Recent content by Jordanlp

As someone who spent absolutely ridiculous amounts of money as a beginner in the hobby trying to get everything absolutely perfect, in hindsight after a few years I’d say all you really need is a filter, heater and possibly a de-chlorinator to keep most types of readily available tropical fish...

From what I can tell it is exactly that, filter gunk but why they’re saying is different from simply taking mature media in this situation is that it’s made in a reactor, not a tank and therefore no contact with fish eliminating any chance of disease or anything else that can be passed on from...

I live in the U.K. and have been interestingly reading about a company that sell actual live nitrifying bacteria and was wondering if this has ever really been done before? There’s lots of debate on this forum about bottled bacteria and if it really works but this does seem different. They grow...

A small sponge filter would seem much better option IMO. It will use less power to run a sponge filter off a small air pump then the Fluval U3, and not only will the current on that filter be too strong and likely stress guppy fry (even on the lowest setting as I recall there is a gentle flow...

Aquael Turbo filters are the best internal filters I’ve used, do a much better job and will handle a bigger bio load then the Fluval U filters and even the Ehiems. Even the smallest filter in the range has decent sized coarse sponge that would do a decent filtration job all on its own and a big...

I’ve never used an under gravel filter but from what I’ve read they can offer absolutely huge amounts of surface area if used properly, even better then high end canister filters, I think the trick with the under gravel filter is not too clean the substrate too often to allow bacteria to grow...

Looks like you are in the U.K., most of the tap water is 40PPM plus nitrates, mine certainly is. If your doing regular water changes and not massively over feeding id be surprised if that was the cause of the immediate fish deaths as most scientific studies show that those levels are more then...

From my limited knowledge I think the theory behind the K1 being ‘better’ then something like say Matrix is that although the theoretical surface area of matrix would be much higher, some say those figures are simply area for nitrogen and don’t translate into available surface area for BB in an...

I was very intrigued months back when I read the test data provided by a website regarding K1 (or similar knock offs) performing much better then traditional bio media in a canister filter, even as a static media, and decided I wanted to try it, as filtration methods seems to really interest me...

To be honest this is what I suspected when I started the thread, when people state that you should or they themselves turn over their tank volume 10X per hour, what it actually means is a safe rule of thumb is to buy a filter with a pump that in theory could turn over the tank 10 times in lab...

Very nice, I’m still confused though about the claims of 10X plus in GPH. I’ve tried many different filters, and I’ve never tested a canister filter when hoses are connected and filled with media that has an actual output above 50% of what it says on the box. So if the manufacturer claims the...

Have you thought of a good old fashioned sponge filter or even better The Ziss bubble? the 200 L shallow version would be good for a 20. If you’ve got a few weeks you could just pop one of those filters in your existing tank and let them cycle. I had a Fluval U that came supplied with a tank...

Agreed, they seem to prefer the wafers so I’ll keep feeding those, I just wanted to understand and get a few more viewpoints on the subject. I do feed a very varied diet and all the fish go wild for frozen/live bloodworm, even the supposed herbivores. Its only very recently I’ve started looking...

Never really paid too much attention to fish foods other then using the reputable brands, but recently I’ve been trying to feed my Kribs a more vegetable heavy diet (as studies show that in the wild they eat much more plant matter then the omnivore label they’re given in the aquarium trade) and...

I like the idea of them, it’s incorporating a fine mechanical filtration and chemical filtration in one little cartridge, but like I say on a small internal filter it will be cheaper and just as effective to just put sponge or something in there once you’ve used the ones that came with the...