Hellp Dr. Novak. I noticed you did a video on my reef. I am Paul Baldassano. Nice video, I watched it. My reef is now 53 years old and is still running a Reverse Undergravel filter. Nice to meet you
Very cool! You are a very impressive individual I must say and it's a pleasure to meet you. If you could email me, I would really appreciate talking to somebody of your caliber. Drklnovak@gmail.com anyone that can keep an aquarium running for 53 years must be doing something right or the rest of us are really doing a lot wrong.
Since finding your channel about two years ago, my tanks have multiple to six freshwater and a single marine. All my freshwater tanks run anoxic worth cat litter as I seen in some of your previous videos. With good fish loads and my tendency to overfeed, my nitrates run around 15-20 ppm before water changes! This is perfect for plant growth. I still change water about once a month (20%) for other reasons and not to reduce nitrates. Huge win in my opinion. I literately refuse to setup a tank without this system unless I ever get Earth moving or burrowing fish, but i haven't gone that route. Thanks for such a great knowledge base and making this hobby so much easier for many of us 😃👍🎯🔥💯
Reef aquariums are different than freshwater planted systems. You should use fine gravel instead of soft substrate in that bottom layer. Plenums aren't connect with mechanical flow at all. Low moving plenum doesn't exist. It's a slow flow undergravel by definition. Which is the right way to make undergavel filters, and that is what you are doing. The problem is that basically anything works. Paul does a lot of other unrelated things that aren't recommended in a close system though. His beliefs are different. It's interesting how you present this idea in a defense mode. You don't need to do that. Most of things work. If they are facts they are facts. Moe is right, by the way, he is the father of saltwater tanks, undergravel filters are great!! Better than plenums IMO. The right way to set them up is with a relatively slow flow, like you do. I agree with you in regards to the expensive way many preach nowadays! Thanks for preaching the simplicity! I do that too! You don't need to be defensive. Your aquarium is beautiful. My comments are just in regards to the definitions of the method you use. I'm glad I found your channel. Cheers, Doc.
Your Chanel is always full of interesting, proven methods, and you're providing the people in the aquarium hobby with invaluable factual information. Unfortunately, there is always going to be doubters, and mainly through ignorance, I've spoken to to many people in the hobby when we were involved in Koi, and the main problem was they didn't understand the the molecular attraction of the Anoxic system and the way the bacteria colinisised and functioned, also because of so many years of incomplete and incorrect information which has been forced upon them. Thanks for all your time and effort.
I started my 46 bow front UGF with a tidal 75 hob attached to the riser moving at the lowest setting which is 70 gallons a hour and a air stone right below the output of the hob on November 4th 2022 with a 4" pea gravel substrate bed and fake plants, I do monthly water changes and HOB filter cleaning and do not clean the substrate bed at all to not worry about losing cycle to keep algae down and tank is crystal clear and fish are doing great. I do not have any BCB baskets in there either. My lfs still pushes the use of ugf's to this day and their tanks have them run with power heads with ventrui hoses attached.
25:25 I agree with the nitrate control by denitrification, but water changes aren't just to remove excess nitrates from any system. Undergravel filters are the easiest way to maintain many types of aquariums! The way you use your undergravel filter, running it with a low flow rate, is the right way to keep both aerobic and anaerobic types of bacteria. That's why is more efficient that a higher flow undergravel filter. SLOW MOVING UNDERGRAVEL FILTER, my dear. That's what you have there. Bacteria in any system establishes according to the substrate available. The balance of the species will depend on the quantity and type of available substrates. Both anaerobic and aerobic types are always present. Typical undergravel filters, with higher flow, will allow more aerobic zones than anaerobic ones. That's why they produce what we can call the excess of nitrates. It's a matter of availability of surface area to promote the environment for each type of bacteria. Not any type of competition among species or anything like that, like some suggest. You don't need to dose bacteria in any way. That is a joke! You are very defensive in your videos. You might have lot's of people criticizing you. I heard once that if you want to make too much noise you should expect people get back to you! Perhaps you should redefine the method. Slow Flow Undergravel Filter (SFUF). I think you worry too much. Life is too short. Enjoy you beautiful tanks.
Thank you for all the info and the chilliing videos you make and cheer my Sunday mornings :D . Any link for your book? You ve said that is on apple store but cant find it.
My question is what happens at nighttime when the tank is dark. When the plants stop putting out oxygen and instead puts out carbon dioxide. It seems to me it would kill the fish or at least make them go to top and stay to get oxygen. I had a smaller pond in my yard that did just that. I had to add air to it to stop the fish from having to gasp air.
Hi dr,, tq for the info on your channel! I’ve been following you since a few years ago. My problem is I can’t find the kitty litter here in Malaysia… been looking for it a few years now,,but still can’t get my hand on it ,, same goes to laterite.. can u suggest alternative? Tq in advance 🙏
Hi Dr, can You talk about how to eliminate cladophora algae?, I had to reset my planted aquariums because of it, I think it's the worst algae, practically unbreakable!. Greetings from Ecuador
I'm working on getting supplies for a plenum in my 45 gallon tank I'll be setting up soon. I was wondering how important the laterite is to the process, and what alternatives there might be to laterite. I just can't seem to find a source.
The 600 gallon in our filters pumped into a Plenum that was only 12 inches wide by 24 inches long. Still the Plenum got dirty just as if the water was being pumped in reverse.
Hey Dr Novak I have watched most of your videos by now ❓ 4 you Yeps say I have a 90g And let's say I put 2 UG filters with a Plenum 1: - is slow 2nd one is faster And both have various substrate depths and types ( sand and gravel ) Could this sort of configuration be beneficial?
I'm glad you asked that question but the answer would be no. One would become redundant and you would be going back to the same problems that we had in the early 70s and 80s when under gravel filters got faster and faster. Faster you run a Plenum the more likely you are going to run in the problems with nitrates and phosphates. This is something that we did not understand in the early 70s and 80s. You complete the nitrogen cycle, you much encompass all the bacteria needed to facilitate the different bacteria's and their environment, which makes them perform at the precipice.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums thank you 👍 I am planning my next tank upgrade :) One more question In your experience, would a plenum that is set up properly, be enough all by itself - in a heavily stocks African Cichlid tank ? Or Would extra filtration always be needed ? ( I think I know the answer ;)
Hi mr Novak. Im so confused. You have a plenum aquarium running 40 years and thats great. But other videos , you use canisters, weirs, powerheads ect. What one is best in your opinion as i get the impression that modern filteration is superior now due to watching all your videos . A bit contradictory
How can I reduce silicates in an aquarium ? I tested my tap water and my silicate is over 6 points , and this is a big problem because I have a lots diatom algae 😢 No matter how many water changes I do, my silicate never goes down. Help please 🙏 Note : my iron is less of 0.2 And my phosphate is 0.0 Am from New Jersey
If you go on Amazon, you can pick up" ionic exchange resin" and that will if added to your filter will reduce your TDS. However, it is expensive, but it can be regenerated with salt water. This resin can and will drop TDS to zero so be careful when using it.
I was about to ask this but found my answer: Have you seen a plenum made with a weak pump instead of an air filter? Is there a fluid dynamics reason they're never used? He talks about pumps a bit in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oBgX_qdZG_8.html
