Testing water coming directly out of a Plenum. Do the test show if it's working?

[@ctsfiddler]

I wonder what the results would be on a similar tank with just the same amount of substrate with no plenum, and withdraw some water with a syringe and test. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

The same results would not materialize. In fact, you gave me an idea to do a video on your question..

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

I always enjoy your videos.

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

That is one nice looking tank. A nice plenum you made for it. Great information as always.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Thanks for watching and I am glad you like the tank setup!

[@rockfella27]

Nice set up there doc, new mics etc!

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Thank you! I'm trying to upgrade the quality of my videos.

[@franka6302]

You brought up another good point. My 5 gallon tank has a 50 watt heater that keeps the tank between 72-75 degrees but under the plenum it's always 1 degree cooler perhaps for the low flow bubbler. I just use 2" of kitty litter, and the snap together plenum set up you use. Thank You

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

That's really interesting, it's great to hear your experience with the plenum.

[@superaquatics]

Hi Dr Novak. Excellent video. Thanks for sharing this. Yes I agree with you the plenum works without a doubt. However, I would like to share from what I have observed over the past 4 years since I started experimenting with & using your anoxic system, the rate of breakdown of the nitrates & phospates by the anoxic system will depend on a number of variables such as the filtration has to be sized right for your tank & bio load. If you have a higher bio load or feed more, then obviously relying only on a small plenum may not be enough, you may need additional surface area of the media such as by increasing the size of the plenum, depth of the substrate, adding bcb baskets or bags in a sump or canister or even in the tank itself. It will also depend on the efficiency of the set up of the plenum for example if you have very deep substrate &/or fine sand that compacts over time combined with a very slow flow, the water might not flow through & be processed by the substrate & plenum fast enough to match the rate of production of nitrates and phospates, while on the other hand if the substrate is very shallow or very large gravel, combined with a very fast flow, you may not achieve the required anoxic condiitions. It will also depend on the quality & porousity of the clay used in the kitty litter and even the age & maturity of the plenum.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Thanks for the great feedback, that's very helpful!

[@matthewcox5782]

I believe your results. I wonder if you could do each of the test areas in triplicate say.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

That's a great suggestion for a future experiment. However, would that even be enough some people may say do it 5×10×20 times when is enough, enough?

[@albinasandomirsky8406]

Thanks for the video! Now let's take a break from water changes and measure nitrate level in a month/two/three.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

I have been considering a long-term experiment like that!

[@steverees1936]

Hi Kevin and thanks for sharing. In your opinion can I use filter sponge within the plenum, so water flows through it to hold beneficial bacteria, before it is drawn up into the tank? Secondly could I layer sand then aqua soil then landscaping fabric then sand then more landscaping fabric on top of the filter tray? I'm thinking the bottom layer of sand is used as a filter to stop soil nutrients entering the plenum? I'm asking as I'm going to be setting up a new tank after Christmas, so what's your thoughts?

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

The best results that I have was saying is to mix it with the aqua-soil not layer it. You will get a better pour water and permeability when doing that.

[@icarlsw34]

@steverees1936 My 2 cents based on my experience with plenums. First, I wouldn't use one landscaping fabric, never mind two. You will have no water flow. Take landscaping fabric to the sink and try to run water through it at high speed. It will just pool water on the top. There will just be slow drips going through it on the bottom. Imagine 2 layers of that and water would practically stop. Second, I wouldn't use sand unless you have to. Fine gravel will work much better. I have tried both ways and fine gravel allows much better flow than sand. If you must use sand I would get some of the coarse grain sand that can be gravel vac'd easily (I think CaribSea makes some). Third, the sponge under the filter plate is an interesting idea, but I would imagine it would get clogged after a while and impede flow. Most of us use something like fluval biomax or something like that under the plate for bacteria to grow on it but still allows flow through the plenum.

[@steverees1936]

@@anoxicfiltrationplenums okay great. What media would you recommend in the plenum itself? I know that sponge is ideal for bacteria growth so would adding sponge within the plenum be of benefit?

[@scotchguard74]

I think it would be super helpful to also see the ORP / Redox readings for both the water in the tank and the water coming out of the plenum as another point of reference for what is going on in the plenum and just to help those of us who have or are planning to establish plenum style anoxic filters. You could also take it a step further (to shut up all of the nay sayers who think the plants are doing all of the work) by removing the plants for a period of time (replacing them with plastic plants if you can't stand the look of the tank without greenery) and testing the nitrates, phosphates and ORP of both the tank water and the plenum water for a month or two to see what happens. Since you already have an established anoxic filter I would suspect that the nitrates may go up just slightly after removing the plants (since they do do a little work) and then come back down again to near zero once the anoxic bacteria colony grows to match the new nitrate load. Just a thought, but I think it would be a fantastic set of tests that would be hard to refute and would provide some valuable ORP data to help others (including myself) with dialing in our systems.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

I think you are on to something there! However, I have for a long time Shawn redox reading of peoples tanks using a Plenum and they're always high. Because of that I did not see the need to read redox.

[@scotchguard74]

@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Yes, I've watched all your videos (most at 1.75x speed because there are so many and some are rather long) and I've seen where you provide the ORP / Redox measurements for the water in your tanks and many others and that having high ORP / Redox numbers in the tank water is good. However, I don't believe (unless I just missed it) that you have ever shown the ORP / Redox testing of the water directly from the plenum. To me this seems like the best measure to tune the amount of flow through the plenum in order to create the correct conditions for denitrification to occur. For the type of denitrification that we are looking for, the ORP / Redox measurement of the water in the plenum seems to need to be between 0 and +50mV based on what you've presented in your videos and from other research that I've done on waste water management systems. At +50mV there is little to no denitrification happening and at 0 mV there may be too little flow through the plenum in order to cycle enough of the tank water through the plenum to keep up with the amount of nitrates being produced. What I'm curious to know is if there is a sweet spot or range that provides the most effectiveness (perhaps +10 to +30mV?) and how narrow or wide that might be. But for starters I'd just like to know the measurements of an established working system like yours to have at least one data point. Plus it would show with real measured data that the correct conditions for denitrification to occur can be created within the plenum; as there are others in the fish keeping community and on KZbin who accept that denitrification does in fact occur in waste water systems but have this strange idea that those conditions cannot be created on a smaller scale in aquariums and thus think that the whole idea of anoxic filtration is a myth.

[@icarlsw34]

So given the plenum takes time to remove the phosphates, I wonder if just feeding once a day would be better so as to give the plenum more time to reduce phosphates before the next feeding.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

That’s a great idea. One thing that I have noticed is food is the culprit behind a lot of our algae problems. That's why you see hobbyist are not wanting to feed their fish, except maybe once every 2 to 3 days which is actually bad for the fish and stymies their growth potential.

[@edwardhill1364]

What about just putting some water seeds in their to clean the water since reeds and bullrush in the tank because it would suck up the phosphates.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

As you can see by the video that the tank even with plants in it has a higher phosphate reading than what is coming out of the Plenum. Because this tank does not use CO2 it's harder for the plants to utilize the nitrates and phosphates being created in the aquarium.

[@azraelairsoft]

Hmm. I wonder how much phosphates come from frozen blood worms etc. my nitrates nitrites are almost 0 and I reduced light time and intensity and actually have a phosphate absorbing material in my canister filter yet still getting bbq and hair algae.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

It is possible the frozen bloodworms could be contributing to the phosphates in your tank.

[@permansson5367]

Any ideas on what the ideal flow rate would be?

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Actually, I don't, but it's got to be less than 10 to 20 gallons an hour or even less than that.

[@permansson5367]

@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thanks.

[@sailorscouttt]

Hi Dr. Novak! I wanted to ask if medications-like prazipro, kanaplex, metroplex, etc-can be used with a plenum that contains kitty litter & BCB bags containing kitty litter & zeolite in the canister filter? Will they absorb the medications?

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Yes they can.

[@sailorscouttt]

Thank you sir! I appreciate you sharing all this information with us!

[@edwardhill1364]

I meant to say water reeds

[@davechapman9133]

i cant watch your videos, you just cant stay on subject

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Sorry to hear that.

[@legzz187]

Then don't 😑. I like his style.

[@rstuff886]

Then hit the bricks.

[@rockfella27]

@@davechapman9133 Don't 😆

[@franka6302]

Im going to ask you a question, Im not trying to be a smart Alec, Curiosity behooves me. If both fresh and marine tests the same why is it you favour the marine tester over the fresh water tester for your aquariums? If you answered that question already, for give me Sir. Thank You for your work and valuable information.

[@anoxicfiltrationplenums]

Actually, I don't favor one tester over the other. It was just a matter of cost and availability.