Can my life get any worse?

[Skylar]

My fish tank gravel is always full of food pieces and everything. Only cause my dad won't let me thoroughly clean it all in one day and he promises he'll help me do it every week. But he never does. He's always too tired...too hungry...it's too late (it's 6:30 pm).

Anyways. . Back to my fish tank. We bought this automatic feeder thing that releases food every 12 hours because we were going on a 2 week vacation. Well, I decided to stick it on there to test it for a day or two and then the pellets explode!!!

Not so funny, really. I had it on one of the lowest settings and suddenly all you could see was about..I dunno..1000 micro pellets bobbing around?

Then the filter started to suck them up..so the filter intake looked a corn on the cob. And then to top it all off, my filter pretty much stopped working..There are two trickles of water coming out where they are supposed to and the rest goes back through the opening the intake tube creates.

So when I get back from vacation, Im gonna have to buy a new filter..but Im gonna buy one rated for like..a 20 or 30 gallon. My fish are so messy.

Anyways, the whole point of this is..can anyone help me with a schedule for cleaning (like gravel one day, focus on filter the next..whatever..)? I only have about 13-15 days to get my tank super clean.
Any help???

Skylar

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Don't buy a new filter if you can help it as you will have to cycle your tank all over again, fish keepings about taking responsability so....
Any tank whatever it holds, should have a minimum of a 20% water change done in it a week with dechlorinator- i advise once your tank is running smoothly again, to try to aim for at least a 30% water change once a week with dechlorinator.
You should try to gravel vac your gravel once every 10days on top of the water changes too; the filter itself should only be roughly cleaned out in water from water changes once every 10days max and never cleaned out completely.
Try to wipe the inside of your tank glass with a clean sponge that has never had contact with cleaning chemicals once a month to help prevent algae from growing on it.

Follow these directions, test your water for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites weekly and do water changes when the test results indicate you should, and you will have a sparkling clean tank.

 

[Skylar]

Thanks..but believe me, I'm gonna have to get a new filter. This one is cracked, deformed...etc. etc.

I'll use some old filter media of course to hurry the cycling process.

 

[Teelie]

Run both filters simutaneously if you can to help cycle the new filter without cycling your tank all over again.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How many fish do you have in the tank? If you have another tank that is running smoothly, it will probably be worthwhile moving some of the fish from your issue tank into the other tank as with fish in a cycle, you will have many casualtys if you try to cycle it with stocking levels that are only ok in a cycled tank.

 

[dwarfgourami]

If you always have bits of fish food on the gravel (even without exploding pellets), could it be that you are overfeeding? How about cutting down a bit?
You could always try a twice-weekly gravel vac, might be a good idea if you've still got pellets from the vacation feeder in the tank. I had a similar problem and it fouled the tank; I'm still doing twice-weekly combined gravel vacs and water changes.
Have you not got an easy-to-work gravel vac, or are you too young to carry the buckets? it seems a difficult situation if you have to wait for your Dad who is clearly not interested. You could always carry half-buckets. The point is that somebody in your house has got to be responsible for regular water changes being carried out, that is a necesary condition for keeping fish in the first place.

Tokis' schedule sounds good. Or you could have a twice weekly session: Wednesday evening you do a gravel vac+20% water change, Saturday you spend a little longer, scrape the algae, check out the filter (but don't wash it every week) and do another gravel vac+water change. The important thing is having a fixed day every week when this gets done; it saves a lot of energy not having to make up your mind to do it.
If a weekly schedule like this isn't enough to keep your tank clean, could it be that you are overstocked? Or is this problem just a temporary one to do with vacation feeders?

 

[@ombomb]

If you buy a new filter, just use the media from the old filter in it.

 

[Bloo]

Actually - before just buying a new filter - have you actually given your filter a proper clean - taken all the bits and pieces apart and washed the impeller ? That is often the foremost cause of a slow filter or one that works intermittently.

Take it all apart and give them media a good wash in some siphoned water. The rest of the mechanical bits if fine to was under tap water or a shower jet.

 

[Skylar]

Yay, lots of replies. Hehe.

Teelie, good idea. I'll have to remove the hood to do this, however but no biggie. Thanks for the tip.

Tokis- Pheonix, I have eight fish. My tank is slightly overstocked. This is my only tank. Unless you include my betta bowl.

dwarfgourami, I don't think I'm overfeeding. It's just that for a couple of days they'll eat all I put in, so I put the same amount the next day and then they don't want to eat all of it. It's really annoying. My gravel vacuum is hard to work and I'm a bit short to reach down to start it properly (I'm a short 13 year old, btw. ) I have a sink located next to my tank.

@ombomb (love the name! ), Okay, will do.

bloozoo2, I have cleaned it a number of times but it is truely a crappy filter. I need to get a filter that actually works properly.

What filters would you all recommend? I am thinking of the "EHEIM Liberty Power Filter 100 for Aquariums up to 20 Gallons"?