UNDERSTANDING
Best Practice
The best practices are methods or techniques that have been used by many hobbyist and are generally accepted because they produce perfect results.
We consider best practices a standard way of doing things and consider three types of fish keepers, Fat Fish I, Fat Fish II, Fat Fish III.
Fat Fish I
Beginners, Breeder, Shop Owner
The tank set up is very simple, very efficient and easy to maintain. The Filtration consists sponge filters, powered by an air pump only. Daily water changes will ensure the water parameters remain constant and no expenisve meters have to be used.
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Maintenance
Just change every day 50% of water and siphon all the dirt from the bottom, clean the sponges every 3 to 4 days and for sure the fish will be doing great.
Water Parameters & Meters
There is no need to worry about GH, KH, Ammonia, Nitrate, and other parameters, as we know our Singaporean tab water is perfect for almost all ornamental fish. Germs, Nitrate, and bad bacteria will be flushed out with every water change.
Advantage
This set up is very cheap. New or second hand tanks can be used without any issues. Perfect water quality with a low tech setup. No meters and expensive equipment is required.
Disadvantage
Daily water changes are necessary to maintain the water quality but is time consuming and can spoil the hobby.
Fat Fish II
The Living Room Type
The Fat Fish II type commonly uses a sump tank or canister filter setup. He trys to prolong water changes and mainly aims to have a biotope at home, but yet refuses to put in too much effort maintaining the tank. Provided there is a proper biological filtration, best case biohome or K1 used in a sump tank set up, just to ensure Ammonia gets converted to Nitrite and Nitrate as quick as possible, then there will be definately a potential to prolong water changes. Choral chips are also highly recommended to be used to ensure the PH level consistency.
Water changes
Based on experience, with normal stocking (50-70l per discus), the Fat Fish II type gets away with larger water changes every 3-7 days.
Advantage
For most fishes this setup works well and depending on stockings.
Disadvantage
This set up is more expensive, water changes are still time consuming and there is a risk that the whole tank gets messy from day 1 due to bad bacteria, germs and Nitrate peaks.
Based on experience, most of the Fat Fish II aquarists suffer that “New Fish Look”. Stunning for a few days but deteriorates in colours and fish activity due to the bad water conditions. Symptoms such as, dots on fins, fish flickering or scratch against woods and heavy breathing might indicate that the fish are unwell.
Depending on the budget of the hobbyist, UV lights can help to control bad bacteria and germs, although the electricity bill will shoot up. Changing light bulbs once a year will also incur additional cost to maintain this type of tank. If the hobbyist cuts down on feeding to reduce Nitrates in his tank, its normally the first step to exit the hobby. As lesser food reduces the fishes vitality, the owner gets lesser entertainment and might quit fish keeping altogether.
Upgrade Your Filtration with LSL
Don’t cut down feeding, increase your filter capacity. Flush or recharge your filtration monthly instead of changing tank water weekly. That can help to run the tank more stable, sustainable, and yet you have healthier fish…
Ozone King
Nitrate King
Silicium Bead King
Choral King
Benefits of LSL Filtration At Your Tank
Water changes
The conductivity of the tank water will go up over time, because there will be certain substances the Nitrate King will not capture. Depending on stocking, a water change might only be required biweekly.
Nitrate King
Controls your nitrate levels and nitrate levels will be almost 0. No nitrates means lesser water changes. Recharge the Nitrate King instead of changing tank water.
For tanks up to 500 liter the Nitrate King L is sufficient. For bigger tanks the XL version is required. The Nitrate King has to be recharged with salt water approximately every 4-5 weeks.
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Silicium Bead King
For tanks up to 300l the Silicium Bead king can replace a UV light completely and no bad bacteria or germs will bloom. The Silicium Bead King has to be back flushed every 4-5 weeks.
Choral King
The Choral King is an upgrade to your bag of choral chips at your sump. Utilizing a valve controlling the flow the PH of the tank can be adjusted accurately.The choral chips of the Choral King might get exhausted as and need to be replaced every 3-4 months.
Ozone King set
For bigger tanks of more than 500 liters, we recommend using the Ozone King set for best water purification
The charcoal of the Ozone King II has to be replaced every 4 weeks. The Air Dryer King beads have a color indication and need to be recharged approximately every 2 months.
Water changes maybe every 2 weeks only.
Total
In total every 4-5 weeks tanking care of the LSL filters might take 3-4 hours. In comparison to water changes that is no time, and helps to save a lot of water.
Water Parameters & Meters
A PH meter is highly recommended. An EC meter in included in the Recharge King set and can be used to monitor the Conductivity of your tank water and is also required to recharge the Nitrate King. An ORP meter is optional. Please also keep an eye on the temperature of your tanks.
Very Important
Make sure you clean your mechanical filtration as often as possible. The faster the dirt gets out the lesser damage it can do.
Kindly make sure you understand the basic knowledge how to run a tank and study the products well before you decide to go for such a set up. Our youtube channel Fat Fish Singapore and this webpage will help to get you ready.
Fat Fish III
The No More Water Change Type
The Fat Fish III type normally starts as Fat Fish II. He understands the benefits of a good filtration and can be considered successful keeping exotic ornamental fish in a healthy and sustainable way. Eventually the icing on the cake is to run tanks completely without changing waters, so as the equipment for Fat Fish II and Fat Fish III is the same, just that either the Demineralizer Kings or the Demineralizer Jack would be required in addition.
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Maintenance
Same as Fat Fish II, just that you don’t change water anymore. The conductivity of the tank water will go up over time, because there will be certain substances the Nitrate King will not capture.
Instead of changing water, the tank water runs directly through the Demineralizer King filtration. A cheap China pump can be used for flowing tank water through the Demineralizer Kings. Just carry the two cylinders near the tank if you want to use them. Afterwards bring them back to storage room. The pump can either operate in sump tank or main tank.
No more water change from now onwards…
Water Parameters & Meters
A PH meter is highly recommended. An EC meter in included in the Recharge King set and can be used to monitor the Conductivity of your tank water and is also required to recharge the Nitrate King. An ORP meter is optional. Please also keep an eye on the temperature of your tanks.
Very Important
Make sure you clean your mechanical filtration as often as possible. The faster the dirt gets out the lesser damage it can do.
Kindly make sure you understand the basic knowledge how to run a tank and study the products well before you decide to go for such a set up. Our youtube channel Fat Fish Singapore and this webpage will help to get you ready.