am i doing somethign wrong?

[panboy]

i think i do a pretty good job of fishkeeping. i clean regularly and care probably more than "normal" fishkeepers.

however, there has always been something that bother me about my tank.

one is that under my gravel is EXTREMELY dirty. keep note that i have a tank with lots of plants. the open areas and areas where i can reach my vacuum too are not bad, but in the hidden areas behind lots of plants or under the wood, there is so much dirty stuff. its brownish and is really light that if anythign disturbs it, it is uplifted and circles around the tank until it settles again.
my other 10g tank does not have this problem.

is it just the normal dirt stuff? seems like i have to much to be normal.

especially when i even take out a couple plants that are spreading to much, the water can get extremely dirty.

at my lfs, sometimes they will give me a few plants from their heavily planted tank and if they disturb the gravel alot, its never as bad as my tank.... and they ahve the exact same filter in a larger tank, (emperor 400) with about the same amount of fish

 

[itZme]

Hi,
I am new to this and I see you have been around for a while but I will try to offer my best advice. From what I have read it is a good idea to keep several active bottom dwellers. (like cories) They stir up the sediment and allow the filter to trap the particles once they get to your pick up tube. I have a small 5 gallon that has a buildup under the gravel and I take my net and drag it around in the gravel to stir it up as I have no room for a school of cories in the little 5 gal. I know you can't use the net method as you stated that you couldn't reach all the areas. Well, that is all I have to offer. Hope it made sense. If you knew all of this already then please don't be offended.
Just trying to help.
itZme

 

[panboy]

thanks for the info. its something ive heard about, but it is good to be reminded of.

i do have 4 zebra loaches, and im actually thinking about adding a couple more since im going to be moving fish around in my tanks. it might help

 

[Inchworm]

Hi panboy

Please do not even think of keeping corys in a dirty tank! The most common problem they have is bacterial infection due to just that kind of thing.

If you have a lot of sediment at the bottom, try taking the big plastic tube off the end of your siphon hose, once it is started. This will give you a smaller hose, with greater suction, to poke around among the plants. It might help make cleaning up easier for you.

 

[panboy]

good idea inchworm....

the thing is that my tank is not dirty (well kind of ). it has lots of junk, but ammonia nitrites read 0 and have been for almost a year.

 

[mwm]

Is it durty under u UGF? Couldnt u hook up a big powerhead and suck the crap out?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi panboy

While your tank might be in great shape chemically, this has nothing to do with the amount of bad bacteria living in there. All tanks have them, and normally it's nothing to worry about.

These bacteria, such as Columnaris and Aeromonas, live on fish waste products, plant debris and bits of uneaten food. A tropical tank with temperatures over 75 degrees F.and/or with low oxygen content in the water, is a perfect place for them to grow.

While a healthy fish, under normal circumstances, will not be effected by them, if something happens to stress them and lower their immune system's ability to cope, your fish will become sick. Such stress factors include, but are not limited to temperature fluctuations, high nitrates, infrequent water changes, overstocking, and aggressive tankmates. A new fish, which has recently gone through the shipping process, is often a victim of these bacterial infections.

I am not telling you this to worry you unduly. It seems that your fish are fine in there, so don't think about changing anything for them. But rather, to explain why corys, which live on the bottom where most of this residue is to be found, are more likely to be effected by it.

 

[panboy]

Is it durty under u UGF? Couldnt u hook up a big powerhead and suck the crap out?

i dont have an underground filter, if that is waht you mean.

oh, now i understand inchworm, lol, thanks

 

[the caretaker]

Hi panboy what fish do you have? and how much are you feeding them because to be blunt your only getting out what you have put in.
I had a very similar condition tank I bought a gravel cleaner did a 40% water change by cleaning all the gravel in the tank, my tank is now looking good! you'll just have to bite the bullet once you have done it though you will be very happy as well as your fish being very happy.

 

[panboy]

i have rummynose, a couple cardinals, zebra loaches, a big SAE and ummmm a bolivian ram

 

[panboy]

also, caretaker, the thing is that its difficult to reach almost 50% of my gravel because of plants.