QUESTION:

What is the proper care of bio sponge media in an aquarium?

ANSWER:

PROPER SPONGE MEDIA CARE;

The main problem with sponge filter media of any type is clogging due to mechanical filtration. The better designed sponge filter media is one that maximizes the amount of time between cleanings that the sponge media will not clog under normal use.
When the flow slow or water begins to flow around the sponge media (such as in many Aqua Clear Filters), you need to rinse/clean your sponge filter media.
The best method is to use used aquarium water from a water change and squeeze the sponge several times until nothing more is expelled form the sponge. You also may use de-chlorinated tap water or well water (without added chemicals) for rinsing your sponge media. I often will use both methods and I will use the de-chlorinated tap water for the final rinses until the rinse water in no longer dirty.

The reason to rinse with used tank water or de-chlorinated tap or well water is to not destroy beneficial aerobic bacterial colonies that form in the pores of the sponge media over time. This is important to note when your sponge media starts to degrade and needs to be changed. At this time it is best to add an additional sponge to your aquarium ahead of time to allow this sponge to “seed” with aerobic bacteria.
This can be achieved by simply placing the new sponge in an area of high water flow and high dissolved oxygen or adding a second sponge filter, pre filter, HOB filter, ECT in your aquarium an allowing the sponge media to “seed”. The time I generally allow is from 10-14 days for proper bacterial “seeding”.

Adding additional sponge filters, pre-filters, or similar is very beneficial to maintaining a healthy bio media in your aquarium, as this allows an easy change of sponges without the worry of destroying beneficial bacterial colonies in your aquarium, not to mention the improved bio filtration and mechanical filtration when all the filters are functioning properly.
Additional sponges in your aquarium can also be used to “seed” the bacterial colonies of a new aquarium.


SPONGE FILTRATION BASICS;

How a Sponge Filter works:

When your Sponge Filter is attached to an air pump, the rising column of air in the tube pulls water with it. A larger lift tube allows for a higher flow rate (this is where Hydro Sponge filters excel).
You can measure the water flow (which can be useful to know) by slightly tilting the filter with the top of the outflow just above the aquarium water line and timing the fill rate into a pitcher or gallon jug. If it fills the jug in 30 seconds, you multiply 2 times per minute times 60 or 120 gallons per hour.
You can also add an air stone to the end of your tubing in the outflow tube to produce more bubbles and more lift.
When attached to a power head, the pump pulls the water thru the sponge. With this method I recommend using an air diffuser that generally comes with most power heads to improve dissolved oxygen levels.

The water is pulled through the sponge filter media where debris is mechanically trapped and aerobic bacteria remove nitrogenous waste such as ammonia and nitrites. For ponds, a more porous sponge media is better to allow a better flow rate and less accumulation of debris from mechanical filtration. For aquariums with either an internal, pre-filter, or standard sponge filters a medium porous sponge media with many tiny pores to trap bacteria is best (again this is where the Hydro Sponge Filter excels with its patented design).



For more information about sponge filtration, please see this article: Sponge filtration; How sponge filters work and the benefits of using sponge filters in aquariums and ponds.

QUESTION:
Can black ghost knife fish give an electric shock?

ANSWER:
No, but black knife fish do produce an electric current.
Black Ghost Knives have a small electrode sensor near their nose to sense and smell since they have almost no use of their eyes. Black Ghost Knife fish are nocturnal and are always found looking for food at night. The sensor emits a small electric current in the water which is not felt by any other fish and will not cause any harm.
The reason the current is not felt, is that knife fish produce volts, but no amps. Even their cousin, the electric eel is capable of large voltage output, but low amps (usually around 1 amp), which is why they are not dangerous to humans, although they can stun smaller prey.


A few facts:

*Origin; Amazon and Paraguay Rivers
*Max size; 16- 20 inches
*Recommended Aquarium Size; 50 gallons (larger is even better)
*Temperature; 72- 80F
*Water Conditions; Prefers water near 7.0, but like all FW fish still needs electrolytes and calcium. VERY sensitive to poor water conditions. I recommend reading these two articles: “Aquarium Disease Prevention”
“Why Calcium and Electrolytes are important”
*Foods; Prefers live foods (bloodworms, black worms, brine shrimp)
*Tank furnishings; Ghost Knife fish need a place to hide, a clear plastic tube provides this and allows you to still see your pet (Lee’s aquarium products makes one)
*Genus: Apteronotus
*Species: albifrons

*Related fish include the Elephant Nose Fish (Gnathonemus petersii) which have similar requirements and reach a size of approximately 10" (although from the Niger River area of West Africa)


For up to date aquarium info (especially Redox and dispelling UV myths), please visit this site:
AQUARIUM AND POND INFORMATION;
Well researched and up to date aquarium and pond answers, help, and links. Based on 27 years of professional aquarium maintenance experience.

For an experienced aquatics forum:
http://groups.msn.com/EverythingAquatic/

QUESTION: Do Bio Wheels really work?


ANSWER:
There is a lot of information about bio wheels and their importance in bio filtration in aquariums. In theory they are great idea and bought into this idea for years without testing the results to see if the hype was true. In theory the wheel turns into the air where oxygen the aerobic bacteria need to remove ammonia and nitrites is much more abundant. Unfortunately oxygen is not the only requirement for nitrifying bio bacteria; you also need surface area which bio wheels do have although often not nearly as much as many aquarium sponge media or ceramic bio rings. You also need nutrients and often the bacteria in bio wheels are not exposed to enough nutrients.

But after many a wheel stalling with the many customers I serviced aquariums for and after I was challenged by another person in the maintenance business after telling him I was thinking of adding some large bio wheel systems to a couple marine tanks, he asked me if I ever tested them against other filters (he had performed such tests). I decided to start testing these wheels vs. other bio filter methods.

In a more limited test, I removed the bio wheel on penguin filters on comparable (60 gallon) established aquariums with comparable bio loads and fish and found no discernable ammonia spike. Yet when HOB filters that had running Sponge Pre Filters attached to their intakes were removed, there were discernable ammonia spikes.

In another more extensive test, I ran some tests against Sponge Filters Aqua Clears and Whisper Filters with the Sponge inserts in equal established tanks fed the same amount, then added large amounts of fish food and although the bio wheels did respond, the sponge filter showed a lower ammonia spike.

Both these test were not performed under the best of scientific scrutiny, however they certainly gave an interesting snapshot of the effectiveness of different bio filtration types

This is not to say a bio wheel does not work at all, especially there is less build up deposits on the bio wheel fiber.
What is much more important is to have an adequate amount of dissolved oxygen through agitation of the water surface which is where oxygen and other gasses are exchanged from the atmosphere and the aquarium. I have found a porous sponge filter media to maintain more bacteria in well oxygenated water.
This is an important point as although air can contain much more oxygen necessary for aerobic nitrifying bacteria (which is the theory behind bio wheels), the fact remains that the nitrifying bacteria do quite well at the normal dissolved oxygen level of 5-7 ppm of most adequately circulated and properly stocked aquariums.
In fact a somewhat unknown filter; the fluidized filter well out performed bio wheels and wet/dry filters in test and yet they are sealed filters (this comparison is based on established filters over 6 months old).


Here are a few reasons behind the poor results of bio wheels:

[1] Hard water buildup; although not as much a problem in soft water aquariums, this is a major problem with hard water aquariums and especially marine aquariums (where these bio wheels are a total waste of money). What happens is the calcium, salts and other deposits form in the pores of the bio wheel fiber, not allowing bacteria to form there. This is the main reason for the lack of effectiveness for bio wheels. My tests in Discus aquariums (which are soft water) showed better results for bio wheels (although not as well as sponge or other porous media).

[2] Lack of surface area; a bio wheel does not have the surface of many other bio media products from sponge media to the very porous pumice and ceramic media used by Eheim and others.

[3] Bio wheel stalls; bio wheels have a bad habit of stalling or rotating too slowly for the bacteria to be bathed in nutrients. This can be only a minor reason to not have these bio wheels as this is a somewhat correctable problem.
Here is a way correct this problem (this will be an on going maintenance problem). Make sure the Teflon ends on the bio wheel axle are clean and have no build ups of calcium you can replace these with Teflon tape in a pinch. Also make sure the bio wheel assembly is not to tight, simply remove the bio wheel and gently stretch the assembly apart so the wheel can spin more freely.

SUMMARY;

This NOT to say bio wheels do not work! Bio wheels just do not hold up to the hype and urban myths about them in the aquarium hobby. You can often do better with the sponge in an Aqua Clear or Whisper, the Bio Grid on a Via Aqua VitaLife, a pre filter on any HOB filter, a separate sponge filter or even an aquarium sponge stuck inside a HOB filter without any other bio media. I have used many Bio Wheel (Penguin, Emperor, etc.) filters over the years with good results, my point is again not that they do not work, just if you are purchasing one of these filters for the main reason of having a “better” bio filter, you are not making the best choice based on controlled test data.

What is missed by proponents of Bio-wheels is although the oxygen aspect of the bio-wheel is one aspect of aerobic nitrification, it is not difficult to maintain adequate oxygen levels for most other aquarium bio filters in a properly set up tank. What is more important is surface area and there are many other filter medias with higher surface area than bio wheels such as many quality sponge filters, volcanic rock, ceramic media and MUCH more.
Another important aspect of aerobic filtration is that the faster and more ammonia and nitrites your aquarium bio filter processes the more nitrates your aquarium will have in the end. This is especially noteworthy for marine aquariums which is why I would recommend live rock crumbles, volcanic rock, Bio Home or similar filter media that has deep pores to perform de-nitrification via anaerobic bacteria and why my consideration many years back of a large bio wheel system for a marine tank was/is a bad one. The use of a Protein Skimmer in Marine tanks can be helpful in preventing nitrate buildup as well. Please see this article for more marine aquarium information: “Saltwater Aquarium Basics to advanced”

I will also state that the design of most Marineland (Penguin, Emperor Filters) are very efficient and they are reliable mechanical filters with much less flow-by than some others, most notably Aqua Clears, so with this in mind, ANY filter decision should be based on what you need out of a filter and for more aquarium information about aquarium filters: Aquarium Filters and Filtration

For more aquarium information, please visit this site: “AQUARIUM AND POND INFORMATION”

PROPER OSMOTIC FUNCTION- ELECTROLYTES

QUESTION: How do fish drink water?

ANSWER: Freshwater fish absorb most of the water they need through their skin via osmosis (osmosis is the net movement of water through a selective permeable membrane from a region of low solute potential to a region of high solute potential due to their hyperosmotic environment), NOT through their gills. The gills are for respiration.

Most saltwater fish (Hagfish, Sharks, Rays differ in osmoregulation) actually drink the water the live in, as the salt in the water is constantly pulling H2O from their bodies in a reverse respiration (hypoosmotic environment). This is why some fish such as catfish are sensitive to salt in the water, but this is also why some fresh water fish are helped by salt to generate a mucous slime coat on their skin which is necessary for disease prevention.

For proper osmoregulation electrolytes such as calcium, magnesium and other elements are important as well. This is often not realized by many aquarists (especially in freshwater), however not having these electrolytes (minerals) present in the water whether by depletion or by the use of drinking water, distilled water or RO water that has not been re-mineralized can cause problems with the fish’ ability to move fluids in and out of their bodies and in the long term resist disease.

Another note, because most freshwater fish cannot drink their surrounding water (Salmon and others are exceptions), when you place these freshwater fish in saltwater, they actually dehydrate.

Osmosis in fish;

Their cells must always be bathed in a solution having the same osmotic strength as their cytoplasm. This is one of the reasons why fish and other animals have kidneys. The exact amount of water and salt removed from their blood by the fish kidneys. The process of regulating the amounts of water and mineral salts in the blood is called osmoregulation. Fish which live in the sea (remember the sea is full of salt and other elements), but fish which live in freshwater have the opposite problem; they must get rid of excess water as fast as it gets into their bodies by osmosis. Osmosis is an important topic in biology because it provides the primary means by which water is transported into and out of cells.

Osmosis is also important in the treatment of many aquarium diseases in both freshwater and saltwater.
In freshwater, a higher electrolyte level (particularly of sodium chloride, calcium and magnesium) will help pull fluids through the body which also stimulates the natural mucous coat on fish so as to resist parasites, bacteria, and fungus. Also by pulling fluids through the body this can help with bloat, swim bladder problems, intestinal problems, and even dropsy. (which I have had few problems with in clean tanks with good electrolyte/ trace element levels).
This process results in the loss of many electrolytes, some of these trace elements can be replaced by ions contained in food but by far the most common method is through the movement of a substance against an osmotic gradient through the use of energy. This usually involves the exchange of one substance for another. In the case of freshwater fish, Na+ (sodium) ions are taken from the water and ammonia ions are taken from the fish and they are exchanged. This effectively rids the fish of ammonia. Chloride ions are exchanged for carbonate ions which help in maintaining the pH of the body fluids.
This is one more important reason for adequate Calcium, carbonate (KH), & electrolyte levels
Opportunistic diseases such as Columnaris, Saprolegnia (often known as fish fungus), and Aeromonas (often the cause of Septicemia) are more easily prevented when osmoregulation is functioning properly in fish via adequate mineral levels.



In saltwater, sometimes lowering salinity will have a reverse osmotic effect and rupture the cell wall of many parasites such as Oodinium and Cryptocaryon (this is best achieved in a 3-5 minute freshwater bath adjusted for pH).
This method of lowering the specific gravity (salt content) in saltwater to fight disease should not be taken too far. I have heard of persons being told to keep their marine aquariums at a specific gravity of 1.012 to prevent of fight disease, however this is TOO LOW. At his specific gravity (salinity), the marine fish will not have proper osmotic function (remember, marine fish drink the water around them and at this salt level they will not get the fluids and minerals being pulled properly through their bodies which can result in water retention and MUCH worse). The general specific gravity in marine aquariums should be around 1.019 to 1.022 for fish and around 1.022 to 1.025 for reef. To treat parasite infections (such as Oodinium and Cryptocaryon), you can TEMPORARILY lower the specific gravity to 1.016 to 1.018.
Be careful in lowering salinity with corals and anemones present as they cannot tolerate the lower salinity levels fish can


Generally salts (trace elements), not just sodium chloride can affect osmosis. Magnesium can also play a major role too. Calcium can affect and just as importantly be affected by proper osmotic function.
Sulfates have been shown effective in improving nutrient absorption and toxin elimination. Magnesium plays a role in the activity of more than 325 enzymes and aids in the proper assimilation of Calcium. For much more information about the importance of Calcium and other electrolytes, please read this article:
CALCIUM, KH, AND MAGNESIUM IN AQUARIUMS; How to maintain a Proper KH, why calcium and electrolytes are important.

RO (Reverse Osmosis), DI (Distilled), or Rainwater in Aquariums

The use of RO or DI water in aquariums should be restricted to blending with tap or well water to have a lower naturally buffer aquarium for Amazon River or similar fish. Generally I start with 25% and work up from this over time. The reason is that RO and similar water is NOT properly mineralized for correct osmoregulation with essential minerals such as calcium nor is there any carbonate buffers to maintain a stable pH which the lack there of would result in a roller coaster pH in the aquarium, often with disastrous results.
For proper osmotic function trace amounts (and I mean TRACE amounts) of several minerals are required, many supplied simply by water changes and supplements such as Wonder Shells. For this reason pure RO (Reverse Osmosis) or Distilled water are not good for water changes unless re-mineralized (with products such as Wonder Shells and buffers) or blended with tap or well water that is possibly too high in many minerals (a very high GH can slow respiration in some freshwater fish).
Also be real careful with water label “Drinking Water” (products such as Aquafina are simply RO water that has some minerals added for flavor for human consumption) as this is usually just RO water with a few minerals added for taste and does NOT have the electrolytes needed by fish. Usually pure spring water does have the proper electrolytes needed by fish.

Finally I have seen many (especially on the internet) recommend rain water be used in place of tap water or similar, the reasoning is similar as with RO water that this water is more pure and therefore more healthy for the fish. HOWEVER this reasoning is severely and dangerously flawed as rainwater has NO essential minerals for osmoregulation and as well as buffering capacity at all for maintaining a stable pH (rainwater tends towards the acid side on the pH scale) which will result in a rollercoaster pH in the aquarium. Please note that the pH scale is logarithmic meaning a 1 point change up or down is equal to a tenfold increase in acidity/alkalinity.

Products for re-mineralizing RO water
*Wonder Shells
*SeaChem Marine Buffer
*SeaChem Cichlid Salt
*Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Electro Right

These products can be used separately or together. The API ElectroRight only adds important trace minerals and no carbonates and is usually inadequate by itself. I generally would soak a Wonder Shell in RO water and then add Buffer or Cichlid or Marine Salt to further replenish major and minor elements as well as carbonates (which Wonders Shells have little carbonates).

Necessary Minerals

Here are a few necessary TRACE elements (electrolytes) and their function. Please read the above article for more about Calcium.

• Calcium (Actually needed in more than trace amounts): Calcium helps to transport ions (electrically charged particles) across the membrane, is essential for muscle contraction, calcium assists in maintaining all cells and connective tissues in the body, and much more
• Sodium (Actually needed in more than trace amounts): Regulates extra-cellular electrolyte, essential for the transport of nutrients across the cell membranes.
• Potassium: Regulates intracellular osmotic pressure, cell membrane potential, and salt excretion.
• Phosphorus: Energy metabolism.
• Molybdenum: Important for proper skeletal growth (very important in reef aquariums for hard coral growth).
• Manganese: Aids enzymes involved in metabolism, growth and maintenance of bone and cartilage.
• Iron: Oxygen transport in blood and muscle tissue.
• Magnesium: As stated previously, magnesium plays a role in the activity of more than 325 enzymes and aids in the proper assimilation of Calcium.
• Sulfates: Also as stated above, improve nutrient absorption and toxin elimination.
• Chromium: Important for proper utilization of sugars.
• Cobalt: Necessary for Folic Acid synthesis.
• Copper (very trace amounts): Co-enzyme for energy metabolism, aids in the protection of the myelin sheath around the nerves, important for iron absorption and utilization.

For a related post that deals with trace elements:
“Plaster in Paris in Aquariums and Ponds”


It is important to have a proper Redox Potential which describes the ability for the loss of an electron by a molecule, atom or ion to the gain of an electron by another molecule, atom or ion. Without this reducing Redox Potential many minerals cannot be absorbed and properly assimilated. So it is very important to keep a “positively charged” aquarium or a Redox Potential of approximately -300 mV via proper dissolved oxygen levels, calcium and other electrolytes, proper cleaning procedures and water changes (UV Sterilization can help too).
Redox is NOT a water parameter the average aquarist needs to worry about, as good aquatic husbandry usually takes care of this however it is still a useful parameter to be familiar with.
For more information about the Redox Potential, please see my article: The Redox Potential in Aquariums (& Ponds) and how it relates to proper aquatic health

For Wonder Shells which aid in the addition of electrolytes (an excellent product I have used for years with very good results as a tool for maintaining proper water parameters): “Wonder Shells” -for calcium and electrolytes

For further reading on this subject, here are a few articles I recommend:

This one is great
Understanding Water Hardness

A little hard to follow (pdf), but good reading:
Interactions of pH, Carbon Dioxide, Alkalinity and Hardness in Fish Ponds

This article is a very interesting (although somewhat dated especially as it pertains to Wet/Dry filters, which can become “nitrate factories”):
Osmoregulation (http://www2.hawaii.edu/~delbeek/delb11.html)


For more aquarium information, please visit this site: “AQUARIUM AND POND INFORMATION”

For a VERY knowledgeable aquatics forum with a lot of aquatic experience:
Everything Aquatic