Newbie Needs Help

[danweeks1980]

Hiya all

We have recently bought a Aquaone850 160 litre tank. It has an overhead filter which seems unable to cope with the mess! I am having to do a water change every week. I have purchased a Tetratec EX700 external filter which i hope will help. The tank is stocked with 2 angel fish, 6 tetras, 1 10cm plec, 3 gouramis, 2 corys and 1 upside down catfish. The water always seems to be a brown colour and i have to rinse the filters every time i do a water change as they are full! Any help and advice greatly recieved. Many thanks in advance, Dan

 

[minxfishy]

Hi and welcome,

Firstly its advisable to do weekly water changes anyway, up to 40% and sometimes depending on your fish species, several times a week!

The main culprit of your mess is your plec, they are poop machines. Is it fine particles in the water that are bothering you? If so, adding some filter floss into the filters will help and they pick up fine particles.

You say you are rinsing the filters every week, is this in the used tank water or under the tap? You should always wash your filters in used tank water to protect the bacteria as tap water contains chlorine (as Im sure you know) which will kill the beneficial bacteria in the filter.

Im going to assume this is a newly set up tank (correct me if Im wrong by all means) and new tank setup often get brown algae outbreaks, it grows all over the glass, plants substrate etc and is easily cleaned off but comes back each time, it does eventually die back to make way for green algae, but there are some things that can be done to help it, regular water changes, making sure that the tank is not in any direct sunlight and no over feeding of the fish.

Also do you have bogwood in the tank? As bogwood will leech tannins that turn the water a tea colour, which is in no way harmful to the fish just unsightly to us (although some people actually like this look).

Do you keep an eye on your water quality by regular testing for ammonia, nitrite, nitrAte?

 

[danweeks1980]

Hiya, Thank you for such a quick reply. I have had the tank set up for approx 6 months. I do have bogwood in the tank which i added because of Ph problems. There seems to be brown "sludge" all over the glass, the heater and the pipe work to the filters. I am really concerened as I love my fish. I do water checks which always seem to have a high nitrate level. Thanks everyone. Dan

 

[minxfishy]

Yep its definately brown algae and dont worry its completely harmless to the fish

To clean the glass you can use a magnetic glass cleaner, I use a washing up brush, you know the ones you find in supermarkets, clean it under boiling water and run it around the glass, you can also use it to clean the filter pipes, plants etc, it comes off very easily and it will I assure you eventually go.

Did you boil the bogwood before adding it to the tank for a while? Doesnt matter if you didnt, but sometimes it helps to reduce the tannins in the water, as I said, it wont hurt the fish, some even quite like it apparently.

What are your nitrAte levels?

 

[danweeks1980]

Thanks for the reassurance about the algae! I have a testing kit and so will test later on today and post the results on here. Would you reccommend taking out the bogwood? Do you think the new external filter will also help??

 

[minxfishy]

Yep the new filter will probably help some, what is the other filter btw? If you can put some filter floss in it will help clear up the water a bit, althought it will need regular changing to keep working unlike the normal filter media that keeps going forever!

You could take the bogwood out and boil it several times or if its too large to put in a pain, put it in a bucket and pour boiling water over lots of times, some people have even been known to put it in the bath and boil it that way if the piece is realy large.

 

[puppyjess123]

On the bogwood depends what you like. Either boil it for a day or 2 or leave it in. Your choice.

 

[doresy]

Hi, as you can see by my signiture I have exactly the same tank. I have had it for a few years now using just the overhead filter supplied but with tweaked media.

My water is always so clear, sometimes I have to check that there is any in there at all! I too suffered though from the brown sludge but not any more. I have sand and its always pretty clean. Mind you I do 30% water changes EVERY 6-10 days using a vac. I would certainly expect to do it more often if I had a plec (which I don't) As suggested by previous poster, plecs are notorious s**t machines.

I do also have loads of Cory which do a wonderful job of turning over the sand during the night which makes it look brand new each morning

I do not have any real wood in mine so I have never suffered from the tea coloured water it produces. I do have real plants which I think help for a more healthy tank.
I believe that regular use of a carbon filter will help reduce the effect but you must disgard the carbon media after a couple of weeks max. or the colour will 'leech' back into the water.

 

[danweeks1980]

Hi all,

Have just done my water parameters and they are as follows:

pH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

Is this ok?

Many thanks

 

[BecciMac1987]

Those readings are spot on, no problems at all.
Bec x

 

[vinylman]

I'd add at least a couple more Corys; best in groups of at least 5/6. You'll love the Tetratec filter, BTW.

 

[danweeks1980]

Has anyone got a tetratec ex700 filter? If so, how often will I need to change the media?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Has anyone got a tetratec ex700 filter? If so, how often will I need to change the media?

not often at all, in the beginners resource centre theres a pinned topic about filter media which would be a worthwhile read for you.

 

[vinylman]

Has anyone got a tetratec ex700 filter? If so, how often will I need to change the media?

I have mine on a 4ft tank. I give the media a quick swish around in old tank water every 6-8 weeks. Don't squeeze it out, you'll lose some of the good stuff. Alternatively, just do it when you notice the flow in the tank slowing down. I've had mine for 18 months and all the sponge media is still going strong. It should be a LONG time before you need to even think about replacing the sponges. When/if you do, just replace one at a time. You'll find you probably need to clean the pipework regularly. Look on eBay for 'trumpet brush'. These are VERY long and flexible brushes that will go the full length of the pipework and through the taps, too. My brush cost me around £4.

 

[rabbut]

As Vinylman says, cleaning of the exturnals isn't needed very often if they are coping with the tank. I have two EX1200's on my 83.2g tank, and I clean one every 3 months, so each gets attention twice a year, running floss which is usualy all thats clogged when I do clean them, on a heavily stocked Discus tank. They should just run and run without attention if you bought the filter that is the righ size for your tank. Tubes get done monthly though. They get all the light and clogg with algea that needs to be removed to keep the flow up. Could get Eheim green tubing to solve, but hay, it costs money and I'm a cheapscate

I find that ensuring there is good flow over the substrate lifts the muck off it and the filters can remove it from there. This will make the filters more high-maintanance though (I recon they need cleaning twice as often with this method, so using weekly vac's may let you get away without touching the filter for a year at the time, but I prefur to have the tank looking clean and having to do an extra bit of work). BTW, Vinyl, go to All Brass And Woodwind behind the market, and you can get trumpet brushes for £2.99. Won't save travel expences, but if you are passing anyway....

I removed the carbon from mine, so the only media that gets replaced during cleaning is the floss. Everything else in there should last for the life of the filter Just clean as above

All the best
Rabbut