Too Much Poo?!

[christophoro1]

Hi,
I've got a 125L tank with 3 angels,20 black cardinals,a bristle nosed plec and a common plec and i have found that there is a lot of poo sitting on the bottom.
Someone suggested that i should change the gravel to fix this however i thought that is where lots of bacteria thrive, so i was wondering if there was anything else i could do?
Please help!!
thanks from Chris

 

[england]

two thing's one, get rid of the poo machine aka plec's, or syphon the gravel more often,

 

[WILDER]

Do you have a gravel vac.
How often do you do a gravel vac and water change.
Plecs are massive waste producers.

Sorry nelly posted at the same time lol.

 

[tom_os]

yeah the plec could is probably the cause

you can change to gravel as substrate hold very little bacteria, its personal choice, sand or gravel. i would reccomend giving it a good vacuum with a gravel vac

 

[christophoro1]

i change water and syphon gravel ever two weeks it that too little?
would sand make it any better?

 

[WILDER]

Need to be hoovering gravel and water change once a week.
Sand would be worse.

 

[christophoro1]

sorry i need to amend a previous statement.
I have only just bought the plec today so its only been the bristle nose in the tank with the other fish would that be the cause.

 

[england]

yes bristle's are a type of plec

 

[tom_os]

Need to be hoovering gravel and water change once a week.
Sand would be worse.

personally i wouldnt say sand is worse because surely the poo will stay on top making it eaier to remove?

i suppose though for aesthetics you dont want to see it!

 

[christophoro1]

can i add anything to the water to help break the poo down or something?

 

[tom_os]

not really

a powerhead might help brush it away toward the filter intake

 

[Honeythorn]

Changing the gravel will not do anything. After a week it'll be exactly the same. And your bacteria don't live in the gravel, they live in your filter sponges ect.


The only thing you can really do is to syphon up the poo. You should be doing large weekly water changes ( two weeks is leaving it much too long ) , espescially since you have two plecs. They poo like nothing I've ever seen , and the waste will tend to collect round the bases of plants, ornaments, rocks, anything like that where the flow frm the filter can't reach. Syphoning with a basic gravel vacuum is the easiest option. There isn't anything that you can add to break down so much solid waste.

 

[arobinson1984]

Have you got any plans to rehome your fish as well because the plec will soon outgrown your tank (common plec) as they can grown to around 14-18" plus the angels will grow quite large too so you may have probs with your tetras getting eaten.

Yes agree with the others, you need to be doing probably a 50% water change and gravel clean every week, possibly twice a week if you start getting alot more mess now you have added the extra plec.

Andy