Wolfracer's System Build

[wolfracer]

I have a question about my fish tank. Am I hurting the devolpment of bacteria by not covering this tank(exposure to the sunlight )? My eventual plan is to insulate and cover this before winter but I was wondering , do I need to move this up a the priority list?

[jackalope]

This would be my thoughts on that ....... Catfish eat algae, don't they? Well, if sunlight can get to the water, guess what grows .... Algae So, you're providing food for them which cuts down on your food bill! If they don't eat Algae, then when you get some tilapia, they'll take care of your algae problem ..... BTW, I read today that tilapia and Channel Cats. get along beautifully, as long as they are close to the same size .
As far as your Chloramine problem, if you get some Jungle Start Right at an LFS or Walmart in the aquarium dept., it removes both Chlorine and Chloramine
Just my 2 centavos

[JCO]

Hey Jackalope...I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it or not, but I think your avatar is smashing

[badflash]

Nitrifying bacteria need no light to thrive. Most of the commercial systems I've checked out use covered tanks. Light is more an issue with the fish than the bacteria. Tilapia need light to stay healthy.

[wolfracer]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[jackalope]

Hey Jackalope...I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it or not, but I think your avatar is smashing

Thanks, Badflash sized it for me (Thanks Jack) because it was too large ..... it was the best one I could find on Google images that I liked

Wolfracer, I assumed that you were talking about the Fish Tank, as Badflash says, The bacteria don't care about the light .... i.e. all of my growbeds have 14 hours of light from the fluorescents that I have on a timer ..... I have Northern exposure, so no sunlight, I use GE 'sunlight' bulbs and things are growing. My response was directed at your planting of catfish, which, I believe, are algae eaters ...... that would be a good additive to their diet Tilapia are also good algae eaters from what I've read, especially hair algae and other pond algaes.

[badflash]

Catfish do not need light. They are omnivores, but prefer regular food. If it fits in their mouth they eat it. I don't know anyone who has tried feeding them on an algae diet. Tilapia are one of the few that can eat all types of algae, including blue-green algae.

You can play catfish volleyball by making a dough-ball bigger than their mouth and throwing it in. They will knock it all over the tank before they finally get some of it to come off. Tons of fun

[JCO]

You can truly tell waht kind of person someone is when they have nothing better to do than agrivate poor little ole catfish by putting food in with them that's too big for them to eat....my Grandmother would say "Be Shamed"

[wolfracer]

You can play catfish volleyball by making a dough-ball bigger than their mouth and throwing it in. They will knock it all over the tank before they finally get some of it to come off. Tons of fun

I like the way you think!

Thanks Everyone on the responses and congrats Jack on your position as FAQ mod. (sounds Like work to me!)


I am starting to see the cycling happening on my water tests! ammonia going down .25 nitrite and nitrates coming up (between 0-5ppm)Awesome! The plants are responding as well ! Soon it will be fish time. I am thinking of adding a biofilter to the pump sump where the fish tank and river bed flows into it for added filteration, since my growbed volume is less than 1:1 .

[badflash]

The growbed will be more than adequate for the biofiltration. the 2:1 ratio is to have enough plant mass to remove the nitrates and phosphates. An extra bio-filter won't help with that. Keep an eye on the nitrate levels. When they top 50 ppm, do water changes to bring them down, or add more plants. Vining plants that are fast growing can be used where growbed volume is limted.