank and i keep sponge filters in the tank mostly for it to grow food and air the tank not so much for cleaning the tank for that i also use a canister filter. its not worth messing with the sponges you could end up knocking the plants
Two points of clarification. 1) - In your dechlor formula, is it 4 oz of sodium thiosulfate by weight or by volume? 2) - Is it 4 oz of chemical PLUS 1 gallon of water or 4 oz of chemical plus water TO MAKE 1 gallon? Thanks.
Hi Dr Kevin, I used oil dry clay (special kitty litter) to make a BCB but I don’t have access to any of the iron sources you listed in your previous videos.. I tried using a chelated iron powder but it leached out of the bcb and turned my water into cherry kool-aid.. the only other iron rich supplement I could find was a product called ironite. It’s a pellet type additive for lawns that looks very similar to Amazonia substrate.. will this work as an iron source to get my BCB’s running? I love your videos! I’ve learned so much from your channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
One way to avoid the iron all together is, you can add the liquid iron that you can buy off the Internet and that would probably be the simplest way to do it. It’s an iron used for planted aquariums.
I am in Canada - I am looking at a local supplier, but what is the difference between the Pentahydrate (ACS reagent) vs anhydrous (reagent grade) versions?
Thanks for being a great source of info in this hobby.What height should a substrate be after installing the under gravel filter. I'm Thinking of starting either a nano reef or a small tanganyikan cichlid tank. Thinking of using aragonite , is this ok? Thanks for being here.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums I mean, some of the youtubers say that you should mix Sodium Thiosulfate with Distilled or R.O. water to make a water conditioner. However I only have purified available, is it fine?
Thank you Dr.! Your very informative! You have some amazing results!. I just liked and subscribed! Have you seen “green aqua’s” channel?! It’s pretty fancy and informative. I’m glad you were recommended to me!. It’s pretty sad how few high tech aquarium lights are available in the American market.! I have a 29 gallon tank I’m planning to aquascape with co2!. I find that the filter selection is pretty good, but their designs don’t seem like the water directly flows through the media. Is that on purpose? Also, do warm water fish and planted aquariums work together? Most information I find warns against the high temps because of algae.?
So its hard to find/confirm the fórmula to make the mix fir declor water bottle. I have 500g per gallon but not sure if its right? Can you confirm dr novak?
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums is there an alternative and practical way to pull water slowly through a plenum without using an air pump? I'm trying to make my new aquarium as silent as possible and don't want to hear bubbles popping. Thanks.
@@coltonj5543 not at all, my planted tanks do even better with a little natural sunlight without any algae issues. Algae is not a question of light only... Why do you think they use wide spectrum light above tanks ? ... To mimic natural (sun) light. Yeah yeah OK I can hear you already : full sunlight all day...Other case.
You mentioned plecos eat slimecoat, and plant leaves. Do you have any recommendations to keep them happy so they DON'T do that? I have 2 BN and a sailfin (4") in my 55g planted (swords, crypts, anubius) angelfish tank, and have noticed the leaves on the sword and anubius looking much thinner and holier than usual...
I wonder why dechlorinator kills daphnea? I am always worried I will forget and replace their tank water with something that was dechlored. And if my Berkey fluoride filter water is safe or desirable, everything is so complicated! Will it kill my rotifers too?!
Very great information for Sodium Thiosulfate, however i always heard Sodium Thiosulfate not recommended to use in planted tank due to sodium will kill plant. Are this true? Dr. Kevin i appreciate if you input your comment. Thanks in advance.
You do not need to remove nearly all detritus. The purpose of removing enough detritus is to unclog the sponge/foam. Put the old semi-clogged sponge into a submerged bag and carry the whole bag out of the tank. Do not be concerned about the small amount the comes out of the sponge.
I have alot of tanks, all setup a little different. Some tanks i have to clean the glass every week, And others i never touch the glass. I still want to try your method of anoxic filtration for my big cichlid tank. That tank always has high nitrates, im always cleaning the glass and doing weekly water changes to keep the nitrates down.
Back again, finished the video, i had no clue about Sodium Thiosulphate. I think i spelled that correctly. That is definitely a big money saver thank you! Im done wasting money on prime hahaha. Great video, keep up the great work Dr.Novak
@@goyangdumang1961 The difference between chlorine and Chloramine is that Chloramine has an extra molecule of ammonia attached to it once you break the molecule of chlorine the ammonia molecule just goes back into solution.
I am unsure if algae is bad ,,, its a natural thing in a body of water and can show balance ,,i have very minimal algae Black beard is not a normal algae and normally transmitted into the environment on something what we can do is mimic nature for healthy fish and use snails and other to help with any visible issues but first light use minimal light if no real plants or 7 hours if live plants keep natural light to a minimum .Filtration need s mechanical and bacterial elements not using any plastic as this is antibacterial ,,,i would use a feeding ring and floating plants also check your fertilizers for nitrates and phosphates also the water source for changes try using white pumice stones as a media this will help aerobic and anaerobic Ok i love the content but my dechlorinate has other elements to aid fish slime coat also ammonium is also detected by kits but they can not differentiate between ammonia and ammonium but a tank requires ammonia to function lets remember the "cycle" but great video well worth the watch
I am with you on that one. I don’t think Algae is bad, I think cosmetically it looks good and it also adds to the naturalness of the aquarium. To me anyhow when I see a tank that has no algae it looks like it was just set up it doesn’t look as natural to me.
Dr. Novak, do you dechlorinate your water before adding it to your tank or add the new water then put in drops of dechlor, or add drops of dechlor then add new water? Always wanted an educated opinion on this. Does it make a difference either way?
Are usually just squirted it in the aquarium or pond before I fill it up or why’ll I am filling it up. Let’s say I’m changing only 3 to 4 gallons of water in my 20 gallon tank I don’t even bother using the declaration at all.
how stable is it in solution, what’s the shelf life? I know Seachem SAFE advises not to make a solution and rather add directly to the tank due to lack of preservatives that their other products contain. Idk if this is just a marketing statement though to preserve sales.
Hi Dr. Novak, I'm so glad that you are back and sharing you wealth of knowledge (as usual). Your explanation in regards to different types of algae sparked my interest. I've had bearded algae that caused havoc in my pond a few years back. It's interesting what you said about friendly and not not so friendly hair algae. I would like to know how you can tell the difference. Is there a quick way? Your explanation behind chemistry of dechlor made it very easy for me to understand (finally). Another question of mine is whether or not Biocenosis Baskets can destroy these water cancer causing contaminants, I believe they call them DBPs (dissinfection by-products) that you mentioned, and (sorry 3rd question), do you think contaminants play a major role (if any) in fish-related cancers? Again Thank you!!!
I have a marineland 75 since I set it up about 2 months ago I haven’t had any algae with the marineland light it comes with, its very dim. I have left it on for ~10 hours a day trying to grow algae for the small pleco I have in there and theres none.
Along time ago when you used to buy a tank you would get a light with it. That light would be dim but it would make the colors of the fish really stand out. And the the light would stay on for 10 or 12 hours a day very little algae buildup would be on the glass and there would be some on the rocks and plants only. It wasn’t until later when people start using brighter and brighter lights that gave out more lux did Algae problems begin to irrupt into a problem. Then of course the plant craze came along and algae problems seem be more pronounced with the Advancement of high powered LED lights.
Not true! I actually show full spectrum lighting on aquariums and still no algae. So the problem isn't reduce the blue or reduce the red it is you have an in balance in your aquarium. So instead of fixing the problem we just put a Band-Aid on it hopefully the problem won't come back.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums interesting. I've always fixed it by reducing the blue. Never have algae, nit even green spot. I run a plant 3.0 at 100% other than the blue at 15%
Chinese algae eaters are good when they’re small but as they get bigger they start picking on the fish and start sucking the slime off of the fish and bothering them. What I have is flying foxes they seem to let the fish alone even as They get bigger.
Sodium thiosulfate was well-known for dichlorination (when I was a youth) but in recent times few use it. I still have a small bottle of it from 40 years ago but have not used it. Sodium thiosulfate was used in black and white photography.
Here in London I use Campden tablets, used for brewing, 100 tablets cost £3. One tablet treats 20 gallons of water. I get some algae on my glass, rarely wipe it off, every 3months or so, some on the plants which I like, for me l think the benefits outweigh the negatives. I find algae fascinating, single celled organisms to giant kelp. I don't filter my water, change 20% every 5months or so. Lots of plants, soil and sand deep substrate, Walstad style aquarium. Works for me, Happy fish keeping Dr. 🍀
I don't clean algae either lol. Everyone tells me my tanks look "dirty" lol BUT , algae is only helping filter the tank... I only get it because i have excessive lighting on my tanks lol.
I am just getting back into fish after a very long absence. I have been researching as much as possible to see what has changed in the last 35 years or so. When I found your TH-cam page I was amazed by your discussions regarding under gravel filters. Between 1980 and 1987 I was into fish in a big way. At the end I had over twenty tanks, the largest being two at almost 200 gallons each. The majority of the tanks were 35 to 50 gallons. At this time I was breeding Angels, Discus and Kribensis for sale and many others for sport. I think the interest this story may have to you is that all of my tanks were running with under gravel filters (with small short airlifts) and were heavily planted. In all of the years of keeping fish I did not hear of "Water Change" let alone do it. The only time I actually changed any water in my tanks was on the very rare occasion that they went really toxic. I never did find out why this happened, thank goodness it was only two or three times.
So I am about to start keeping fish once again at the ripe old age of 76 and can assure you that under gravel filters will be the only way I will be going for filtration. Thank you so much for your insight as why I had so much success.
I agree. I started keeping fish when I was 11 years old and this month I will be 75. Those inexpensive under gravel filters that I purchased back in the first days of my fish keeping did an excellent job keeping tanks clean and excuse me when I say this, the plants grew like weeds.
You are correct about water changes because back in 1959 nobody ever spoke of changing water in a tank they just said to keep it full to prevent the heater from malfunctioning. Today I change the water one to two times a month and before everybody out there has a heart attack the API test kit I have shows the water parameters are well within safe limits. My fish don't die prematurely of unknown causes, they live a full life and die of old age.
Quarantine tanks were never mentioned either. I was told to float the bag containing the new fish for 20 minutes and occasionally add water from your tank then dump everything into your tank. I must admit that did cause an infrequent outbreak of ick. Today I still float the fish but I do a plop and drop into a quarantine tank before adding them to a community tank.
I'm glad you're back into the hobby.
I would suggest that your tanks went toxic because you weren't doing weekly water changes.
@@MrSerendipity01 I don't think you have understood what I have been saying in my post.
Over a period of ten years, I had over twenty tanks, with a capacity of 35 to 200 plus imperial gallons.
During that time all of my tanks were equipped with underground filters with 2 to 4-inch substrate.
Over that period I conducted NO water changes other than replacing evaporation but did have two or three tank crashes for no known reason (at that time).
Are you suggesting that had I done water changes every week on twenty tanks it may have saved the three that crashed?
Do you think it would have been worth the time, effort, and expense?
You obviously follow Dr. Novak's posts but I don't think you have understood one thing that he is trying to tell you.
Keep up with your water changes and good luck to you.
@@davidcrofts1684 I used under gravel filters in the 1960 and changed 3/4 of the water every 2 years if it needed it or not. Then I went to a dyna flo because I could see it actually doing something and I got a gravel vacuum cleaner and never did water changes except just the water that went out with the gunk. Tearing down the whole tank was stress on the fish and never did it again.
My favorite way to keep fish is without any filter, Waldstad way !
12:00 starts why you are here, your welcome!!!!!
Algae is always either increasing in quantity or decreasing. If you have enough things that eat it, it's difficult for it to increase. If it is decreasing, eventually it will become negligible.
I keep 3 tanks, 30 gallon, 55 gallon, and 20 gallon tall. I used to scrape the algae off the glass periodically but that got really old. I ended up adding nerite snails and otocinclus cats and siamese algae eaters, and lots of floating plants and other plants, and dimming the light considerably. It took quite some time, months in the case of the 20 gallon tall, to finally get the algae under control. It is now such that I do not need to scrape the glass, ever (nor do I do water changes, and the 55 gallon does not even have a filter).
This is great! I just purchased a 4 lbs bottle! I did the calculation and my current dechlorinator costs around 30 times more per year than this solution as per the link you provided!! I am fairly sure the LFS is doing exactly what you just demonstrated, pouring it into 2 litre fluorinated jugs, slapping a sticker with their name on it, and marking it up approximately 30 times the cost!! Thank you! God bless!
No alge on my 4ft tank glass. Heavily planted.
Floating plants. 4 Neralite snails. 4 ottocinlis . Under gravel filters. Pollyfilter on top of bubble up lifts.
Kind regards UK
I managed to have a no algae aquarium using 2 inch sand on the bottom, a heap of fast and slow growing plants and water lettuce + duckweed, one small sponge filter and a whoping 55w led lighting. The aquarium is 2 years old and 6 gallon and i keep something like 8 chilli rasboras, tens / hundreds of cherry shrimp and tens of guppy fry which I put and take out depending on their size. With very strong light, floating plants can absorb the nitrate super efficiently. Nitrate was constantly between 10 and 25 ppm in all if my random tests.
The feeding that i do is very funny and efficient haha. I suspend a bottle cap from a thin wood stick that comes from outside the water and put food inside. The shrimp go there and stirr the food making small quantities fall off slowly and the rasboras and guppy fry snack on the little pieces. It works great on feeding middle water colum feeders and preventing the snails from covering and devouring food pieces. I use pretty small quantities of food but the fish and shrimp get stuffed and the pesky snails stay hungry.
I work at a WWTP and lab, sodium thiosulfate is a godsend for me. I buy it in bulk for my tanks, works just like you described it. Cheers Dr. Novak.
In order to have a pristine tank with no algae you can not have a tank in direct sunlight. You need a good light but only run it 6 hours a day and have a good amount of live plants eating all the nutrients so the agea can not grow without food. Also it is key to have a good biological/physical filter. Do frequent water changes and clean your physical filters with every water change. Another thing do not use lots of fertilizer or there would be enough nutrients for algae. Do this and you should not see algae at all. If you have autocyclis and or flying foxes they will eat what little algae at the microscopicall level there might be(use algae wafers to ensure they get food). Do all this and you will never have any visible algae ever. Your tank gets full sun therefore it will get algae. Autocyclis and flying foxes will eat the alge on glass, rocks, gravel, all tank furnishings, and off the plants without harming them. Also do weekly water changes. This will greatly minimize algae and you may even get rid of it.
I just found your channel and subscribed, thank you for all the great information.
When using a sponge filter and wanna clean it without making a mess. Lift it with the air tube and putt it in a plastic bag inside the aquarium. Then take it out for cleaning.
Aquarium co -op
Seachem Safe is probably the same stuff. Sold as a powder and they provide a tiny scoop (200mg) that is used to dechlorinate 50gallons or 200litres. Had to order it online, the LFS here in Finland only have bottled dechlorinators for sale.
Wait the bottle is 250g and the dose for 50 gallons is 200mg check your math lol
Here the bottle is 10 bucks on Amazon so it's good for the price.
scalor I agree about Seachem Safe. I won’t change from Safe because my tap water contains Chloramines(chlorine & ammonia), and Sodium Thiosulfate converts the chlorine to ammonia...not safe for fish, at all.
I just got my bottle today!!! Thanks for letting us know!!
That was a great tip, definitely cheaper than any bottle declorinator I have seen. I watch a lot of fish related videos and in none of them have I heard about this, I really appreciate the time you take to share with us Dr. Novak.
You help me, I help you. That is the way the hobby should work. So I’m trying to help save fish and you not lose money in the long run.
Why would you "squeeze" the sponge back in the tank....? I don't do that, I pull them off SLOWLY and remove them in a container....
easy peasy....
Thank you very much Dr Novak . This should save me some money. 😀
Great!
It is sodium thiosulfate right? Just because you called it sodium thiophosphate once or twice too, and I think that's a totally different chemical, but I could be wrong.
I get this type of green dust algae on the glass/acrylic only, it was building up in 3-4 days, the floor of my tank is bare bottom and seems to get covered first then the sides. Tank is in my kitchen with way to much light and indirect light from windows next to the tank on both sides. I cleaned it all off and added a small UV light to hob filter, stopped using led lights and blocked a glare the tank gets from a living room window everyday at 1030am and now the algae builds up around 6-7 days. Today I removed the build directly above the tank in my kitchen (I believe this is why the floor of my tank gets covered so fast). We shall see.
Thanks Kevin,
I missed this one when it came out!
The “Flying Fox” (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) is actually not much of an algae eater. It is a misconception stemming from its superficial similarity to fish in the genus Crossocheilus (and the fact that they are sympatric), of which one or possibly two species are good at eating algae. The best one being Crossocheilus langei, which is the ‘true’ “Siamese Algae Eater.”
TY love the quality of Light & Water in that tank. Looks great.
Glad you like it
Hi doc thoughts on the vortex diatom filter I love it
Great filter
It removes algae bloom in the tank in no time removes fungus pristine water basically acts like nature
Love your video do I need a sand cap on a plenum I understand your intention is to mimic nature
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums had scuds invade my planted tank good or bad?
Thank you fie Sharing. This us excellent, useful & practical information that every hobbyist needs to know. 👍👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the dechlorinate info Dr. Novak! Have come across this method several times on the net but no definite explanation for the dosage. As for the sponge filter, why not tried using pre (external canister) filter for mechanical filtration? I found it really helpful for collecting fish waste and detritus, so the main (bio) filter get cleaned less frequently.
Just a simple question. If 5ml of solution treats 10 gallons of water for chlorine do you triple the dose for chloramine? I've used Seachem Safe which is similar (very cheap) but it does have the ammonia binding agents which for some reason don't allow anaerobic bacteria to establish themselves in my tanks. I recently realized that my municipality uses chloramine in our water. This produces quite a bit of ammonia when using a dechlorinator. I don't think using only Sodium Thiosulfate in this situation is advisable as it creates a toxic environment. I conducted a test today. After a 50% water change my ammonia went to .5 ppm. 5 hours later it was reduced to 0.25 ppm. In the absence of an agent that detoxifies ammonia short term this would create a bad situation. Thank you for sharing once again.
Oh yeah...we used to send out same bottles for bacteria testing, prepped with Na Thiosulfate
Algae used to grow on the glass each week now it does not grow at all, the light was reduced to 40 percent using an led controller and a deep sand substrate was implemented. I use prime, one bottle treats 2000 gallons, yes it is expensive but I use about 10 drops per week so it will last a long time, someone with a pond or many tanks would benefit from this product, thank you for sharing.
I take my sponge filters by the water tube attached to the top, and then I put it in the bucket, remove the bubble stone and then squeeze out my filters. I just did two tanks today with that method and it doesn't let go of the garbage, until I squeeze it out in the water. I have two more tanks to do tomorrow and that is with three sponge filters, they are doing a great job.
Also, I have a Berkey in case I need dechlorinated water. But I rarely have to use it unless I want to eliminate harmful elements in the tap water and to dilute the regular water if pH is an issue.
I've been telling people about sodium thiosulfate for some time now...very cheap and effective. It's mostly used to dechlorinate swimming pools but it can absolutely be used in aquariums or ponds.
The aquarium stores keep very quiet 🤫 about it though.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums of course, they gotta make their money 💰...I literally had this conversation with the owner of a LFS here and he did the same - played dumb like he had no idea what it was.
@@GSP-76 isn’t that funny how they played dumb when you find out something or a way to save money.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums what about the chloramine?
very good video!!!
thank u
simply gr8 ... keep it coming doc ...:)
It was also used in the old days of photography (lol) as a fixative
Get a mesh intake filter, never gets blocked, alternatively you can just get a small net bag and put it around your intake filter, keeps your fry safe and doesnt get blocked!
Also for declor, just get the usual declor but a big bottle of it, its a bit more expensive but will last forever, got mine years ago and its still pretty full!
Thank for the info.
Sponges get lifted slightly and placed in a fish bag before removing and cleaning. Less dirty water leaches into the tank than the crud from a filter being turned on again. If you don't run a filter outlet in a bucket first.
That is the point I just made, it’s a big hassle, now you have to put a bag around the sponge. It’s not for everyone.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums its funny i came across this video i keep a 200L shrimp tank and i keep sponge filters in the tank mostly for it to grow food and air the tank not so much for cleaning the tank for that i also use a canister filter.
its not worth messing with the sponges you could end up knocking the plants
Two points of clarification. 1) - In your dechlor formula, is it 4 oz of sodium thiosulfate by weight or by volume? 2) - Is it 4 oz of chemical PLUS 1 gallon of water or 4 oz of chemical plus water TO MAKE 1 gallon? Thanks.
It is 4 oz by weight of Sodium thiosulfate to one gallon of water.
Hi Dr Kevin, I used oil dry clay (special kitty litter) to make a BCB but I don’t have access to any of the iron sources you listed in your previous videos.. I tried using a chelated iron powder but it leached out of the bcb and turned my water into cherry kool-aid.. the only other iron rich supplement I could find was a product called ironite. It’s a pellet type additive for lawns that looks very similar to Amazonia substrate.. will this work as an iron source to get my BCB’s running?
I love your videos! I’ve learned so much from your channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
One way to avoid the iron all together is, you can add the liquid iron that you can buy off the Internet and that would probably be the simplest way to do it. It’s an iron used for planted aquariums.
I have chelated iron powder.. its Sequestar 6% 3-0-0.. it turns my hydroponic water cherry koolaid color… is this the right stuff?
I've been operating with swimming pool chemicals, been using this stuffs for a year without any issues, plus saves me money.
Sorry for the annoying question, so it works with deionized water or distilled water? Are they practically the same. Thank you.
Also do you filter your drinking water in a specific way?
We use a zero water pitcher that gets refilled and takes TDS down to zero
Does it deal with heavy metals?
No
Thank you so much,I buy a half gallon twice a year this will save a lot thank you Happy Safe Holidays
Happy Holidays to you too.
Thanks Dr. Novak! I have chloramine in my water I use 3 drops of prime per gal. this will save me a lot of money!
Excellent!
thank you doctor you saved everyone a ton of money my respects sir blessings to you !
I am in Canada - I am looking at a local supplier, but what is the difference between the Pentahydrate (ACS reagent) vs anhydrous (reagent grade) versions?
Thanks for being a great source of info in this hobby.What height should a substrate be after installing the under gravel filter. I'm Thinking of starting either a nano reef or a small tanganyikan cichlid tank. Thinking of using aragonite , is this ok? Thanks for being here.
is it okay to use Sodium Thiosulfate with Purified water?
If it has chlorine in it otherwise if it doesn’t then you don’t need it.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums I mean, some of the youtubers say that you should mix Sodium Thiosulfate with Distilled or R.O. water to make a water conditioner. However I only have purified available, is it fine?
Thank you Dr.! Your very informative! You have some amazing results!. I just liked and subscribed! Have you seen “green aqua’s” channel?! It’s pretty fancy and informative. I’m glad you were recommended to me!. It’s pretty sad how few high tech aquarium lights are available in the American market.! I have a 29 gallon tank I’m planning to aquascape with co2!. I find that the filter selection is pretty good, but their designs don’t seem like the water directly flows through the media. Is that on purpose? Also, do warm water fish and planted aquariums work together? Most information I find warns against the high temps because of algae.?
So its hard to find/confirm the fórmula to make the mix fir declor water bottle. I have 500g per gallon but not sure if its right? Can you confirm dr novak?
Hi
regarding the tank in the video, what size pump are u using to pull water through your plenum ?
Have you customized it to reduce the water flow ?
A small Tetra 10-30 air pump. It is the smallest one I could find at Walmart.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums is there an alternative and practical way to pull water slowly through a plenum without using an air pump? I'm trying to make my new aquarium as silent as possible and don't want to hear bubbles popping. Thanks.
You shouldn’t have sun light touching your fish tank.
Why?
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums because that’s why you have an algae prob. Trust me. You can find that info anywhere.
@@coltonj5543 not at all, my planted tanks do even better with a little natural sunlight without any algae issues. Algae is not a question of light only... Why do you think they use wide spectrum light above tanks ? ... To mimic natural (sun) light. Yeah yeah OK I can hear you already : full sunlight all day...Other case.
I used rustoleum obscure frosted spray on back of my tanks. All by windows and no problem.
I have done the same thing but on this tank I wanted the back to stay clear.
I wonder if you put contact paper on the window if it would slow the growth by a lot
Or pull the shade down will help too.
You mentioned plecos eat slimecoat, and plant leaves. Do you have any recommendations to keep them happy so they DON'T do that? I have 2 BN and a sailfin (4") in my 55g planted (swords, crypts, anubius) angelfish tank, and have noticed the leaves on the sword and anubius looking much thinner and holier than usual...
That is what the animals do...eat plants and bother fish. Not for planted tanks at all.
great video thanks for the tips
I wonder why dechlorinator kills daphnea? I am always worried I will forget and replace their tank water with something that was dechlored. And if my Berkey fluoride filter water is safe or desirable, everything is so complicated! Will it kill my rotifers too?!
Very great information for Sodium Thiosulfate, however i always heard Sodium Thiosulfate not recommended to use in planted tank due to sodium will kill plant. Are this true? Dr. Kevin i appreciate if you input your comment. Thanks in advance.
@@Baffi_ Thank you for your information input
12:20 is the secret lol
The big secret starts at 12:05
I used Sodium Thiosulphate for my tanks... relatively low cost. less than USD2.00/kg
Great many pond hobbiest have used it for years.
You do not need to remove nearly all detritus. The purpose of removing enough detritus is to unclog the sponge/foam.
Put the old semi-clogged sponge into a submerged bag and carry the whole bag out of the tank. Do not be concerned about the small amount the comes out of the sponge.
Thank you 👍👍
No problem 👍
I have alot of tanks, all setup a little different. Some tanks i have to clean the glass every week, And others i never touch the glass. I still want to try your method of anoxic filtration for my big cichlid tank. That tank always has high nitrates, im always cleaning the glass and doing weekly water changes to keep the nitrates down.
Thanks for the info. I hope others can learn from it.
Back again, finished the video, i had no clue about Sodium Thiosulphate. I think i spelled that correctly. That is definitely a big money saver thank you! Im done wasting money on prime hahaha. Great video, keep up the great work Dr.Novak
@@atkinsnatureaquariums3552 some secrets nobody ever wants to tell you.
thank you
You're welcome
Does sodium thiosulfate remove chloramine?
yes, just takes a drop or two more to do it.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums are you sure...last time i check sodium thiosulfate only remove chlorine not chloramine
@@goyangdumang1961 The difference between chlorine and Chloramine is that Chloramine has an extra molecule of ammonia attached to it once you break the molecule of chlorine the ammonia molecule just goes back into solution.
Is it safe for planted tanks?
yes it is.
I am unsure if algae is bad ,,, its a natural thing in a body of water and can show balance ,,i have very minimal algae Black beard is not a normal algae and normally transmitted into the environment on something what we can do is mimic nature for healthy fish and use snails and other to help with any visible issues but first light use minimal light if no real plants or 7 hours if live plants keep natural light to a minimum .Filtration need s mechanical and bacterial elements not using any plastic as this is antibacterial ,,,i would use a feeding ring and floating plants also check your fertilizers for nitrates and phosphates also the water source for changes try using white pumice stones as a media this will help aerobic and anaerobic Ok i love the content but my dechlorinate has other elements to aid fish slime coat also ammonium is also detected by kits but they can not differentiate between ammonia and ammonium but a tank requires ammonia to function lets remember the "cycle" but great video well worth the watch
I am with you on that one. I don’t think Algae is bad, I think cosmetically it looks good and it also adds to the naturalness of the aquarium. To me anyhow when I see a tank that has no algae it looks like it was just set up it doesn’t look as natural to me.
4 ounces
i have used it long time before... and it works perfectly
Thank you for your helpful video
I’m thinking of using Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate Na2O3S2
Is it the same as you describe.
No, only use sodium thiosulfate.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums so it’s different?
Dr. Novak, do you dechlorinate your water before adding it to your tank or add the new water then put in drops of dechlor, or add drops of dechlor then add new water?
Always wanted an educated opinion on this. Does it make a difference either way?
Are usually just squirted it in the aquarium or pond before I fill it up or why’ll I am filling it up. Let’s say I’m changing only 3 to 4 gallons of water in my 20 gallon tank I don’t even bother using the declaration at all.
can i use this is a reef tank? also do know of a way to get rid of bryopsis?
As far as I know YES, some saltwater hobbiest are using it now.
how stable is it in solution, what’s the shelf life?
I know Seachem SAFE advises not to make a solution and rather add directly to the tank due to lack of preservatives that their other products contain. Idk if this is just a marketing statement though to preserve sales.
I made some up some in a gallon of water and have kept it for well over 3 to 4 years.
So how can you tell when it goes “bad”?
Hi Dr. Novak, I'm so glad that you are back and sharing you wealth of knowledge (as usual). Your explanation in regards to different types of algae sparked my interest. I've had bearded algae that caused havoc in my pond a few years back. It's interesting what you said about friendly and not not so friendly hair algae. I would like to know how you can tell the difference. Is there a quick way? Your explanation behind chemistry of dechlor made it very easy for me to understand (finally). Another question of mine is whether or not Biocenosis Baskets can destroy these water cancer causing contaminants, I believe they call them DBPs (dissinfection by-products) that you mentioned, and (sorry 3rd question), do you think contaminants play a major role (if any) in fish-related cancers? Again Thank you!!!
I have a marineland 75 since I set it up about 2 months ago I haven’t had any algae with the marineland light it comes with, its very dim. I have left it on for ~10 hours a day trying to grow algae for the small pleco I have in there and theres none.
Along time ago when you used to buy a tank you would get a light with it. That light would be dim but it would make the colors of the fish really stand out. And the the light would stay on for 10 or 12 hours a day very little algae buildup would be on the glass and there would be some on the rocks and plants only. It wasn’t until later when people start using brighter and brighter lights that gave out more lux did Algae problems begin to irrupt into a problem. Then of course the plant craze came along and algae problems seem be more pronounced with the Advancement of high powered LED lights.
@@Baffi_ most people ain’t got time for all that nonsense
Just reduce the blue light
Not true! I actually show full spectrum lighting on aquariums and still no algae. So the problem isn't reduce the blue or reduce the red it is you have an in balance in your aquarium. So instead of fixing the problem we just put a Band-Aid on it hopefully the problem won't come back.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums interesting. I've always fixed it by reducing the blue. Never have algae, nit even green spot. I run a plant 3.0 at 100% other than the blue at 15%
I’m going to see if I can track this down. Seachem Prime is expensive
Different brand, same chemical. www.amazon.com/Cesco-Solutions-Thiosulfate-Pentahydrate-Aquariums/dp/B0849TLZ8Q/
Dr. Novak,
Do you know if Hydroton expanded clay pebbles can be used as media for the anoxic filter?
Thank you
12:17👍
All the talking you did and didn’t say how much ST to put in a gallon.
I show a chart how to make it and how much ST to add to a gallon of water. One cup of ST to one distilled gallon of water.
Thanks
2 weeks until grow back for me
Try using uv submersible lamp it will reduce algae growth
I think you’re thinking of the Chinese algae eater
Chinese algae eaters are good when they’re small but as they get bigger they start picking on the fish and start sucking the slime off of the fish and bothering them. What I have is flying foxes they seem to let the fish alone even as They get bigger.
Sodium thiosulfate was well-known for dichlorination (when I was a youth) but in recent times few use it. I still have a small bottle of it from 40 years ago but have not used it.
Sodium thiosulfate was used in black and white photography.
Thanks for sharing