How Much Is Too Much Poo?

[HayzH]

I have to do daily sand vacs because of the excess poop....
I was hoping to be only doing weekly changes now..but by 2 days i cant stand the amount of poop in the tank...
(spose it shows up more on sand huh?)
I'm thinking the frequent w/c's are whats spooking my Cory's and killing them

 

[CezzaXV]

Other people may argue with me, but I'd say there's only too much poo if it's causing your ammonia to rise faster than the bacteria can deal with it. Have you considered adjusting your filter output to try and blow the majority of it into an unseen area/into the filter? There are also those who consider poop to be a good thing if you have live plants as it can help to fertilise them.

P.S - have you finished cycling your final tank yet?

 

[Geoff-]

You may need to rearrange your filter flow and/or tank ornaments.

I did notice more poo when I moved to sand but after getting cories they just keep kicking up the waste until it goes out of sight or into the filter intake. My sand stays clean now and I never "sand vac" I just do water changes.

If your filter pickup doesn't stick halfway into the sand then that could be your problem. I thought by doing that it might suck the sand up but it's fine, and because it's drawing water from the bottom the poo has a much better chance of being sucked up. If your filter pickup is high in the tank it will never remove any poo!

 

[ZoddyZod]

poop builds up on my sand when the filters need a good clean. Once done I've found my two externals keep the floor looking pretty good.

What size tank and filter do you have?

 

[Vendetta]

I have a 3ft cold water tank with sand substrate and found I was having to vac every day to keep it looking clean but then I turned the flow up on the filter and that has done the trick, I never have to vac this tank now, it's great!

 

[HayzH]

I have a 66L tank (Tank 1) and it has a Fluval U2..
It is placed at the water's surface to create the bubbles the lowest intake slot (slated sides) is about halfway down the tank. Even if i put the lowest output nozzle on, it would just blow horizontally halfway down the the length of the tank.