Aquarium and Pond Care with EcoBio-Block

Filtration is the key to keeping your aquarium a clean and healthy environment for your fish. When it comes to choosing a filter, however, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options available. Before selecting a filter for your aquarium you need to understand the basics of aquarium filtration which includes understanding the three types of filtration. Different types of filters offer different types of filtration and, unless you understand the basics, you will not be equipped to select the right piece of equipment for your tank.

Mechanical Filtration

The most basic, and perhaps the most important, type of aquarium filtration is mechanical filtration. Mechanical filtration simply involves the physical removal of solid waste products from tank water. Generally, solid waste takes the shape of uneaten fish food, decaying plant matter and organic waste like feces. Aquarium filters that offer mechanical filtration usually operate by sucking the aquarium water up through an intake tube. The water is then filtered through some kind of sponge and released back into the aquarium. As the water passes through the sponge, solid waste products become lodged in the pores and are thus removed from the aquarium water. This type of filtration is essential in the home aquarium because, as solid waste accumulates along the bottom of the tank, it breaks down in a process that produces ammonia. Ammonia is a substance toxic to fish and if the ammonia levels in your tank become too high, your fish could become stressed, fall ill or even die.

Chemical Filtration

Chemical filtration is often combined with mechanical filtration as a means of removing dissolved wastes in addition to solid wastes from aquarium water. This type of filtration helps to remove a variety of wastes including proteins, hormones and metabolic waste as well as organic acids and compounds. As the filter takes tank water up through the intake tube, it passes through the sponge along with some type of filter media which removes the dissolved wastes. The most common type of filter media is activated carbon. Most modern filters which incorporate chemical filtration utilize filter cartridges that combine the mechanical filtration of a sponge with the chemical filtration of activated carbon. In order to maximize the effectiveness of these filters, the filter cartridge must be replaced every three to four weeks.

Biological Filtration

The third type of filtration, biological filtration, does not necessarily require any special equipment. Biological filtration is a term used to describe the process by which nitrifying bacteria break down wastes in your tank, converting harmful toxins like ammonia into less harmful nitrates. While mechanical filters work to remove solid wastes, there is likely to still be some build-up in your substrate. As these substances decompose, ammonia is produced. The nitrifying bacteria in your tank work to convert ammonia into nitrites then into nitrates, a process called the Nitrogen Cycle. While some filters incorporate a Bio-wheel designed to provide beneficial bacteria a place to grow, the most common places these bacteria grow is in tank substrate and on in-tank surfaces.

Tips for Aquarium Filtration

Regardless what type of filter you choose for your aquarium, you will be required to perform some basic maintenance tasks. It is wise to rinse your filter once in a while to remove any build-up of slime algae. It is also necessary to replace your filter media every three to four weeks to ensure that your filter will keep your aquarium water clean. In addition to these simple maintenance tasks, you can increase the effectiveness of your aquarium filter by adding an EcoBio-Stone to your tank. EcoBio-Block products are composed of porous volcanic sand and infused with beneficial bacteria. Once introduced into your tank, these bacteria multiply to form a colony of nitrifying bacteria which will help your filter to convert harmful toxins like ammonia into less harmful nitrates. EcoBio-Stones are easy to use and they are a great way to help keep your aquarium water clean and clear.

Initial conditioning of aquarium water, also known as “aquarium cycle,” can be one of the most stressful tasks in fish keeping. Oftentimes, when pet owners decide to add fishes to their extended family, they want to acquire the new pets right away, especially when they’ve visited the fish store and have fallen in love with some of the lovely creatures there. Conditioning a fish tank to make it suitable for the new fish — a process that normally takes weeks — could be a real test of patience.

Many new fish keepers make the mistake of taking shortcuts when cycling new aquariums. It’s a mistake quite easy to make because cycling involves the growth and proliferation of essential bacteria, which are invisible to the naked eye. Without a clear understanding of how cycling conditions the water into a healthy environment for fish, pet owners will tend to become impatient and cut corners along the aquarium cycle process, to the detriment of the fish.

The time frame that water conditioning follows depends on how fast beneficial bacteria are grown and colonized in the aquarium. Growth and colonization, in turn, depends on how much bacteria is introduced into the tank in the first place, and how much “food” is available with which the bacteria can continue to multiply. For the nitrosomonas bacteria, its food is ammonia, and for the nitrobacter, its food is the nitrites produced by the nitrosomonas.

In traditional cycling, a few hardy fishes are added to a newly setup tank to provide the ammonia to feed the nitrosomonas. This process normally takes several weeks to condition the water, not to mention the potential fish fatalities associated with the spikes in ammonia and nitrites during the process. Traditional cycling is stressful not only to the fish but to the owners as well.

In fishless cycling, on the other hand, household ammonia is used to treat a new tank to grow the bacteria. This method may spare the fish sacrifice, but diligence is required in regularly adding ammonia and closely monitoring water quality. The conditioning still takes several weeks, which can prove taxing especially when there’s nothing interesting to watch in the tank.

For fish keepers who don’t appreciate having to wait many weeks to cycle their aquarium, the solution is a highly rapid growth and proliferation of beneficial bacteria in the tank. The quickest ways to grow bacteria includes bringing in already prolific colonies from a healthy established aquarium, adding commercially available bacteria cultures to the tank, and/or putting a bacteria-multiplying product called EcoBio-Block in the habitat.

The EcoBio-Block Family Products are mineral-rich porous volcanic stones that are embedded with beneficial bacteria called “bacillus subtilis natto” from Japan, including the nutrients they need to proliferate. Once the EcoBio-Block is placed in water, the bacteria immediately come to life and multiply every half hour, performing the nitrification process associated with cycling and overall water conditioning. This special strain of bacteria effectively degrades organic matter and makes the tank clear, healthy, and odor-free for years.

With the fast-multiplying EcoBio-Block strain of bacillus subtilis natto, there’s no need to wait anxiously for many weeks before bringing fishes to their new home. Also, because of the continuous growth and proliferation of EcoBio-Block bacteria, maintaining ideal water conditions should henceforth be stress-free.

Guppy fry

Just a word of warning to beginning aquarists, its better not to expect either to breed fishes too soon after purchase, or to rear too big a proportion of fry from eggs that have hatched.
Reality probably hits most often in regard to the bubble-nest-builders.  Expectations are high because, in the first place, they are among the fishes most readily spawned. Secondly, their small eggs are usually numerous, anywhere between 300 and 600 or more being common. With luck most of them hatch. Unless eaten by a parent they live about a week, even without food. At that point the let-down begins, even with food, especially in a small tank, their numbers start to decrease. Indeed if the number reared to half-adult size is 50, it should be considered to be above average. All too often it comes down to half a dozen, or even less. One consolation is that the survivors must be the naturally strong ones, fit for carrying on the reproduction of the family.
Is this infant mortality rate unavoidable? In an aquarium or tank under 15-gallon size the practical answer is yes. The newly-hatched fishes are very small and our guess is that in a small tank there are insufficient amounts of very small infusoria to give the babies a start until they can eat the sizes present in most cultures.
At any rate, the larger the tank, the better the chances. This follows through until one reaches something like an outdoor pool say 5×5 feet, in which approximately 100% of hatched fry may reach maturity, barring other misfortunes. This may explain why the beginner with limited water space should not be too disappointed if only a small proportion of a hatching reaches maturity.  Another way to increase your chances of success is to place an EcoBio-Block in your tank. EcoBio-Block takes care of the toxins that are dangerous to fish while slowly replacing necessary trace minerals, creating a healthy environment for breeding fish and reducing loss.
In referring to “pairs” of any kind, I must touch on the subject of “guaranteed” pairs, usually bought at a good fat premium price. They are usually a disappointment, and not worth the outlay, for they seldom make good. This is not meant to cast any reflection on the honesty of the seller, but pairs that are known to have bred may be “bred out”. No one can tell when time has caught up with fertility. Besides a change of environment may throw a pair out of reproduction rhythm. It is best to develop one’s own breeders if possible.
As to time required for breeding after acquiring a pair, there of course can be no set period of reasonable expectation. I refer mostly to the egg-laying type of fish. They may possibly be ripe for spawning almost at once, but ordinarily they need not only to be well-fed (on live food if possible), but must have time to adjust themselves to new surroundings and changed water. Several weeks are usually needed.
Besides (although we do not know why) some species are difficult, even for experienced aquarists, to get to spawn at all. That is true of most of the Characins (Tetras).
It sometimes happens that a beginner has acquired one or more kinds of fishes that are always difficult (or nearly impossible) to breed, even if they are close relatives of species that are easy to reproduce. Here are a few examples: Corydomr pazleaim, and C. azenezu are often bred, but that is not true of other members of that large family. Razrbommeinkeni is the only one of its numerous family, possibly excepting the “Scissors Tail” (trilineatur), from which success may be more likely.
The live-bearers are more obliging and less sensitive to change. In fact new water and changed surroundings often stimulate them to early delivery. It is from the egg-layers that we should not expect too much too soon.
In any case, optimism is good, but it should be tempered by what may be called “reasonable and realistic expectations.”