Dirty Tank

[Joshi39]

Hi, imhaving problems with my tank!!! its a new tank with a canister filter that was on my previous tank for two weeks before i added it to this one. it has been running for a week now but i really dont think its doing its job. there is alot of build up off fish feaces on the white gravel and it just seems the water is not cleaner, ive had drift wood in there which is leaking tanins, i have added chemi pure which is made to remove tanins ammonia etc but it just seems not to be working. im startin to wonder is the filter even workin!

Filter stats are here http/www.hailea.com/e-hailea/product1/H-12.htm

Tank stats. 3ftx1ftx1.5ft and its 127 litres

I simply cant understand why the filter is not doing its job i just think it was a silly buy as it is cheap and nasty.(seriously doesnt work)

Any help would be good. Im thinking of buying a aqua nova this week as this filter just isnt living up to its expectations.

 

[iffles]

can you open it up to check the media, cos on the link you provided, it said it was one piece, so there were no chances for leaks. can you feel any flow coming out of it? what are your water stats? is the tank overstocked? Maybe you should try talking to the people who sold it to you. Is it set up ok? This sounds quite strange because the description sounds pretty good . Did you pay a lot for it?

 

[Joshi39]

I have opened it.. It has a layer of cut up foam, than bio balls than ceramic noodles than active carbon than more cut up foam, i put the chemi pure in instead of the active carbon as i thought it might have been old, i took the filter into a lfs and they said its a cheap immitation and they were discontinued 5 yrs ago, my ph is a constant 7.6, nitrate 0 salt levels are fine and my ammonia is 0.5ppm no fish are dying and havent for the past week, i only have two gts two labs one redtail shark one albino shark two peppermint brstlenose and a bgkf, so all up 9 fish and its like i have a thousand with the ammount of waste on the bottom, the filter is pumping water out of the jets but it just seems like its not doing anything for the cleaning of the water.

 

[iffles]

is the chemi pure from a good source (like will it definitely work)? Do you do gravel vacs when you do water changes? If you stir up some muck to the inflow to the filter, does it get sucked away and does it get put back into the water? it could be that the water isn't actually going through the media, but taking an easier route (rather than being forced through the media it might be going another way because the filter seems to be not great quality). has it been cycled and could the driftwood releasing tannins faster than it can be absorbed by the chemi pure? With my internal filter, there is a small build up of poop around and in a pile of rocks, so when i do water changes i stir it up and siphon it out or waft it towards the filter. Is it like that or is it worse with more faeces?

 

[Joshi39]

well lately i have been doing water changes every 2/3 days using gravel vac. sucking up most of the poop. but within an hour its back coz the fish poop like troopers!!!!!! it builds up aruond the base of plants etc, well the filter is pretty well packed so i dont think it can srsly get around the filter media. when i put something near the outlet pipe it sucks it up and nothing visible is spittin out the outlet pipe so im pretty sure the filter just isnt doing its job! the chemi pure was from www.aquariumproducts.com.au which is the ONLY place i can find it now. im just gonna buy a new filter wednesday that way i know the job will be gettin done.. in the filter there is no baskets to hold the media just the layers of mdeia on top of each other. so it just doesnt seem right!!!!!

 

[Harlequins]

Filters don't nessarily remove fish poo,this is done through using the gravel vac when you do your water changes,the filter is only 3 weeks old on a new tank,so therefore it needs to cycle.
What are your full water stats?

 

[Joshi39]

Ya thats what i thought,,,,,, and maybe the white gravel was a bad idea, it shows everything alot.. i dont know my current water stats but i got my water tested yesterday and they were ph 7.6 ammonia 0.5ppm and nitrate 0, he just said salt was fine maybe add some more so i did.. i havent got myself a master test kit yet but im planning on it sooon

 

[iffles]

Probably the tank is still cycling because first there is abit of ammonia then that goes down. Then there is abit of nitrite which then goes down. and then there is nitrate. but still i don't see why the chemi pure isn't removing the tannins and absorbing the ammonia. also most external filters have baskets for the different medias, not just piling them on top of each other. as you said it just doesn't seem right, so buying another might be a good idea, but maybe it just needs some time to mature

 

[Joshi39]

Ya i have read bout cycling and the mini cycle which it will go through which is wat it sounds like its doing, i have spoken to my mate at a lfs and he is ordering me a aqua nova 1200 lp/h so once i get that im gonna connect it up and let both the hailea and aquanova run for a week or so than remove the hialea and bin it.. i would sell it but whats the point if it doesn work, why put someone else through the misery i been through looking into a dirty tank =(, even though the fish dont mind it.. only fish i have lost in the new tank is a guppy which was silly enough to swim infront of my 7 cm gt and it learnt its lesson, being mostly consumed and i found the head on the bottom of the tank. haha pooor guy so i moved the other guppies to my 2ft tank wit my pregnant yabbie and her lover haha

 

[Harlequins]

I wouldn't personally use chemi pure at this point basically because you're in a fish in cycle and you will almost certainly need to do regular w/c,maybe daily especially when your ammonia/nitrite start spiking.
And doing w/c will remove tannins/ammonia/nitrite anyway,so why have chemi pure in there.

You need to give your filter a chance to work so instead of getting another filter,buy a liquid test kit,you need to test daily your ammonia/nitrite daily this will determine what w/c you do.

 

[Joshi39]

I just dont feel the filter is working like it should! to put it bluntly i dont trust it!!! when i was buying it didnt seem right nor does it seem right now!! id rather go to a brand i can be sure alot of people have, whats the harm in gettin a new filter? having to wait for good bacteria to grow?? basically gonna have to cycle again right??? im thinking of moving all fish to my 2 ft tank, empty tank clean it replace driftwood set up than let it run for a two weeks before moving fish back across? is that a decent idea or am i just being a dope?? i have nutrafin which i can add to the water as i start the new cycle and by that stage i can getmyself a master test kit to test the water.??

 

[Harlequins]

Thats up to you whether you get another filter,
But if you do move the fish across,and start the tank afresh,running it for 2 weeks or using nutrafin won't do anything to your cycle,i'd advise you do a fishless cycle on the tank using ammonia,then move the fish back in when its complete.

 

[Joshi39]

well afte alot of though i have decided to just keep this filter n keep doing water changes to get rid of the tannins from the drift wood, also ill keep using a gravel cleaner to remove feaces until the good bacteria is ready to take over n do its thing.. today the tank is looking cleanin so a water change daily should do the trick for the tannins, and plus i dont really have the funds for a new filter as i have alot of events coming up... my fish seem to enjoy the water, redtail and albino shark are showing amazing colours which is a good indication of good water quality so i guess ill just leave it for now. =) thanks everyone for the help...