Yep, I'm A Newbie

[This Old Spouse]

Hi, everybody,

I just started my tank about 2-1/2 months ago. It's a 55 gal with live plants and these:

1 cory catfish
2 peppered corydoras
5 serpae tetras
5 tiger barbs 3 F 2 M
3 dwarf gouramis (1 female, 2 male)
4 mollies (2 male, 2 female)
5 orange Von Rio tetras
2 (?) plecos (one's been missing for 2 weeks)

I have another 10 gal with:

4 male guppies
1 Chinese algae eater
female fiddler crab

The smaller tank has been perfect. The 55 gal will NOT clear up. I just installed another filter and that doesn't seem to be helping. I do 10 gal water changes every two weeks. The fish all seem to be happy and healthy and most get along well. Could the problem be in the rocks that I have in the tank?

Also, could my missing pleco still be alive somewhere?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[walkers101]

1 thing i would suggest is to get rid of the chinese algae eater because a. it will outgrow that tank and b. your guppies will be breakfast

 

[the biffster]

hi all sounds well what type
of rocks do you have in your
tank and do you know your stats

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

pH


oh hi by the way hi and
to the forum

 

[This Old Spouse]

1 thing i would suggest is to get rid of the chinese algae eater because a. it will outgrow that tank and b. your guppies will be breakfast

I'm thinking about transferring it to my bigger tank, but then there is nothing in the 10 gal to take care of the algae. Hmm?

 

[Carlovel1]

1 thing i would suggest is to get rid of the chinese algae eater because a. it will outgrow that tank and b. your guppies will be breakfast

I'm thinking about transferring it to my bigger tank, but then there is nothing in the 10 gal to take care of the algae. Hmm?

YOU are meant to take care of the algae. If you use an algae sponge, it will take you less than 1 minute to get the aquarium glass shiny and clear. And I hope you are feeding additional food for the Chinese Algae Eater too.I hope you are aware the CAE will need a 55 gallon tank soon

 

[Harlequins]

Hi & welcome

What type of plecos have you got?
plecs are very messy fish,unless you have good filtration in your tank and weekly waterchanges then they do pose problems...

I would take time to find your missing plec,to see if its alive,or this will pollute your water even more.

Regarding your CAE in your 10 gal,not a good move,has mentioned clean the algae off with a algae scraper,or a small group of ottos are pretty good,but they do prefer a mature tank,with plenty of algae.plus they do need feeding a varied diet also.

Even if you put your CAE in the 55 gal,it may munch your smaller fish has it gets bigger...

 

[This Old Spouse]

1 thing i would suggest is to get rid of the chinese algae eater because a. it will outgrow that tank and b. your guppies will be breakfast

I'm thinking about transferring it to my bigger tank, but then there is nothing in the 10 gal to take care of the algae. Hmm?

YOU are meant to take care of the algae. If you use an algae sponge, it will take you less than 1 minute to get the aquarium glass shiny and clear. And I hope you are feeding additional food for the Chinese Algae Eater too.I hope you are aware the CAE will need a 55 gallon tank soon

It's not my glass that's a problem. The glass is sparkling thanks to cleaning it often. The problem is whatever is floating throughout the water. It's light green and is not being taken out by the filters I have. And I did post that I was contemplating moving the CAE to the 55 gal. Do I need to do more than a 15% water change more often than every other week? And I just was reading that I should only change out half the filter medium and switch that every other cleaning as well. (There's so much info in these forums it's hard to tell what works!)

 

[the biffster]

hi all sounds well what type
of rocks do you have in your
tank and do you know your stats

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

pH


oh hi by the way hi and
to the forum

 

[This Old Spouse]

hi all sounds well what type
of rocks do you have in your
tank and do you know your stats

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

pH


oh hi by the way hi and
to the forum

Thanks for the welcome! The rocks are mainly granite and quartz types. I got most of them from the shores of Lake Superior. A few are from the store and labeled as "aquarium rocks."

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know my levels. Years ago when I had an aquarium setup I never worried about it and never had a problem! But that was a 20 gal and I now have this 55 gal. that just won't clear up. I'm heading out now to get a testing kit and when I've done the test I'll post the results.

The pleco is a Hypostomus plecostomus (common) and it's about 3 inches in length.

 

[the biffster]

hi all sounds well what type
of rocks do you have in your
tank and do you know your stats

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

pH


oh hi by the way hi and
to the forum

Thanks for the welcome! The rocks are mainly granite and quartz types. I got most of them from the shores of Lake Superior. A few are from the store and labeled as "aquarium rocks."

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know my levels. Years ago when I had an aquarium setup I never worried about it and never had a problem! But that was a 20 gal and I now have this 55 gal. that just won't clear up. I'm heading out now to get a testing kit and when I've done the test I'll post the results.

The pleco is a Hypostomus plecostomus (common) and it's about 3 inches in length.

have had problems with quartz type
of rock before making water cloudy
in the past soon as it was removed
it cleared i know i sounds daft but
i think it was breaking down while
in the tank i would recommend an API
freshwater master test kit you can get them
on eBay cheap enough now i think i payed
about £19 for mine

 

[This Old Spouse]

Okay, ran out this morning and got test kits.

Amonia = 0
General Hardness=60
KH=0
pH=6.0
NO²=.5
NO³=60

Also, I removed all the big rocks that appeared to have any quartz in them, except for my gigantic centerpiece of granite.

Does this help?

 

[ian27]

hey everybody, totally new to this. just wondering if this ever has happened to anybody before, i purchased an elite aquarium(70 litres) starter pack. came with the 100w thermometor, and the elite stingray filter. problem im having is that my neons are getting caught behind the filter and getting stuck. ive lost two so far. any ideas on a different filter as i dont want to lose any more neons. at the moment ive (2) siamese fighting fish, one male/female. had (6) neons but two died due to the filter. (2) nothabranchius kisak male/female. and (1) bristlenose pleco. my tank is up and running about two months now. any sugestions on a good fiter would be great. thanks

 

[This Old Spouse]

This should be under a new topic.