Dirty Looking Tank

[dave_m13]

Hi all

I have one tank that always looks dirty, water parameters have always been good, it just seems that there seems to be more particles floating around then it lands on the plants and wood. This makes the tank really messy. No problem with other tanks, just this one, water change once a week, about 30% changed.

Could it be that the filter is too strong for the tank.

Its a 54 litre tank, I thought it may have been the filter, brought a cheap one initially, now have a Tetratec IN 400 plus internal filter, but its still pretty much the same. The spec for filter says its for aquarium 30-60 litres and 200-400 litres per hr.

Any advise appreciated on why this seems to be occuring, fish are fine just the tank looks messy

Thanks
Dave

 

[Athena]

Hi Dave

When you say "particles" do you mean bits of food and plants?

If so, you could try checking to see if your filter has a little dial on it to reduce the water flow slightly - is it really gushing out at top speed at the moment? If the water from the outlet nozzle is coming out too fast then, yes, the turbulance in that size tank is probably too much and it will cause stress on the plants and cause bits to break off and food will go whizzing around the tank (although in most cases the food will get eaten by the fish eventually, unless you are over-feeding them, then it sits and rots at the bottom).

Regards - Athena

 

[dave_m13]

Hi Dave

When you say "particles" do you mean bits of food and plants?

If so, you could try checking to see if your filter has a little dial on it to reduce the water flow slightly - is it really gushing out at top speed at the moment? If the water from the outlet nozzle is coming out too fast then, yes, the turbulance in that size tank is probably too much and it will cause stress on the plants and cause bits to break off and food will go whizzing around the tank (although in most cases the food will get eaten by the fish eventually, unless you are over-feeding them, then it sits and rots at the bottom).

Regards - Athena

Hi Athena

Thanks for your reply. Initially when I turned the filter on it was on full speed but staright away I turned it to its lowest possible output. Still has quite a lot of power, the other 54 tank has an internal ehiem, which has never had any problems, the output is not all that great from it. The water is really clear though and no debris.

Its definetely not food or plants, more like waste to be honest, when it settles on the plants its brown, could be that the filter is not doing its job properly.

So not entirely sure what to do, just do not like the way it looks at the moment

 

[helterskelter]

Have u cleaned the pads in the filter?
Also do u clean the gravel?

Also using a finer material in the filter will polish the water up, but this need cleaning more often.

 

[dave_m13]

Have u cleaned the pads in the filter?
Also do u clean the gravel?

Also using a finer material in the filter will polish the water up, but this need cleaning more often.

Yes cleaned the pads recently, they do seem to get dirty quite quickly, I believe due to me knocking everything off the wood and plants, it must catch quite a bit but still pushes stuff around and then it sits on plants/wood again.

I have Sand, so it just sits on top of sand.

I will try some floss maybe, the filter has 2 separate filter compartments, so could try a little, see whats happens, always wary that have a mini cycle when cleaning filter pads but pretty sure would be ok.