I'm New And Have Some Question

[lil.michelle]

Hey everyone

I'm new here. I have a very large jewel aquirium. I've had it about 6 years now. It's wonderful. I have MANY fish in there from silvers sharks, clown loaches, drawf puffers, neons ect ect ect

I really want to know what i can do to keep it clean. I have 2 filters, one that came with the tank and the other which is an external EHEIM fliter and is bloody HUGE but my tank is ALWAYS dirty, after a few days the water turns a yellow colour and bits are floating around everywhere.

I do have 2 large bits of bog wood in the tank but surely after 6 years it would stop discolouring the water.....?

I also have trouble with algae. It's on all the plants. I have 2 very large plecostomus and a royal plecostomus but they REALLY do not help with this problem. The tank is not in direct sunlight or anything so i'm completely lost to why i have SO much! Any ideas what i can do? Has anyone any idea on that plant that's like a ball that helps with this??

I've been thinking about getting under gravel filters... Is this a good idea? Anyone else got them? any reconmondations?

I've spent hundreds of pounds on real plants but the fish eat them, so i'm stuck with plastic ones. They are nice but i'd much prefer real ones... Any ideas on what i can do or get?

For now... i'll stop asking questions I just feel i'm lost and now soo fed up with spending so much money trying to solve these problems that i'm now thinking of selling the tank.

Thanx soo much for reading this.

Michelle X

 

[Colin_T]

The problem lies with the plecostomus catfish. They are dirty fish that create heaps of waste. Having 3 large algae eating catfish would make a mess of most tanks. They will also eat any plants you put in there.
The driftwood can continue to release tannins (brown discolouration) indefinitely. Most wood stops after a period of time but sometimes it doesn't. More water changes and gravel cleans will help clear the tank up but unless you remove some of the big fish, it will always be a bit messy.

Don't bother with an undergravel filter. They work well if you do a gravel clean each week, but a large external canister filter (like an Eheim) will do a really good job too. You can try adding some filter floss/ wool to the filters and this will help to trap the finer particles.

The algae grows on plants and wood because there aren't any real plants to use the lights. Try reducing the photo period to a couple of hours in the evening when you are home to watch the fish. Leave them off the rest of the time. If you get rid of the plecos, then you could try some live plants and increase the lighting times. If you want to get rid of algae from plastic plants, just soak them in a bucket of water with 10% bleach for an hour. Then rinse well before putting them back in the tank.

 

[Piperbella25]

You could have a high number of nitrates in your tank. The best way to rid yourself of this problem is to clean you tank with a gravel hose and then test the water to see if your nitrate level has went down. I used to have this problem and when I tested the water I had a nitrate level over 40. Now that I keep it under this level I don't have the algae problem anymore.

 

[camaroguy357]

you could try getting couple of carp they seem to do great keeping the algae off my tank 3 or so them should or work or some thos upside down catfish are pretty cool they do great job also i have a messy oscar and my pleco well hes all about sucking glass and useless lol but the carp they all clean clean clean clean all day long i dont knw about the yellow water tho never had that problem i dont really have the plant look i have more the deep rock cave look going in my tank keeps its real clean

 

[discus_lover]

what is your tank size?how many gallons your tank can take?which type of filter you have now?if your tank is large then you can keep 1 eheim canister filter and a biological filter.because the bio balls put some good bacteria.which type of fish you have in your tank?which typ of plants you kept?the best plants alaways would be anubias sp.,anacharis sp,echinodorous sp.,hornwort,bacopa etc.....