Water Quality Revisited

It took me quite a while to start finding the good sources of information online, but it is finally coming together... American Aquarium Products is an absolutely amazing dealer, and their online tutorials are unsurpassed, if you want to run a thinking person's aquarium. The point being, keeping an aquarium is a learning exercise. You can sit and enjoy the beauty, but the excitement is about learning about the life that goes on inside. Beside the website for their business, with a proliferation of valuable technical information, AAP also maintains a separate informational site Everything Aquatic, and some online forums, the Everything Aquatic Forum. you can't beat this information source, and it has led me to research more deeply, among other things into water quality. I am quickly catching up after 20+ years without an aquarium in my life...

Eventually, I ended up connecting the dots regarding water quality, including my experience with water ionizers in the past, and my gradual discovery that so-called alkaline water is nonsense, except that yes, we need the electrolytes, but the alkalinity is not the first point, the low ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) is, preferably in the -150 to -200 range, but beyond that, I have now come to understand that the real measure you want to look at is the rH, the relative Hydrogen score, which I found documented on an amazing website by one Vinny Pinto, who has put the whole thing together.
The formula is:  rH = ((ORP+205)/29.58+(2xpH)).

29 gallon March 1st, 2016

29 Gallon on March 15th, Wisteria taking off.

Nitrogen cycle revisited

I did a more deliberate startup of my 29 gallon aquarium than ever before. Somebody gave it to me last September, and I have very slowly and deliberately planned the whole setup, and still now I wish I could do it all over again, and be even more methodical about it. For one thing, in the beginning I only did water tests once a week, and only later, when things where not going the way I thought they should go, did I start to test daily. If I had to do it over, I would suggest that for ANY aquarium startup the first thing to do is to get the Seachem Alert Combo. The Ammonia Alert lasts a full year, and even the pH alert is good for 3-6 months, in other words, this little device will see you through the whole startup period and well into 'normal' operations.

Everything I thought I knew about the Nitrogen cycle was useless, for recent research has shown that the nitrogen cycles is far more complex than previously thought, and all of this stuff has come out since I was away from aquariums for at least 20 years. Again, it was through reading on the AAP website, and their information about Aquarium Cycling and the Nitrogen cycle that I found my way to a wonderful article on the Advanced Aquarist website that summarizes the whole new thinking about the nitrogen cycle, The Nitrogen Cycle, New Developments and New Prospects by Marco Colasanti. 

29 gallon, March 29th, 2016. 

Notes to pictures. The Wisteria in a pot was an experiment, using a light layer of my substrate, then some organic potting soil, and finally a layer of gravel from my 5 gallon tank, to get a bacterial culture started. The plant also came from my 5 gallon tank. The Wisteria is taking over the tank, and I've planted 5 shoots around the pot. I've added some Java Fern from the old tank on the drift wood, and since the beginning I've had some Java Moss with the drift wood also. The two Amazon Sword plants were store bought, and they sprouted 3 shoots, which I have planted as their roots grew large enough. The Marimos came from the old tank as well, and in the foreground are some micro swords that are also transplants. 

What we used to know

Graph of the nitrogen cycle in a new tank
http://answers.seneye.com/@api/deki/files/61/=seneye_new_tank-02.png

What we used to know about the nitrogen cycle, is what it looks like on the surface, as in the above grapha, which seemed to be fairly linear, was this:

1. The first stage was the conversion of ammonia to nitrite, 
2. then nitrite to nitrate, 
3. and finally the nitrate can only be handled to a degree by plants (because it is a nutrient to them) and for the rest by water changes.

But what we used to know is not all there is to know for there are more processes involved in the mature nitrogen cycle than the seemingly linear progression suggested by the observation of how it evolves in a new tank.

What we know now

New research that has been summarized by Colasanti shows that there are three other processes going on, and the whole thing is made up of interlocking cycles, and not linear at all (here are the three new processes from the article):

1. Ammonium oxidation by a particular group of microorganisms, the archaeabacteria (AOA)
2. The anaerobic reduction of nitrates to ammonium (DNRA):
3. The anaerobic oxidation processes of ammonium (ANAMMOX)

In short, the nitrogen cycle is far more intricate than we knew, and now the interesting issue is, can we learn to manage it better, especially during startup of a new aquarium. And the answer is we can. For now, I will write up how I would like to manage the setup of my next tank, based on what I have learned from this one. For that it is important to keep your eyes on the Relative Hydrogen Score referred to above.

The complete Nitrogen cycle - from: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/4/chemistry

My Ideal Aquarium Startup

Based on what I have gradually learned from starting up my current 29 gallon tank, my ideal start up would be much more deliberate, and I would keep a record of daily results for the first two months, including Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, ORP, KH, GH, and TDS. For my pH and TDS toolset I would use electronic probes, and for my Ammonia I would rely first and foremost on the Seachem Ammonia Alert mentioned above, because it measures only the free ammonia (NH3), and not the ammonium (NH4+). Traditional tests like the API ammonia test really give you the TAN (Total Ammonia Nitrogen) content of the water, i.e. both NH3 and NH4.

Constant monitoring is crucial during the early going especially. Once your tank is up and running you will still want to do monitoring, but you can do it more on an exception basis, and once a week, or even less, suffices.

Tools for Aquarium Monitoring

• Hanna Instruments  ORP/pH/Temperature Tester (HI98121)
• API Fresh Water Master testkit, or you can buy the individual tests
• Seachem Ammonia Alert, or you might take the Alert Combo, which includes the pH test. Seachem now even offers a prepackaged one year supply, the One Year Combo Alert. With these two tools you can eyeball how your tank is doing without even lifting a finger.

With the above, you have the ability to do daily testing with ease, and with high accuracy. Currently I am working without an accurate pH probe, so all I have is the API test kit which has a range of 6.0-8.0, and it leaves me hanging for readings outside of that, which limits the accuracy of my rH computations.

Other startup supplies

• Seachem Prime, water conditioner and useful to limit problems; even if you do have an ammonia spike, like when some creature died (you can't even always find them...). or you can use Seachem Amquel when it's just about an ammonia spike.
• Seachem Stability, an effective way to support bacterial cultures to minimize New Tank Syndrome (NTS)
• Seachem Replenish, mineral supplement, to provide the proper electrolytes to the water - essential if you use RO/DI water, or even if you use a ZeroWater filter, like I do.
• for regulating the pH, you can use the Acid/Alkaline regulators, which provide the water with buffering capacity, and are probably a better bet than the neutral regulator, which sometimes is not without side effects, because it works with phosphates.
• Note, if you are using tap water, you need to be using regular water conditioners, such as Prime and Stability. Obviously, for specific fish you may need special conditioners, and Salt Water is a whole separate discussion.
• To start the bacterial culture in my substrate, I also used, and will use again in future, the Prodibio BacterKit Soil, which I applied in my current tank in about week three, but ideally you should use it when you set up the tank.

The Startup Process for a Planted Tank

I am being specific for a planted tank. I don't know any other. I've never really run a tank without plants, and the longer I go, the more important the plants are to me.

1. Preparing the tank as you always would, rinsing it out first.
2. Install under-gravel heating cable. Highly recommended because it provides circulation in the gravel.
3. Install the appropriate substrate, and treat with the Prodibio BacterKit Soil.
4. Fill up slowly with water.
5. Adjust the water parameters (pH, KH, GH), with Acid/Alkaline buffers, and/or Replenish, and if need be some baking soda to get your KH to where it needs to be (50-100 for the plants, and for healthy nitrifying bacteria).
6. Get filtration going, and ideally introduce plants, filter foam, and/or gravel from a healthy tank. Ideally do a full weak treatment with Stability, to seed the filter with healthy bacteria.
7. Add some Wondershell from AAP - the regular kind, not the medicated kind. Wondershell is a calcium/magnesium block which seems to help improve the ORP (negative shift), and get the rH lower, indicating healthy water conditions. It does not significantly affect the pH but it causes a slight bump in GH, depending on how much you use.
8. Introduce plants, remember to include some from established aquariums (to transfer good bacteria).
9. My first suggestion would be to start with an invert culture, at a minimum some Malaysian Trumpet Snails, but possibly more.
10. Gradually introduce some fish.
11. Monitor all your parameters like a hawk for the first two months.
12. If need be, manage all water parameters, but especially keep pH within reason, plus or minus 0.2 from where you want to be, and if you have an ammonia spike, remember it is less toxic below a pH of 6.4, but about 50/50 at the neutral range of 7.0. You want to keep your Prime, or Amquel and Stability at the ready.

Here are some initial observations:

• My ZeroWater filtered water has a pH of 6 or lower (TDS 000-006), and an ORP of about 220, and therefore the rH is nearly neutral at about 26, which is just slightly below the neutral point of 28.
• In my ATO tank I have a small AAP wondershell, and the parameters change to pH 6, TDS 36, and ORP 125, for an rH of 23, meaning that this water now is significantly reducing.
• In my tank my TDS is nearly 500, pH 6.8-7.0, and the ORP is ca 80 (it seems to be ca 10 points higher at night and 10 points lower by day). In short the rH now is 23.43, again very solidly reducing. 

The above corresponds to the findings on the AAP website on the healthy range of ORP in a tank, but I suspect that in the long run it will be very rewarding to focus on the rH directly. It does seem that it is the biological (bacterial) activity in the tank that causes the further left shift in the ORP, and would enable lower rH, and thus more Hydride (H- ions, negative Hydrogen ions, or Hydride) in the water, giving it anti-oxidant properties.

quote
Bacterial Activity
Bacterial action, by both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, can significantly change the ORP of a mass of water (underground aquifer, lake, stream, bay) over time, due to biochemical action. Generally, this shift is in the negative direction, toward a lower ORP, but the direction and amount of shift in ORP will depend entirely upon the bacteria present, bacterial foods, other substances present in the water, as well as temperature and other factors.
unquote (from: h-minus-ion.vpinf.com/Methods-to-modify-ORP-water-1.html)

I use a spreadsheet for my water parameters, and it computes the rH automatically. For the moment, my limitation is my API pH water test, but once I switch to an electronic tester, my pH readings will become even more accurate.

On New Tank Syndrome and the benefits of ATO

As part of my mission to make my tank maintenance as easy as possible, I decided to set it up from the start with an Automatic Top Off (ATO) system, in this case the Hydor Smart Level ATO system, along with a Hydor Seltz L20 Centrifugal Pump, and for an ATO tank I have an Advanced Acrylics 9 gallon ATO tank. All in all, it is a dream setup. All I have to do is to keep the ATO tank full and the rest takes care of itself. For the return I used an identical Hydor return as for my Hydor Pro 150 Canister filter, with a swing check valve from AAP (American Aquarium Products). I should note that a check valve is not a luxury for an ATO system - you don't want to accidentally start a syphon, for the pump would end up running all day. You can set the level low enough that the outflow remains just slightly above the waterline, and you should not have a problem, but this is one case of better safe than sorry. If you do have a check valve installed, it does not matter if the outflow is below the waterline.

When doing a water change, I simply switch the ATO off temporarily, and syphon out as much water as I want, and then I turn the ATO back on. It is silent as can be. The pump is attached with rubber feet to the bottom of the ATO tank, and you do not even hear the pump.

Pictures: On the left: Because of the angle the ATO tank seems big, but the tank is 29 gallon, and the ATO tank is 9 gallon. The ATO hose runs straight up to the tank and the Smart Level controller hangs on the wall behind the tank, and the on/off switch is on top, so it is easy to switch the ATO off for a water change. On the wall behind the tank you also see the hoses to the canister filter that's in the cabinet, with the in-line Hydor ETH200 heater, which is the backup to the under gravel heating cable. On the right is the ATO level sensor, peeking just above the water line, meaning it was recently topped off, and whenever evaporation brings the water level down to the lowest sensor, the top-off starts again.

New Tank Syndrome

The other day I found the nicest description of New Tank Syndrome (NTS) so far, The graphics this author uses clearly show how Ammonia/Ammonium (NH3/NH4) spike first, and Nitrite (NO2) spikes next, and finally Nitrate (NO3) spikes third, as the successive bacteria cultures start up. More very valuable documentation of the nitrification cycle is on the AAP website, here, and here. There is a very good article on the Nitrogen Cycle on the Advanced Aquarist site, here. Clearly the nitrogen cycle is not the simple linear cycle we used to think it was. Very importantly, the AAP articles do pay attention also to the fact that the plants and the filter system do compete for waste products, so it is a good idea to start your filtration first and seed it with some bacteria, before you plant the tank too heavily. Note also that the total break-in cycle can take 6 weeks or more, as I am in fact experiencing in this case, because I went in very small steps with adding any live stock to the tank.

This time I had taken care to use one plant from my old 5 gallon tank, along with some imported gravel, and by way of an experiment I setup this Wisteria plant in a terracotta pot in the new tank, it has some organic potting soil covered by a layer of gravel from the old tank. Aside from that, out of an abundance of caution, I used a bit of Ammolock, and some Stresszyme, to help get the bacterial culture started. I am also using a Prodibio BacterKit Soil to seed the substrate with bacteria.

As to the livestock, I went very slowly - easy does it. First, I allowed some inverts to get settled in, including tubifex and Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS), and after about a week of doing that, I added 6 Amano shrimp, and between the snails and the Amanos, algae does not stand a chance. Finally after about 2 weeks with just the shrimp, I migrated 5 pygmy cories from my 5 gallon tank. The highest ammonia spike I've seen so far is about 0.5 PPM, and that is after almost a month of running this tank. Sofar, I've done just one partial water change in the 3rd week - about 25%. I may do 33% this week. Of course once you can see that the nitrates start to build, water changes are needed, unless your tank is so heavily planted and thinly populated, that the plants use up all the nitrate, which I guess is possible, if you read Diana Walstead and Matt Owens. In fact I may be in that condition just now, for as of right now, I cannot read any nitrates yet, and my ammonia and nitrite readings are down to zero. I am growing some duckweed in both tanks, and I'll be very interested to see how well it does in keeping nitrates and phosphates in check. Clearly the 5 gallon tank is doing much better now that I'm back to just MTS and the Betta, Mr. MJF II.

In short, with a litte pre-planning, it is entirely feasible to minimize the pain of New Tank Syndrome, although you should track the cycles of Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, so you can see how things are evolving in the water. Once you know that your nitrification cycle is up and running, you should need to check just Nitrate, to time your water changes, unless you suspect a spike in ammonia because somebody died, or you do some kind of extensive cleaning job that could disrupt the nitrification cycle again, which really should not be necessary.    

Reflections on my second first aquarium

It was 1980, and I had come to live in the USA, and in the summer of 1979 I had bought a house in South Norwalk, Ct. which had extensive built-in cabinetry at one end of the living room by one of the windows, with a wide window ledge, and cabinets to both sides. The longest piece was over 6 feet long, and 30" deep... enough to hold a 125 gallon tank. Need I say more. It did not take long ere a 125 gallon tank appeared.

This time it was serious, I really wanted a living tank, but it had to be idiot proof, for I traveled a lot, and over time it was equipped with a fully automated CO2 system, which kept PH constant, and both an Eheim 2017 canister filter, as well as a wet/dry filter, both hidden in the cabinets, and under gravel filtration filtration as well. In those days I had not read the book yet that under gravel filtration and plants are not a good combination, and despite my ignoarance, I was fairly successful with plants, usually. It was a heavily planted tank, and though it started with a canopy, by the time I graduated to automated CO2, it had metal halide lights suspended from the ceiling, and some plants growing out of the water. Originally I tried an Amazonian aquascape, but I gradually gave up on that, and just kept whatever fish were interesting, usually that included a lot of Amazonian characters, Angel fish, Corydoras, at one time an Arowana, until it became too large... but I also loved Kuhlii Loaches, so again, I did not stick to the Amazonian basin. There were gouramis, and at one time a betta. For a long time it included an African rope fish (aka Reed fish). At one time I even tried silver dollars, but the price in plants was too high, so they were recycled back to the pet store pretty soon.

But for the most part, the name of the game was convenience, and absolutely foolproof maintenance, as I traveled a lot in those days. A 29 gallon subsidiary tank appeared, and then another 20 gallon tank, so it was a house full of aquariums. Amazingly, even though we had cats, none of our cats ever seriously went fishing, even in the times when I kept an open top.

Talking about pet stores, in those days the scenery was still dominated by independent pet stores, and I usually went to the Norwalk Aquarium, on Main Street, but sometimes as far away as Fairfield, Later on I used some mail order shopping for some of the more esoteric equipment, particularly the Dupla CO2 system and lighting systems, which since then seems to have disappeared from the American scene. In those days they supplied just about the only serious CO2 system on the market, and while since then CO2-injection has become almost common place, Dupla is nowhere to be found any longer.

Today, my shopping choices are a Petland Discounts nearby, which is OK for some of the basics, and a nearby Petco, which is a 20 minute walk away, but seems to have a better selection. Serious shopping is done on-line now. The pathetic selection of plants in the stores is hard to be believed. People still keep fish tanks, more than aquariums that would at least attempt to create a miniature natural environment. Today I find that foolproof maintenance is still important to me. I want to feel like I could go away for two weeks without a problem, but I have become more interested in the ecological aspects, and under gravel filters are out, categorically. Heating cables are in - they seem to be the best way to ensure some circulation through the soil, but in  a plant-friendly way. In all I am inclined to think that my aquariums in those years were primarily decorative, and that now, in my third go around with aquariums, I've become more of a student.

On Water Quality

It's one thing if you keep an aquarium, or aquariums in a house you own, you have no problem making the permanent plumbing fixes that you need to support your hobby, but it gets different in a rental apartment.

To make your own water or not 

For a salt water aquarium, you will have to, but for freshwater maybe you don't, unless you are a stickler like me. How could I not? For myself, I don't use tap water, so why would I for the fish? Personally, I use the ZeroWater filter, which does a pretty thorough job. Then I use Concentrace mineral supplement to add back the good electrolytes.
For the aquarium I use the same ZeroWater, with Seachem Replenish, to replace the necessary minerals (adjusting GH), and I may use some sodium bi-carbonate (baking soda) to adjust KH, as well as the Seachem alkaline and acid buffers, if needed. After a while, you get handy at keeping the water parameters in check.
Now that my 29 gallon tank is operational, I have plain ZeroWater in a top-off reservoir, and when I do a water change I will supply the necessary minerals, but for top off water I need only the pure zero water, since in that case evaporation leaves the minerals behind.

Since my discovery of the wealth of information on the AAP website, I began to explore using the Wonder Shell-Aquarium Mineral Block that they so highly recommend - obviously, I use the plain, non-medicated ones. Presently, I don't have long enough experience with this product to tell you if I like it or not, but the explanation made sense, so I have added it to my routine, and we'll see how well we do...

The first picture shows the basic setup. Very sparse for now, and all I have are some inverts, Malaysian Trumpet Snails, tubifex et al., seen here devouring a blanched leaf of organic spinach. There are also a half dozen of Amano shrimp around.

Starting up the tank

This time I decided to build up the tank very slowly, and I will stick with the invert cultures for a while, before I add any fish. I think I may have a little plantation of Amazon swords on my hands... So far I have not yet attempted water changes on the new tank, but I'm monitoring water conditions on a weekly basis. The wisteria in a terracotta pot is an experiment, for in the pot is some garden soil, covered with some gravel from the previous aquarium, thus providing a starter culture for healthy bacteria growth, and combining that with my very slow path of adding occupants to the tank, there will never be an opportunity for the dreaded "new tank syndrome." So far Ammonia and Nitrates consistently read zero, and nitrates and phosphates are not an issue, vindicating this slow buildup of the water conditions.
The AAP article on aquarium cycling is here, and is one of the best resources you can find. 

The only plants I have right now are easy ones that do not need a lot of light, and I use some Seachem Excel as well as a few Flourish tabs to help things along. In all, I am trying to keep PH at 6.8-7.0, and KH and GH between 100-200 ppm. Clearly, the Amazon swords are doing really well. Soon I will have a little plantation going on. All of which is fine by me, at this stage of the tank all I want is a few plants, just to grow a natural environment, and then in a while I plan to do a proper aquascaping project, once I have CO2 and serious lighting. The most interesting thing that I will want to observe is to what extent the plants and the filter compete or complement each other. Diana Walstead does her aquariums without filtration because the plants are the filter, and with heavier planting that would be true, nevertheless in my little 5 gallon nano tank, I still tend to see some nitrates and phosphate, and now I am trying to grow some duck weed, to see if that mitigates it. I also have reduced the population a bit, since moving the Amano shrimp to the 29 Gallon tank. Clearly, establishing a healthy plant life is the next most important thing after getting the nitrogen cycle started. In the beginning I'm using some fertilizer, and with increasing biological activity in the aquarium, I should be able to reduce my reliance on fertilizer - that will be a focus of my experimentation in the future.

What is most interesting about the information from the American Aquarium Products website, is the focus on ORP, oxidation reduction potential, This makes a lot of intuitive sense, since it would indicate the health of the water, and support a healthy immune system in your fish. For human beings it is known that many healing waters have extreme negative ORP, which is the reason for the popularity in certain quarters of water electrolyzers, popularly known as ionizers, to produce Electrolyzed Reduced Water (ERW). Clearly, the nitrogen cycle would cause a shift towards lower ORP, and thus healthier water. At some point I am planning to look into this more deeply.