4Foot Tank + Aqua One 1000 Filter.

[Steev08]

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place if not sorry am sure a mod will move it.

Anyhow, afew weeks ago i bought a 4 foot tank, came with the Aqua One 1000 external filter, set it up let it run afew days, put fish in.

At 1st it was crystal clear for afew days but now its starting to look not entirely dirty just "not clear" bits in water. Just not what i expect from an external filter for the price.

Feeding twice aday in small amounts.


For the filter am using the spray bar just above the gravel at the back and the intake on the back of the glass about half way up (i dont see the point in it being in the bottom corner of a 4 foot tank? Maybe am wrong.

Now am thinking of getting rid of this external and getting an internal. Was looking at the Aqua One AT-883 http/www.petsunlimited.co.nz/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=844&PHPSESSID=j75urn00tlkbbeuch4hiafa314

What do you think?

These are the fish of top of my head..

4 Angles
2 silver sharks
1 red tail shark
1 back shark
3 albino sharks
1 peppermint plecostomus (3 inches or so)
2 bumblebee cats
2 tetras
2 kissing gourami
3 albino catfish

No live plants.

Any help? maybe the filters just not good enough for size and the fish? and use both internal and external?

 

[marksayer10@tiscali.co.uk]

Hi guys, not sure if this is the right place if not sorry am sure a mod will move it.

Anyhow, afew weeks ago i bought a 4 foot tank, came with the Aqua One 1000 external filter, set it up let it run afew days, put fish in.

At 1st it was crystal clear for afew days but now its starting to look not entirely dirty just "not clear" bits in water. Just not what i expect from an external filter for the price.

Feeding twice aday in small amounts.


For the filter am using the spray bar just above the gravel at the back and the intake on the back of the glass about half way up (i dont see the point in it being in the bottom corner of a 4 foot tank? Maybe am wrong.

Now am thinking of getting rid of this external and getting an internal. Was looking at the Aqua One AT-883 http/www.petsunlimited.co.nz/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=844&PHPSESSID=j75urn00tlkbbeuch4hiafa314

What do you think?

These are the fish of top of my head..

4 Angles
2 silver sharks
1 red tail shark
1 back shark
3 albino sharks
1 peppermint plecostomus (3 inches or so)
2 bumblebee cats
2 tetras
2 kissing gourami
3 albino catfish

No live plants.

Any help? maybe the filters just not good enough for size and the fish? and use both internal and external?

THE CF 1000 will filter a 250 l tank at 1000 litres /hour

 

[Liam50]

well if i'm honest you have put to many fish in if its only only been running svereal days that stock should of been added over a few weeks. what is the tank? firstly so we know the volume of the aquarium or if you know the dimensions put into the calulator and it will work it out for you. but basically these are the fish you you should remove either to a friends aquarium or take a loss on the fish and ask your lfs to take them back.

2 silver sharks
4 Angles

atleast those fish.

but i believe you may now be in a fish- in - cycle. you may want to get a test kit if you do not already have one. as you will need to test your water daily atleast for two to three weeks. i would start to advise water changes at 25% - 50% daily. during this period.

as depending on the size of the aquarium that filter should be enough.

 

[mattlee]

i would only suggest 1 shark in a 4 ft tank due to territorial battles......

 

[Liam50]

i would only suggest 1 shark in a 4 ft tank due to territorial battles......

yes missed them. i second that.

 

[Steev08]

The tanks just a Eheim aquatics with a silver base.

Reason i was told to get an external filter was so i didn't need to do 25% water changes ofter, specially every day.

Like i say the water isn't dirty just like food or w/e floating, little bits which make it dirty, which i thought the filter would pick up.

 

[ellena]

Were the fish moved over from an established tank, or added to the new tank and filter?

 

[Steev08]

some were given to me, some i bought, like i said the filter tank ect was running afew days before hand and everything was fine, PH ect, ph still is.

 

[Wills]

Not sure if your tank will be fully cycled yet. What I mean by this is the Nitrite cycle is this your first tank? When you say you have had it running a few weeks how long is a few weeks?

The Nitrite cycle takes about 6ish weeks to go through. Here on this forum we use a fishless cycle which uses pure ammonia to replace the fish to mature your cycle. Basically fish live in their own toilet and the poo create a toxin called ammonia, most pet stores will tell you that the 2 weeks you had your tank stood will be enough but its not there are much better people to advise you on your cycle but I want to address your stocking issues.

You have a lot of fish in that tank, when you say you have a 4 foot tank what are the other dimensions and how much water does it hold in either US gallons or liters? For examples some 4 foot tanks are only 1 foot wide where as others are 2 foot wide, thats a lot more water and the measurements are anything in between.

Now with the stocking you have a lot of fish to start with and a lot of the names you used are common names which are a bit confusing so want to work out exactly what you have and also point out the ones you will have problems with in the future.

4 Angles - Would be okay if they were the only large fish in the tank, also depends on height angelfish can get to 8 inches tall and need at least 18 inch tall tank
2 silver sharks - get to over 10 inches long and are a schooling fish, highly active and need a massive tank 6 foot + at least
1 red tail shark - good fish for the tank but the other sharks worry me...
1 back shark - if this is a plain black shark that looks like the red tail, its going to get big and I mean big its going to reach 2 foot or at least 20 inches and get really mean and nasty.
3 albino sharks - If this is a white black one same problem as above, if its white with a red tail still have problems. This means that it is a line bred red tail black shark to get the albino gene. Red tailed black sharks are highly intolerant of other red tailed black sharks, black or albino.
1 peppermint plecostomus (3 inches or so) - I think good fish for the tank, there are a few fish it could be some get big some get stay small if you can get us a picture that would be fantastic.
2 bumblebee cats - Again if you can get pics that would be great as there are a lot of fish that that this could be some get really big and some stay around 2 inches. Do you know if it was called asian bumble bee or south american bumble bee?
2 tetras - Tetras are schooling fish and are a massive family of fish not a species. You need at least 6 of these of the same type do you know which type you have? One issue you could have with these are that you have a lot of predatory fish and if they are the small bodied ones like neon tetras they could get eaten quite easily but if they are the larger disk ones like black widow tetras you should be okay
2 kissing gourami - again these get big to about 8 inches maybe more sometimes and can be quite nasty. Not sure how they will work out as I have no experience with them just other peoples advice, but I would give you the advice to swap them for thick lipped gourami, smaller and more peaceful. There is a bright orange strain that is gorgeous.
3 albino catfish - Again this is a really common name for quite a few fish, can you get us a picture they could be albino corydoras but based on the fact you have been sold a black shark I am really really worried these are going to be albino pasangius catfish which are absolutle monsters I really mean huge monsters that are sold far too often.

Of your fish list I would swap fish around, either rehome them on here or take them back to the store. This is what I would want to do with your tank (depending on your dimensions)
4 Angles
5 Denison Barbs (as an alternative to silver sharks, more colour similar shape and stay half the size.
1 red tail shark - take back the rest as a matter of urgency you dont need the stress of monster fish unless you plan a huge tank.
1 peppermint plecostomus - dependent on species
2 bumblebee cats - dependent on species
8 black widow tetras or similar tetra
1 Orange thick lipped gourami
6 Albino Corydora Catfish.

And I mean thats based on if your tank is around the 280-300 liter mark and it would mean your tank is pretty well stocked already to be fair. Unfortunately it sounds like you have been mis sold fish by your local fish shop which is a very common problem people will sell anything to make a profit.

With the filter, sometimes filters dont come with full amounts of media so you might need to get more media to clear up the water, however I would suspect that your tank could contain high levels of toxins that will produce discoloured water. What is your waterchange routine like?

Hope its helped Wills


*edit just to add no filter is better because it costs more its the capacity to turn the water through the mature media, things like your sponges that have colonies of bacteria on them that eat up the toxic chemicals produced by your fishes poop. For example I have a fluval FX5 which is considered one of the best filters on the market but without the bacteria they are useless and unfortunatly you cant buy bacteria it just grows naturally when ammonia or fish poo is present.

 

[ellena]

When you say pH etc, what other things are you measuring and with which test kit?

 

[Steev08]

wow thanks wills nice post i do have alot of fish in mine, and more than i posted because i couldn't think of the names but the black widows you mentioned i do have about 5 of them. Problem i have like you say is pets shops don't tell you anything, you can buy 100fish in 1 go, as you can see am not the most clued up on this that's why i posted here.

Its been running now 3weeks. When i got the tank they told me 2 days run the filter without fish then you can add them, which i did, they didn't say which not to add lol

The filter as everything in it, if by media you mean sponges, carbon balls ect? I did open the container earlier and the sponges are dirty so am guessing the bacteria is there so that's well?

I will try snap afew pictures for you guys later and hopefully it will help. and also get proper dimensions of the tank.

The sharks aren't big, i have seen massive sharks, the silvers are about 2 inches if that, i will get pics anyhow. The biggest in the tank is the plec and the angles.

The bumblebees are these http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/75727-south-america-bumblebee-catfish/page__view__findpost__p__2600732 i never see them though lol, only about 1" long

The 2 Tetras are Congo Tetra's i think, there definitely not neon size.

And the Albino catfish are indeed the Albino Corydora Catfish, not the monster catfish i think i know you mean lol

oh i also have 2 clown loaches.

@ ellena, The Tetra PH test kit. I also added tap-water-tropical solution when i filled the tank.

 

[Wills]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Have a read through in there it should help out Its good for everyone to read I was keeping fish for 3 years before I found this site and Ive changed my ways a lot.

Do you have a water test kit, not just for Ph but for ammonia nitrite and nitrate?

If you have had your tank about 3 weeks you are still in whats called a fish in cycle.

When fish poo and pee they create ammonia. In nature bacteria develops in the eco system which eats this and it occurs in water and appears in your filter. Like I said it takes about 6-8 weeks for it to fully colonize. The nitrogen cycle goes

Ammonia - Nitrite - Nitrate Ammonia is the most poisonous it burns the fishes gills and affects their nervous system. The first type of bacteria grows to turn the ammonia into nitrite, this is a little bit better but is still very harmful for the fish. Then once again an other type of bacteria will develop to turn the nitrite into nitrate which in low doses (under 20ppm) is fine for fish to cope with. The stuff you saw in the filter is most likely just the fishes poo collected on the sponges but at 3 weeks there will be some bacteria present most likely the ammonia eating ones. If you can get an API liquid test kit for ammonia and nitrite and post your readings we will have a good idea of how damaging your water is to the fish at the moment.

I know some of your fish are small now but they will grow really fast! Good news about both types of catfish they will work really well in your tank. If you can make a list of all your fish we can help you work out a balanced stock list that will be able to live in your tank for many years to come

At the moment though working out how much ammonia and nitrite is in your tank is the main thing. While you are in a fish in cycle you need to keep the levels down to .25ppm (parts per million, not sure what millions but its just the measurement that we use so we know whats going on) you can keep the levels down this low by doing large daily water changes.

Do any of your fish have any signs of disease and have you had any deaths since you started your tank?

Wills

 

[Steev08]

Thanx wills, i will pic a test up soon for that.

Fish seem very well to be honest, no deaths, no sign of disease or white spot.


So i should do a 25% water change every day you think? for afew weeks?

 

[Wills]

Id recommend it, its the best way to assure survival and your fish stay disease free