Alien Anna
Fish Gatherer
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Messages
- 2,087
- Reaction score
- 2
If the tank has cycled then you would expect the bacterial bloom to have cleared. In other words, the beneficial bacteria have developed to break the ammonia from fish waste into nitrite, and the nitrite into nitrate. The water has probably cleared because there's very little movement of the water and the particulate matter has also sunk to the bottom of the tank.
However, cycling is not everything. There's also oxygen concentration. The way you're going the oxygen is going to run out soon and then your fish won't be swimming about happy any more - they'll be dead.
A lot of people mistakenly believe the filter is mainly to filter out nasties from the water. In fact, the filter's main task is to house beneficial bacteria and to oxygenate the water. A bit of gunk floating about your tank may not look very attractive, but it isn't actually going to harm your fish immediately.
Lack of oxygen won't necessarily kill your fish directly either - the first thing that will happen is that your beneficial bacteria in your gravel will start to die off as their population increases. This will inevitably be followed by an ammonia spike. It will be a combination of ammonia (which inhibits respiration) and the already low concerntration of oxygen in the water that will kill your fish.
To add to this poison combination, you are also grossly over-stocked. Which means your fish are pumping out far more ammonia into the tank than the bacteria can cope with in the longterm, and taking in far more oxygen than the water volume can hold.
However, cycling is not everything. There's also oxygen concentration. The way you're going the oxygen is going to run out soon and then your fish won't be swimming about happy any more - they'll be dead.
A lot of people mistakenly believe the filter is mainly to filter out nasties from the water. In fact, the filter's main task is to house beneficial bacteria and to oxygenate the water. A bit of gunk floating about your tank may not look very attractive, but it isn't actually going to harm your fish immediately.
Lack of oxygen won't necessarily kill your fish directly either - the first thing that will happen is that your beneficial bacteria in your gravel will start to die off as their population increases. This will inevitably be followed by an ammonia spike. It will be a combination of ammonia (which inhibits respiration) and the already low concerntration of oxygen in the water that will kill your fish.
To add to this poison combination, you are also grossly over-stocked. Which means your fish are pumping out far more ammonia into the tank than the bacteria can cope with in the longterm, and taking in far more oxygen than the water volume can hold.
