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.