J.Allen 9 Posted February 8 Hello, Im looking to learn more about how to optimize my fish keeping, this is what I've got on my mind: The Tank : a 75 Gallon with an overflow box and a U- tube attached to the overflow which is 1 inch plumbing into a 1 1/2 inch hose down into a 55 Gallon Tank. The 55 has glass baffles inside that divides it into 4 chambers. The first chamber currently is open with no filter media. I was using pinky floss in the past but currently just let the water freely flow into the second chamber, which I keep some plants and a bio brick in, as well as substrate, snails, and as of late 2020 4 goldfish fry. That space overflows into some rods of bio material pumice like stone then is pumped back up to the 75 gallon. In total I manage what I estimate to be 100 gallons of water. I change 50% a week. ( someone please give it to me straight - Am I good , bad , or Ugly? because I have read so many things online and I've done more harm for myself than good at this point) I have 7 Fancy Goldfish - one apple size Thai Oranda and 2 telescope each the size of a big lemon they spawned and 4 fry survived they are now about the size of a U.S Quarter each. ( I didn't see it happen at all and I was not paying attention to my sump tank for a 2 week period, till one day from the side view I saw something move and it was a fish! ) snails, Big ( can't or won't reproduce?) and small - which reproduce but not totally out of control yet, their egg sacks seem to get eaten by fish. plants, mostly amazon swords, some java fern , anubius coffeefolia, grass- that I forgot the name of ! a single surviving ghost shrimp? ( a horrible oversight on my part and a total massacre. Many shrimp lives were needlessly lost that day. By the time I saw what was happening all that could be done was watch in horror.) a piece of driftwood a substrate made of washed and rinsed pool filter sand mixed with seachem fluorite red and fluorite black. a few stones a 400 Gallon per hour fountain pump with clear hose to return. water chemistry: Taylor Chlorine = 0ppm Taylor Ph= 7.4 APi Ph = 7.4-7.5 Api Ammonia = 0 Api Nitrite = 0 Api Nitrate = 40 - 60 ( For some reason I have had High nitrates from inception, Even when I have done 50 % water changes with RO water, I suspect that that its due to my early fish keeping overfeeding , yet even so after correcting and still doing 50% water changes each week ( treated tap water that tests with no nitrates) still barely goes down after water changes. Please help me- help my fish-puppies. Api Phosphate = 0 - 0.5ppm Api Kh = 71.6 ppm Api Gh = 107.4 ppm Tds = 150 - 180 4 months ago I tested for dissolved O2 and it was 9mg/L and CO2 which came in at 5 ppm SO... I know with water changes the blanket answer can be " The more the merrier" BUT..... right now I can only really do 1 per week. Am I killing my fish slowly and stunting the fry growth if I only do 1 a week or will they be ok? Should I run a water polisher or something with carbon to help clean? How fast does the growth inhibiting hormone build up in water and is there a home accessible way to test hormone levels? Will carbon remove growth inhibiting hormone from water? I believe I read somewhere it can sometimes remove the spawning hormone - is that even true? What happens to the poop I didn't get to vacuum ? does it dissolve? do they eat it ? is that a high nitrate factor? what do you do with your fish poop? is there any other or good use for it? I'd like to know your thoughts. - Jordan 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites