Tropical Fish Central

It is obvious to most people that aquarium filters capture the gunk suspended in the tank’s water, leaving it looking clear.  This is called mechanical filtration.  Filters perform a much more important function, however, called biological filtration.  As discussed in the post on cycling an aquarium, fish produce ammonia both directly and through the decomposition of their waste.  Ammonia is toxic, but the cycling process builds up a colony of bacteria that consume the ammonia to produce nitrite.  The nitrite is even more toxic than ammonia, but is also consumed by bacteria to produce nitrate, which is much less harmful.

Filters perform the important task of moving water that contains ammonia and nitrite past the colonies of bacteria.  Insufficient movement of water can result in a toxic build up of ammonia or nitrite, which can’t be processed quickly enough.  This mostly happens in tanks that are overstocked with fish or over fed with too little filtration and water movement.

The “Python No Spill Clean and Fill” is a remarkably useful tool for aquarium owners.  The Python attaches to the end of a sink faucet, and has a gravel vacuum head on the other end.  The Python empties the aquarium and any sucked up debris straight into the sink’s drain.  Then, by turning a valve, the python can refill the aquarium.

For more information, watch the video located on this page.

Pythons are available at most online and local aquarium stores.

Canister filters are self-contained filters that have hoses pumping water between the aquarium and the filter.

A UV filter is a device that exposes water flow to ultra-violet light.  UV light, in the proper intensity, will kill microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, algae, and parasites present in water.  For aquariums, there are generally two types of UV filters:

• Those with an integrated pump or requiring a dedicated pump to push water through the UV filter
• Those that attach to the output of a canister filter.

UV filters can be quite effective at:

• Eliminating “Green Water” algae
• Killing off internal and external parasites, including Ich.
• Preventing  bacterial infections, particularly in tanks that are not kept clean.

I took a few pictures and videos of my pond after returning from lunch today

Here is a picture of my gold and black koi:

Here is a zoomed out shot of the pond fish: