Adding Eheim substrate to the bottom of the Plenum and then filling the tank with its substrate.
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- čas přidán 8. 03. 2023
- Adding Eheim substrate to the bottom of the Plenum and then filling the tank with its Kitty Litter substrate.
13:43 Tony and Geralds aquariums
Part 2, excellent! Well explained. Waiting for part 3.
Just wanted to add, if you have landscaping lava rock laying around then you could use it in place of the eheim substrate on the bottom. Just make sure it's the small pieces so it's not causing pressure on the bottom glass.
Saw my tank today, Dr. Novak. Haven't had any issues with brittleness in any of the plastic housing. The plenum risers are made from .75" pex tubing. I've adjusted my lighting down per your suggestion.
This is what I did for 4 diffrent 14 gallon cubes. Bought 2 Penn Plax 20L/29 plates, I added an extra .5" plate on top before adding the cloth weed block. I used seachem flourite and safe t Sorb as substrate. The amount of dust in my flourite bag basicly looks like laterite powder. I dry sifted it beforehand and got maybe 1lb from a 15lb bag.
for your question regarding Oase filters, I have several (6) with the heater and haven't noticed any problems with them over 2 years.
I use natural burlap in my plenums' because you can get a lot cheap and I know nothing will leech from it to affect my sensitive fish.
I did this exact thing in my 40 breeder tank. I even used the whiskers and tails kitty litter in the yellow bag. I did not find the whiskers and tails brand to be any different than the Walmart brand kitty litter. It was just as difficult to wash because it became mush as soon as it is rinsed. It is also just as dusty.
That’s why I put landscaping fabric on top of my under gravel filter before putting the kitty litter on it.
Next time I do it I’m definitely going to cap it with something. Every time I do any maintenance on my tank, it becomes dusty.
I enjoyed seeing your tank setup and the others you showed.
I have a red cherry shrimp 10 gal. tank. The tank is using Seachem Denitrate on the first layer then cat litter and finally Fluval Shrimp and plant substrate. In another 5 gal. tank, I used 1" of pea gravel for the plenum with lava rocks topped with the Fluval substrate again. I top off my aquariums and only do a water change every 6 months or so because the plants grown like crazy in both. I have a moss problem in each tank but the anubis mini has propagated from one small plant into six now. I do have a sponge filter in each but they only get cleaned on a water change. I bury them into the substrate down to the nylon craft screens. They don't have much flow at all.
My last tank is a 20 Long. I have plants in it mounted on lava rocks. Some red cherry shrimp reside there too. I have trident java fern growing in it. The tank gets 4 hours of grow lighting. I have two homemade filters using lava rock and floss with a very slow air bubble for water movement. Hey, it acts as a plenum or one of your baskets.
As to feeding, I toss in some egg shells at times and sometimes give the shrimp a treat of pellet food. Mainly they eat the algae growing in the tanks from the lights being on 12 hours a day in the two main tanks.
I have 0-10 on the nitrate level and 0-10 on the nitrite level. Ph is only 6. Ammonia is 0. I don't use heaters in any of my aquariums either.
Thanks for the great vids. I always learn a little something new from them. Nice seeing the big tanks too.
I have red cherry too, in every tank I own now they breed like rabbits. I have zero problems with them and when they populate too much, I just move some to another tank.
I saw an experiment where the clay grew plants Better, absent of fertilizer. No need of fertilizer with the clay substrate.
There are some CZcamsrs out there stating using Safety Sorb will lower PH to a dangerous level and it must be "charged before using". I used it straight with just a wash and two months later my PH is at 7,. Initially it was 6.8 but after makeup water back to 7. Maybe no all bags of Safety Sorb are the same, i don't know. Love to see new tank setups , way to go Kevin.
It turned my liquid rock tap water in my tank into essentially RO over the weekend.. no fish deaths. No plenum. It DEFINITELY pulls hardness out of the water. I used oil-dri not safe t sorb
@@DiscoDogPacmanFrog That brand difference may be the key honestly. Could easily be a very similar product in base material and intended function, with a minor change in sourcing, treating, or handling, that has a huge change for us cause we're not using it for its intended purpose.
May sound like a stupid question but here in South Africa clay cat litter is a mission to find, everything is scented, chemicals etc. What natural litter I could find is Bentonite, which I googled is a type of clay. My question is will this be ok for my fish? Want to try a plenum in my 5 gallon with Pea Puffers. Have an issue with algae since I can't add any Ottos or snails with the puffers. I want to use the Bentonite natural cat litter with Seachem Red, just do not want to put my puffers in danger, love those little fish.
Hi dr novak, i asked a while back about anyone in the uk knowing a cat litter that didn't turn to mush, i have finally found a brand, its called "ultimate performance non clumping cat litter" by jollyes the pet people. I thought id let you know as im aware you have followers in the uk who may be having the same trouble as myself locating a baked clay type litter, hope alls well over in florida, cheers from Fife 🏴
That's great information. It really needs to get out to hobbyist in the UK even though I publish such information, it constantly is being ignored and I'm constantly being asked what can be used in the UK.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums i have posted the info on a few uk fish groups dr so hopefully folk do their homework on this 🤞🏻
Hi. My question disappeared... I am living in Ireland an I did not find any baked clay based cat litter here. I have found only one somehow clay based - SEPICAT Classic. Could someone confirm if it is usable, please? I bought it already, but I am afraid to use it as there is nearly no info on the bag.
hi, sir
I just hava access to "ADA AMAZONIA LIGHT" soli and I don't have any access to "Laterite" or any other product like it.
Now, what can I do? What's your suggestion?
I'm learning all the time from you. I hope to get a 5-foot tank next year so can I put Plenam in it with more than one tube going into the plenum?
How did u modify the lee's tube on the filterbplate
The sunsun plastic gets ruined by the uv light inside the filter.
Yep, don't run the UV 24×7
Thank you so much for taking the time to educate us, I have seen the light. Would there be any benefits to adding baked clay and laterite under the plenum, along with your biological media?
Dr. Novak, In my 135 gal tank I put some small pieces of lava rock under my plenum. You said you like new ideas. I also put 3 small BCB bags under the plenum. Since the bags only need water to slowly move through them, just thought this might be good for any of those that might not have the ability to put BCB bags/baskets in their filtering systems.
From what I've seen, and how clean I've seen, the substrate underneath the Plenum was lava-rock would be a cheaper alternative than some of the most expensive substrate out there.
Hello Hi Dr Kevin Novak,
Please advise, can I use ceramic rings instead of Eheim substrate below plenum, as I am not sure if they are available in Mumbai.
Thanks 🙏
Yes, you can
Hello Dr. Novak. I have a 125 gallon Frontosa tank average 6-9 inches with catfish, a 75 gallon Frontosa with Severum and catfish, a 20 gallon with Angel fish with catfish and plants bare bottom (putting the horse in front of the wagon), a 10 gallon with Cory catfish with plecos and lots of plants bate bottom. I'm getting ready soon to make this change by adding two 75 gallon aquariums and two 20 gallon aquariums. I was about to set up Father Fish and another hobbiest dirt tank methods until I rain into your video. Their set-ups appear to work but I should have questioned how since I do that with most everything.
I'd like to set up all my aquariums using the Plenum system but I'm not sure if my Frontosa tanks would allow that to happen. I saw in another of your videos using CO2. Do I really need it? I need to be setting up 4 aquariums in 2 weeks using Caribsea substrate. I don't know what to do about the 75g and 125g to help so I can reduce water changes. And I'd like to eventually get into discus with this method also since water changes will be less.
Please help!
Very interesting Dr. Novak. A couple of points sparked my interest.
Gerald is using both root tabs and liquid fertilizer. Back in the old days when I used the new UGF/plenum I seem to remember only root tabs being available. I was told as the root tabs dissolved they would leech ferts into the water column for my other plants. Then when liquid ferts came out I no longer needed root tabs as the liquid ferts would flow through the gravel do to the UGF. Just wondering if that was correct or not since that was many, many decades ago?
Next... I was taught that I needed to do regular gravel vacuuming and water changes to keep the substrate clean. So every week I gravel vacuumed one half the substrate alternating sides each week. I never had any kind of build up under my filter plates or problems. Now I'm wondering since you did yours once a year if I was keeping mine "to" clean?
Lastly... I'm planning on setting up a 125 gallon tank possibly for Discus and compatible tank mates which will be very lightly planted. I'm looking at the Lee's Premium UGF as that's close to my old Penn Plax Undertow. Was planning on my old stand by gravel, natural river pebbles about 4mm in size, from 2" to 3". Would you recommend a layer of something between the filter plates and gravel and if so what exactly?
If you remember, root tabs back in the day were nothing but phosphate and nitrogen tablets, the same use for terrestrial plants.
Long ago, they did tell people to gravel-vac constantly, but that is where things went awry. The gravel became too clean and too sterile to do the job it was designed to do. Then they started speeding up the amount of water going through the substrate, and all it became was a mechanical filter that needed to be serviced constantly. We now know today that was completely wrong and everything needs to go back to the way it was in the 60s.
If I was you, I would try to find something maybe that would vary in size between 1 to 4 mm and mix it with the larger 4 mm gravel. However, with that said, if all you have is the 4 mm gravel and that's all that's available then use that.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you so much!
Hello Dr. Novak, i know it's irrelevant to the video but i've got a 30gal long tank that's been thriving for the last months but i had a power outage that was going to last for weeks so i took the fish along most of the ryzome and water colum feeding plants and i set them up in a relatives home. I will be remaking the aquarium and was decided to follow diana walstad's method because of the lush plant growth. I have a eheim classic 2213 canister that i was thinking of converting to a bcb, do you think it would be a wise choice?
Best of both worlds perhaps? 😊
Forgive me for asking, but those U tubes, is that the name when searching for them? Does the air line go through it? I did not seem to find them. Thank you for the help on this, if you can. Thank you.
Stainless steel U-tubes come in plastic also and I just found them on Amazon.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you Dr. Novak.
Look for SunSun hw-3000 intake and outtake plumbing
Dr. Novak,
What brand of kitty litter are you recommending? I understand some brands recommended in the past have changed their formulas.
Thank you,
Any brand will do and the best ones are the ones that are baked clay versus non-bake clay.
Hi Dr Novak, I have been binge watching your videos and learned sooo much. I am getting a 75 gallon tank with 6 fancy goldfish that someone is selling. I want to do the anoxic filtration with a plenum. Few questions I would like to ask. I plain on using an under gravel filter with Eheim underneath, landscape fabric on top followed by clay litter and then black sand. I am planning on 1 1/2 to 2 inches clay litter capped with 2 inches black sand. That sound ok to do? Also when I bring everything home and I set up everything while the fish are in a separate bucket long enough to get it done and settle for an hour and immediately add them? If so do I need to add some sort of bacteria? It will have a fluval 307 running until the anoxic filter establishes. Is I short tube/air pump enough for that size tank? How strong should the air pump be? Thank you for all the time you take to help all of take are aquariums to a whole new level. You are amazing?
So far what you were saying sounds good.
After you get everything set up, make sure you pour in a complete bottle of Fritz Zyme seven or API Quickstart.
Yes it is but you can if you want "optional" is have a longer tube but just don't pump as much air through it. That's entirely up to you.
When you initially set up the tank, have the air going as fast as you can and then after 24 hours you can turn it down so it's a lot slower.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you very much for your quick response. I know you are beyond busy and I very much appreciate your time! I did mean to also ask what you recommend I use in the fluval canister during the establishment phase. Not sure if should do it a certain way by adding or taking away anything in it to allow everything to develop as it needs to. I also went to order the Fritz 7 and they have 4 oz , 16, 32 and all the way to a gallon. What size bottle would I need if emptying the entire bottle into the 75 gallon tank. Thank you again for all you do. You are truly changing the aquarium world one tank at a time!!!
I set my 75 gallon up with a plenum. (Bought from someone and kept 40 percent of the original tank water and the canister/media in tact) Used under gravel with Eheim, plastic fine mesh screen, clay litter, Laterite red and capped with medium coarse sand. Used fritzyme 7 and added live plants. Turned up the air like you said for 24 hours and have turned it down. Not sure how to know what the proper flow from the air pump is putting out?? I have kept the fluval 307 running like the other person. I know it will take time for the anoxic system but should I run a canister filter forever?
I like running a canister filter as a mechanical filter for my aquariums. However, on the antique aquarium, my canister filter is used for 100%, biological filtration and mechanic.
I mean, is it necessary to use Laterite or similar products for making plenum? Cause I don't have access to such products
You are the reason I making these new videos to show people that in order to make a Plenum you basically need a good substrate. Iron such as Flourish Iron can be added to the tank after it's been set up.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Now, I got it.
Thank you so much; because of the time you spend for make such educational videos and answering our questions.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums How much of Flourish Iron should be added, please?
just wanna add that you can use petsmart's version of this if you can't find the eheim!
I just got into this and got some Oil-Dri from Napa automotive and it's awesome, really hard granules and cleaned up very nicely. It's very dark with lots of red which I am guessing means it actually has some iron in it already. I was planning on capping it with Black Diamond Blasting sand but I think it could be used by itself. I am going to setup a plenum in a 10 gallon with it first and see how it works then do my 75gal.
So is it absolutely required to add other media under the plenum?
No, it is not. I got the idea from a hobbyist in New York that did it and I thought to myself. Why not pretty good idea. But it is not a requirement.
Thanks Dr Novak, got my plenum built and going to install soon 😀
can you use dirt? maybe potting soil?
I've heard of people using dirt, but I myself have not found any advantage of using dirt.
how can i calculate flow by counting the bubbles in a 3/8 tube of the under gravel filter?
It's basically just guesstimating the flow rate
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums i did not cut the pipe in the undergravel as you recommended...but i had just a flow valve trying to have the least flow possible in the plenum trying to follow your 1 to 2 gal per day recommendation but i want ti guesstimate the flow....how do i do it! thanks
How much laterite should i use as a layer of substrate thanks
1/4 inch ?
If you're going to use pure Laterite only a small layer of about 30 to 60,000 of an inch is needed.
whay is Ehime?
It's a round, small biological filter media that the Germans came up with to house bacteria in the cracks and crevices of its inner structure. It looks like it's made out of pumice stone.
Some reason why your not using Laterite.
It seems to be that laterite is not readily available throughout the world. So I just add iron by liquid form and that seems to do the trick.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums In the video You said you will tell us how much liquid iron should we add , but I did not find that info.... Maybe i missed it or..? And next part of the video I did not find as well...
Why no one answer anything? All knows everything?
I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but pertaining to myself I cannot answer every question people ask. This is why other CZcams channels have a Patreon where they actually answer peoples questions, but get paid for it.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums I'm sorry because of my English. Cause English is not my first language. So, I made a mistake. I meant that all those who liked your recent video (for example) did not have any questions to ask?