Thank you Dr. Novak, I don't watch anybody else for technical aquarium details. There is too much contradictory information out there. You have restored my sanity and my enjoyment of my hobby. And my tanks are thriving because of you. I am very grateful, and I am a big fan!!
Dr. Novak - thanks your information regarding test kits. Been in the hobby for 54 years now and it is so refreshing that you give us honest and forthright comments that really help all of us. And its always nice to save a buck as well. Thanks!
Dr.Kevin Novak i can't concentrate to hear what you said, the tank keep on disturbing my eye and brain. Very beautiful tank. this is the nicest tank among all of your tank.
Sorry to hear that... LOL! That is a very nice compliment. I just hope you can learn from my videos to help you in your aquarium endeavors. Your success is my success.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Yes my next tank will be 100% Kevin Novak style. Nowadays very hard to find a kind person like you that willing to share your experience and knowledge.
I really I wish I would have seen this video before yesterday. I'm about to start a new fish tank after being out of the hobby for about ten years and went out and reluctantly blew 40 bucks on one of those API fluid master test kits thinking I was getting something great. I would gladly have paid 20 for the 16 in 1, because now I've got to get the GH and KH too.
what I like about your channel is your honest, you explain in detail on how things work. there is not a lot of channels on TH-cam that have your expertise and in most cases have never head of plenums. I use the api test kits, now in Australia they are expensive however if your are using them all the time i think that the amount of tests you get from one kit certainly is value for money. What I can't stand is the colour charts on the api kits they drive me insane as its hard to differentiate which colour is correct as they look very similar. good video :)
@@guppiesstories5942 yes, I know. I watched the setup video..the plenum is a substrate that he's using for anoxic filtration..he just closed it off before putting the regular gravel on top.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums can I ask for your opinion? I setup my 75g on 2/9 (78 days ago) with 3/4" high plenum I made out of lighting diffuser, covered with landscape fabric, then 2" safe-t-sorb mixed with flourite red, covered that with screen, then capped with 1" medium/coarse pool filter sand. This is a fish less cycle. First week I added 1-tbsp powdered flake food and 4-tbsp baking soda (for ph, gh, and kh the clay initially robs) and added 1-tbsp food each week for next 3 weeks till ammonia and nitrites got back to 0, and had 30ppm nitrates. I've still been testing every week but haven't added anymore food since then, but nitrates still at 30ppm. My well water at that time had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate. Since I set it up I was only running a mini 80gph skimmer with an air venturie to keep water flowing and well oxygenated. I thought maybe either the substrate wasn't thick enough, or had too much oxygen, so last week I unplugged the skimmer just to see if it would change anything. Nope. Anyway from what I understood in this article, the bacteria can steal oxygen from nitrate, not only ammonia, correct? www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/anoxic_filtration.html Also during the time the skimmer/venturi was running, everything turned brown, I assume it's just diatom algae even though haven't had lights on at all and in a very dim room. And top surface of the sand has some black-ish areas around an orange/brown rust color areas I'm guessing from the iron in the flourite. No funky smells or anything. Maybe the weed block fabric is too dense and not allowing enough diffusion? I'm going to tear it down and add a short up-lift tube to ensure water is actually moving through substrate slowly and hopefully it works. Could my very hard well water effect how well the CEC in the clay works attracting ions? Sorry for the long post and I respect your time, just would like to know what you think? Thanks again!
I threw my strips away. They were expensive and they were not accurate. I use a API Test kit now and I get way more tests - 100s. Best and accurate for the cost. If a good test takes to much of your time maybe aquarium hobby not for you. It’s a water hobby. Fish or plants. And everyone’s water is different.
As always, thanks Dr. Novak. I’ll try to post a video of my discus tank running bcb’s this week. So far my nitrates are holding at 10 (which I’m happy with since I feed the tank a lot). To finish off the remaining nitrates I’m running an experiment using water lettuce in the sump. For reference, I was doing 50 percent water changes daily to keep my nitrates below 10. Since adding the BCBs I am down to one water change a week and I could probably stretch that out but I’m a creature of habit haha. Thanks for freeing me up to enjoy my tank more!
Kevin Novak, I need a little help. my LFS says s*****m p***e does not bind that it converts. my question does it hinder the anoxic filtration in any way? thank you.
I vote for thin layer of substrate for aesthetic reason using sump with bcb baskets. Please do it soon since I’m getting a 120g from sca aquarium for discus
I was thinking of using a Roller-Matt sump with the BCB in the sump. Platinum Fleece Sump 39"X15" Trigger Systems. It is cheaper than buying a ADA canister filter believe it or not. So the Roller-matt will do the machanical filtration. The BCB will do biological filtration and there is a spot for carbon filtration too. Then a 3000-gph pump in sump.
Hi Dr, my suggestion, since it is going to be gold fish, I suggest bare bottom. 1] It can be a sort of comparison of an aquarium with no plenum with a BCB at the sump. 2] Plenum can be added later to see if there are improvements. Gold fish behaviour and water quality ect. Looking foreward for the goldfish tank. Qguai test strips, most likely made in China. Mandarin for fast is "kwai" my wild guess.
I have been one of your Australian fan for a few years , i have a 55 G tank with a total of 17 liter of BCB in a canister filter and an above sump. i have 4 discus but even though all the algae have disappeared i still get 20 ppm of nitrate ,could you please let me know the name of your liquid iron so i can inject it in to my BCB to activate them. Thank you and take care .
I want to see a Plenum/Sump using the oil dry fired clay pellets from tractor supply made out of the same stuff as kitty litter ya know as you said! If you can a few plants in with goldfish its going to look nice. Some schooling fish in as well maybe I don't know. I'm in W.Va. we have mercury and PCBs from the river going into the municipal water supply, so I don't have an aquarium, trying to figure out a rainwater catch system but I enjoy the show, watch it everyday. I don't have an aquarium I watch for pleasure. But I know it works, its logical and its proven buy the sicence. I saw that Jack Wattley uses the BCB sump is that true?
Good we hack I use the api mater test kit n the fluval gh/kh one we some of them u can add half the a mount a water n half drops works the same or 1ml to 1drop n steed a 5ml to 5drops not at u hay to the kits last for ever anyway but after 3years go outta date
Mr Novak, I find that strips are less accurate due to results of test strip compared (vs) to liquid reagent test kits as well as comparing to color comparison of color results to result levels. Ie api liquid color difference of nitrate between jump of 20 to 40 to 80 scale jump.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums I think I had the black one from Amazon and compared results with api liquid and salifert nitrate, it was way different results with same water sample.
Hi Dr. Novak. I bought the SJ strip test and tried it today and the reading on PH was about 6.4 so I was alarmed and tested for PH with the API drop test and it shows me around 7. Maybe 6.8. Did you have the same problem or can you do the comparison and let me know your thoughts? Or anyone who is reading this comment. Thank you in advance
Your Ph is stable with the CO2 being lower than normal? I have a heavily planted 40 gallon with the plenum and 2 power heads. Not a high fish load and had thought about CO2 but the PH/carbonate thing seemed complicated. Especially since I care more about the water quality/consistency for my fish.
Yes and No to your assumption that my pH is stable because of CO2. It is lower because of the Fluval Substrate that is helping bring it down not so much the CO2 at all. The CO2 is only on for 6-hrs a day ( and not at 30-ppm like suggested for planted aquariums) and the rest of the day the lights are off and no CO2. Because of this the pH would just bounce back up to its normal levels once the lights were out. That would be 7.2 to 7.4 pH here in Florida, if I was not using the Fluval Substrate. Using CO2 in the 20-gal aquarium for 6-hrs a day did not make the pH go down one bit. The substrate in that tank is just gravel that is 25-years old now. Fluval does say on their package that the pH may go down using their substrate product for planted aquariums. Because I'm using a slow moving plenum the water in the substrate and aquarium are now easily homogenized into one unit instead of being two separate entities.
Dr. Novak, Interesting results here for these test strips. I have been using the API master test kit. Today I bought the SJ Wave 16-in-1 kit and did a side by side run. the SJ Wave test strip indicated my nitrates were 0, while the API kit indicated a nitrate level above 40 ppm? I ran both tests twice using the directions specified for each kit. Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi I found that I got similar results when I used SJ Wave. In fact I got the same result for my 180 and 500ltr Cichlid tanks. No Nitrates or Nitrites and low PH levels. API tests indicated that the tanks had different levels of Nitrates and nowhere near 0 and higher PH. Also my PH tester display
Hi again . Sorry thick fingers. I was saying that the SJ indicated a PH of around 6 while the PH tester showed 7.53. From the SJ tests my tank water may be drinkable. So the SJs go in the trash bin. Very disappointing.
Hello Tom, yes, I do still use the nitrate strips, but only as a guide to let me know when the nitrates are suspiciously high and I should test with my API kit in order to get a more accurate nitrate assessment. I have a very stable tank at this point, so I only check pH, nitrites and ammonia following water changes using the API kit. My tank is relatively simple compared to others you will see on this Channel, the only living creatures are my fish and the bacteria, no plants. My BCB is housed in an external canister filter. I have a small BCB in the aquarium itself that is tucked into the aquarium decorations and not easily visible. I have a second canister dedicated to water clarity, containing carbon and filter floss. My large cichlid moves gravel aggressively so I do not have a plenum. I hope this is helpful.
It oxidizes and them become useless to the plants. Echinodorus horizontal AKS: Christmas Tree disease ,not only is an indication of a manganese deficiency but also occurs due to" iron overdosing to the plant". The vanes of the leaf will be a dark green and the rest of the leaf will be a lighter green in coloration.
CO2 is a lot more complicated than just using a testy strip. Yes, one box has 50 test and the bigger box has 100 test and 10 test per pax in that box to keep them fresh for years.
No he's not using a fluval light he's using a really expensive powerful led that's 195 wats a fluvals only 50wats tops for a big one fluvals are good but u get well better ones n them
Fantastic stuff. I vote for the bare bottom, sump with the auto roller filter method. But, I have an ulterior motive. I just built a 150-gallon bare bottom aquarium with a sump and an auto roller filter with your BCB baskets for Discus. Much as you described. I haven't experimented with Boyd's Chemi-pure yet, but I will make my own according to your recipe next.
I just bought the sj wave on Amazon that has the Cooper test also.
I've noticed they never have an ammonia pad included in any strips that test for nitrites and nitrates, always have to buy them separately.
Thank you Dr. Novak, I don't watch anybody else for technical aquarium details. There is too much contradictory information out there. You have restored my sanity and my enjoyment of my hobby. And my tanks are thriving because of you. I am very grateful, and I am a big fan!!
So nice of you to say so. The science is there all we as hobbiest have to do is follow it.
This attracts me to check "secrets that they don't want you to know"
Dr. Novak - thanks your information regarding test kits. Been in the hobby for 54 years now and it is so refreshing that you give us honest and forthright comments that really help all of us. And its always nice to save a buck as well. Thanks!
Dr.Kevin Novak i can't concentrate to hear what you said, the tank keep on disturbing my eye and brain. Very beautiful tank. this is the nicest tank among all of your tank.
Sorry to hear that... LOL! That is a very nice compliment. I just hope you can learn from my videos to help you in your aquarium endeavors. Your success is my success.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Yes my next tank will be 100% Kevin Novak style. Nowadays very hard to find a kind person like you that willing to share your experience and knowledge.
I really I wish I would have seen this video before yesterday. I'm about to start a new fish tank after being out of the hobby for about ten years and went out and reluctantly blew 40 bucks on one of those API fluid master test kits thinking I was getting something great.
I would gladly have paid 20 for the 16 in 1, because now I've got to get the GH and KH too.
You are not alone! It happens to all of us! The fluid test kits are not that accurate anyway.
what I like about your channel is your honest, you explain in detail on how things work. there is not a lot of channels on TH-cam that have your expertise and in most cases have never head of plenums. I use the api test kits, now in Australia they are expensive however if your are using them all the time i think that the amount of tests you get from one kit certainly is value for money. What I can't stand is the colour charts on the api kits they drive me insane as its hard to differentiate which colour is correct as they look very similar. good video :)
WAAOOOOOO another GR8 cdo ... God bless you doc keep em coming THNX ....
More to come!
The deep substrate tank is looking beautiful Dr. Novak.
it is not a deep substrate tank. It has 1 inch + plenum and has a slow water flow.
@@guppiesstories5942 yes, I know. I watched the setup video..the plenum is a substrate that he's using for anoxic filtration..he just closed it off before putting the regular gravel on top.
Perfect timing, I'll be needing a new test kit soon. Thanks!
The test kits work vey well so you should be happy with them.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums can I ask for your opinion?
I setup my 75g on 2/9 (78 days ago) with 3/4" high plenum I made out of lighting diffuser, covered with landscape fabric, then 2" safe-t-sorb mixed with flourite red, covered that with screen, then capped with 1" medium/coarse pool filter sand.
This is a fish less cycle.
First week I added 1-tbsp powdered flake food and 4-tbsp baking soda (for ph, gh, and kh the clay initially robs) and added 1-tbsp food each week for next 3 weeks till ammonia and nitrites got back to 0, and had 30ppm nitrates. I've still been testing every week but haven't added anymore food since then, but nitrates still at 30ppm. My well water at that time had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate.
Since I set it up I was only running a mini 80gph skimmer with an air venturie to keep water flowing and well oxygenated. I thought maybe either the substrate wasn't thick enough, or had too much oxygen, so last week I unplugged the skimmer just to see if it would change anything. Nope.
Anyway from what I understood in this article, the bacteria can steal oxygen from nitrate, not only ammonia, correct? www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/anoxic_filtration.html
Also during the time the skimmer/venturi was running, everything turned brown, I assume it's just diatom algae even though haven't had lights on at all and in a very dim room. And top surface of the sand has some black-ish areas around an orange/brown rust color areas I'm guessing from the iron in the flourite. No funky smells or anything.
Maybe the weed block fabric is too dense and not allowing enough diffusion? I'm going to tear it down and add a short up-lift tube to ensure water is actually moving through substrate slowly and hopefully it works. Could my very hard well water effect how well the CEC in the clay works attracting ions?
Sorry for the long post and I respect your time, just would like to know what you think? Thanks again!
Thanks again Dr novak for sharing love your videos
Glad you like them!
This IS a game changer. Thank you Dr.!
You're very welcome!
I threw my strips away. They were expensive and they were not accurate. I use a API Test kit now and I get way more tests - 100s. Best and accurate for the cost. If a good test takes to much of your time maybe aquarium hobby not for you. It’s a water hobby. Fish or plants. And everyone’s water is different.
It seems like once test strips get exposed to air too many times they become very in accurate because of the moisture or humidity that's in the air.
As always, thanks Dr. Novak. I’ll try to post a video of my discus tank running bcb’s this week. So far my nitrates are holding at 10 (which I’m happy with since I feed the tank a lot). To finish off the remaining nitrates I’m running an experiment using water lettuce in the sump. For reference, I was doing 50 percent water changes daily to keep my nitrates below 10. Since adding the BCBs I am down to one water change a week and I could probably stretch that out but I’m a creature of habit haha. Thanks for freeing me up to enjoy my tank more!
I'm down to only once a week 10-gal water change too in my 90-gal. Thanks for the information.
@R.Ananda Krishnan biocenosis clarification basket
This is the good stuff
Thanks for the tips. I would like to see a plenum with dsb and a screen for your goldfish tank.
Noted! Thanks for your input.
When I open a test strip tube I always add one or two silica gel packets to make them last longer .
Yes the silica will help.
Kevin Novak, I need a little help. my LFS says s*****m p***e does not bind that it converts. my question does it hinder the anoxic filtration in any way? thank you.
Can your substrate be deeper than @2” when using the under gravel filter plenum??????
Yes, 3.5 - 4 will be better.
My vote is for BCB only. Just decorative gravel in the tank. I’m curious about the simple BCB maintained tank.
So far that makes two for just decorative substrate only in the aquarium.
Thank You once Again. I'm Sure Your getting tired hearing me saying Thank You for saving me money but I have to do it. LOL Never even knew about them
You are so welcome
I vote for thin layer of substrate for aesthetic reason using sump with bcb baskets. Please do it soon since I’m getting a 120g from sca aquarium for discus
I was thinking of using a Roller-Matt sump with the BCB in the sump. Platinum Fleece Sump 39"X15" Trigger Systems. It is cheaper than buying a ADA canister filter believe it or not. So the Roller-matt will do the machanical filtration. The BCB will do biological filtration and there is a spot for carbon filtration too. Then a 3000-gph pump in sump.
Hi Dr, my suggestion, since it is going to be gold fish, I suggest bare bottom.
1] It can be a sort of comparison of an aquarium with no plenum with a BCB at the sump.
2] Plenum can be added later to see if there are improvements. Gold fish behaviour and water quality ect.
Looking foreward for the goldfish tank.
Qguai test strips, most likely made in China. Mandarin for fast is "kwai" my wild guess.
Thanks for your input.
Great video but volume UP PLEASE👍👍
Ok next time
Can I use kitty litter made of diatomites?
I have been one of your Australian fan for a few years , i have a 55 G tank with a total of 17 liter of BCB in a canister filter and an above sump. i have 4 discus but even though all the algae have disappeared i still get 20 ppm of nitrate ,could you please let me know the name of your liquid iron so i can inject it in to my BCB to activate them. Thank you and take care .
I want to see a Plenum/Sump using the oil dry fired clay pellets from tractor supply made out of the same stuff as kitty litter ya know as you said! If you can a few plants in with goldfish its going to look nice. Some schooling fish in as well maybe I don't know. I'm in W.Va. we have mercury and PCBs from the river going into the municipal water supply, so I don't have an aquarium, trying to figure out a rainwater catch system but I enjoy the show, watch it everyday. I don't have an aquarium I watch for pleasure. But I know it works, its logical and its proven buy the sicence. I saw that Jack Wattley uses the BCB sump is that true?
By the science
Good we hack I use the api mater test kit n the fluval gh/kh one we some of them u can add half the a mount a water n half drops works the same or 1ml to 1drop n steed a 5ml to 5drops not at u hay to the kits last for ever anyway but after 3years go outta date
I would like to see a plenum in the 150.
Thanks ,so far everyone wants something different in the 150.
Mr Novak, I find that strips are less accurate due to results of test strip compared (vs) to liquid reagent test kits as well as comparing to color comparison of color results to result levels. Ie api liquid color difference of nitrate between jump of 20 to 40 to 80 scale jump.
The test strips I mentioned in my video are very accurate and should be more than capable of testing 98% of hobbiest water.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums I think I had the black one from Amazon and compared results with api liquid and salifert nitrate, it was way different results with same water sample.
Do they do the test for ammonia also 🤷✌️🙏🇨🇦
@@gk9417 yes all test
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums thanks
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums thanks👍
Hi Dr. Novak. I bought the SJ strip test and tried it today and the reading on PH was about 6.4 so I was alarmed and tested for PH with the API drop test and it shows me around 7. Maybe 6.8. Did you have the same problem or can you do the comparison and let me know your thoughts? Or anyone who is reading this comment. Thank you in advance
Your Ph is stable with the CO2 being lower than normal? I have a heavily planted 40 gallon with the plenum and 2 power heads. Not a high fish load and had thought about CO2 but the PH/carbonate thing seemed complicated. Especially since I care more about the water quality/consistency for my fish.
Yes and No to your assumption that my pH is stable because of CO2. It is lower because of the Fluval Substrate that is helping bring it down not so much the CO2 at all. The CO2 is only on for 6-hrs a day ( and not at 30-ppm like suggested for planted aquariums) and the rest of the day the lights are off and no CO2. Because of this the pH would just bounce back up to its normal levels once the lights were out. That would be 7.2 to 7.4 pH here in Florida, if I was not using the Fluval Substrate. Using CO2 in the 20-gal aquarium for 6-hrs a day did not make the pH go down one bit. The substrate in that tank is just gravel that is 25-years old now. Fluval does say on their package that the pH may go down using their substrate product for planted aquariums. Because I'm using a slow moving plenum the water in the substrate and aquarium are now easily homogenized into one unit instead of being two separate entities.
Dr. Novak, Interesting results here for these test strips. I have been using the API master test kit. Today I bought the SJ Wave 16-in-1 kit and did a side by side run. the SJ Wave test strip indicated my nitrates were 0, while the API kit indicated a nitrate level above 40 ppm? I ran both tests twice using the directions specified for each kit. Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi I found that I got similar results when I used SJ Wave. In fact I got the same result for my 180 and 500ltr Cichlid tanks. No Nitrates or Nitrites and low PH levels. API tests indicated that the tanks had different levels of Nitrates and nowhere near 0 and higher PH. Also my PH tester display
Hi again . Sorry thick fingers. I was saying that the SJ indicated a PH of around 6 while the PH tester showed 7.53. From the SJ tests my tank water may be drinkable. So the SJs go in the trash bin. Very disappointing.
Hello Tom, yes, I do still use the nitrate strips, but only as a guide to let me know when the nitrates are suspiciously high and I should test with my API kit in order to get a more accurate nitrate assessment. I have a very stable tank at this point, so I only check pH, nitrites and ammonia following water changes using the API kit. My tank is relatively simple compared to others you will see on this Channel, the only living creatures are my fish and the bacteria, no plants. My BCB is housed in an external canister filter. I have a small BCB in the aquarium itself that is tucked into the aquarium decorations and not easily visible. I have a second canister dedicated to water clarity, containing carbon and filter floss. My large cichlid moves gravel aggressively so I do not have a plenum. I hope this is helpful.
I bought the SJ Wave test strips and it says my aquarium water has an MPS of 1. Is that bad?
What happens when you have too much iron in your water?
It oxidizes and them become useless to the plants. Echinodorus horizontal AKS: Christmas Tree disease ,not only is an indication of a manganese deficiency but also occurs due to" iron overdosing to the plant". The vanes of the leaf will be a dark green and the rest of the leaf will be a lighter green in coloration.
The 50 tests per box..does it mean total 50 tests? So 9-1 means about 5-6 tests each parameter?
Also, is there any way to measure co2 content ?
CO2 is a lot more complicated than just using a testy strip. Yes, one box has 50 test and the bigger box has 100 test and 10 test per pax in that box to keep them fresh for years.
I notice multi-test strips never test iron
The ones I mentioned do test for Iron and copper.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums sorry. Meant ammonia.
How often do we test our water?
Once a week or every fortnight will do and that is it.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums thank you soo much! I learned soo much from you! 🙏🏽👍🏼
Are you using the Fluval 3.0 for your lighting?
No he's not using a fluval light he's using a really expensive powerful led that's 195 wats a fluvals only 50wats tops for a big one fluvals are good but u get well better ones n them
Ok
The lighting I'm using is equal to a 400-watt Metal Halide light about 18,000- lux. It is called Radion (TM) LED 30 Pro made by Ecotech Marine.
My bcb is doing good Novak, video coming at 60 days
Good to hear. Thanks .
Fantastic stuff. I vote for the bare bottom, sump with the auto roller filter method. But, I have an ulterior motive. I just built a 150-gallon bare bottom aquarium with a sump and an auto roller filter with your BCB baskets for Discus. Much as you described. I haven't experimented with Boyd's Chemi-pure yet, but I will make my own according to your recipe next.
Very good, let me know how you are doing and if you can send me some photos so I can show others how you are doing please. Godspeed.