HELP!!!! Tank really getting me mad

[wrs]

So yet again my tank is yellow. I did a waterchange and nothing happened. Its been like this for 2 weeks. My cartidge is black with dirt about 1.5 cm's thick. My brother washed it off then two seconds latter its dirty again. I dont know waht to do. the lady at the LFS said to do a complete water change and dont turn the light on.

My brother thinks it would be better if I got sand instead because when he cleans it, i have no idae how to use the cyphon, nothing comes out of the gravel.

All levels are fine, just had them tested at the store.
Im stummped.

 

[Vip]

Dont do a 100% water change it will do harm to your fish.
What do you find hard about a vac? just put your mouth on the end where the water comes out and suck untill you see the water comeing out, push it into the gravel and watch it all come up.
Your tank seems to be really really dirty.

 

[pacuman]

All i can think of is a complete water change a least that is what i would do? but dont jus take what i said. find more out.

 

[wrs]

you dont put your mouth at the end! Do you know how un sanitary that is?

It is really dirty. And I cant see the fish. I think I'm just going to get rid of the gravel and get sand. I think thats the problem, its discusting, and when you move it, all stuff comes out, mostly plants, like dead parts.

 

[Unphased]

wrs:

that is how you start the vac. if you do it right none gets in your mouth or anything. although it is funny when you ask a friend to do it and it gets in there mouth! done that a few times lol. dont change to sand . just vac it out and maybe a 30% water change.

did you wash your gravel before you put it in the tank...?

 

[silent_one]

Thats not how your supposed to use the vac, you put it it the water, move it up and down until water comes out.

 

[Teelie]

There are several ways to start a gravel vac. The fastest is to suck on the end to get the water moving but another alternative is to sink it, turn it up so the vac fills with water but is still submerged, then lift it out of the water and when it starts to drain, quickly dip it back under the water and right side it up.

 

[BIGMAC]

I have tried most methods of using the syphon/vac and the sucking method seems to be the easiest my fish used to get stressed when i was plunging it up an down as it sometimes took a little while to get going.Have you been doing regular water changes and gravel cleaning and removing dead plants etc?how has the tank got so bad?

 

[kaosaeteurn9581]

Do not do a 100% watter it may harm your fish use the vac, sucking on the end is the fastest way to start it, you could also prime the siphon first.

 

[clutterydrawer]

hi wrs

if you don't want to suck from the tank (so to speak ) do what i do...i suck the tube from a bowl of tapwater to fill it up, then put my thumbs over the ends till i've put them in the tank. might sound a lot of fuss to some of you but it works. my dad would screw if he saw me sucking the siphon straight from the tank, would probably want me to stop keeping fish.

 

[Unphased]

your dad would screw? eewwwww


its not that bad gettin a lil fishy water in your mouth, you ever been swiming at the beach? fish in there sence time started and no one vaccumes that out...

 

[clutterydrawer]

screw as in "get angry" you filthy minded kid. no, I have never been swimming in the sea and swallowed water. i think i would vomit if i did.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Only do a 100% water change IF the situation REALLY calls for it!

It sounds like you need to do a 100% RIGHT NOW because your cartridge is dirtying so quickly. Don't mean to worry you, but having too much detritus in your tank can be bad for its future health.

I once had a tank with a sandy bottom and luckily, at that time, fishless, but didn't realise how quickly decaying organic matter became trapped within the granules. Before I knew it, I had a culture of anaerobic bacteria/fungi growing within it! Great if you like studying bacterial/fungal growth but not good for the average aquariast! I eventually decided to stick with a medium-sized gravel substrate which allowed more aeration, and is also easier to clean.

To use a DIY vacuum, get yourself a flexible tube of some kind, stick one end into the water, suck on the other end, and quickly release your mouth from it (or you'll get to taste what fish waste is really like!

Make sure you sterilise the entire tube in preparation for the next time you want to use it!

 

[wrs]

well im going to have to do a 100 percent. The people at the lfs said that sand would be better for the fish I have anyways because they like it, so I got that. I think that will be better though, because the gravel I have now has cracks in the areas and the stuff goes in and then the fish move the gravel ,etc, and there is so much stuff in there.
The lady at the LFS also said that this is an algea bloom, and its not good for some of the fish. So Im going to do that, and maybe get another cartidge, I forgot to get one. Thankfully all the plants I have now are healthy and new so they wont deteriarate.

oh, and how long does it take for dechlorinater to work?

 

[kitties1]

WRS, please don't do a 100% H2O change. If you are going to remove your GRAVEl and your WATER you may cause your tank to recycle. I recently converted all of my tanks to sand when I was having a major problem regulating my H2O parameters (due to a power outtage my tanks recycled cause of bacteria loss).
Anyway, when I converted from gravel to sand I siphoned out 75% of my water. Half of that I dumped and the other half I put in a separate container (I did this for four tanks separately). I thne removed all of my ornaments and plants and large rocks. I kept my fish in the tank during all of this. Some people recommend removing them, others recommend leaving them in. It was easier for me and less stressful for the fish if I just worked around them rather than chasing them with a net and dumping them in a holder tank and then repeating that process.
Once I had the large stuff out I scooped out the gravel with a large net, this way I got just the gravela nd no water. I kept my airstones and filter running throughout all this, but put a piece of filter floss on the filter cartridge to catch the extra detritus. OH YEAH - IMPORTANT- UNPLUG YOUR HEATER BEFORE DOING THIS> OR ANYTIME YOU REMOVE A LOARGE PORTION OF WATER.
Sorry for shoutin but it is important to do that.

Okay, well, once the gravel was out the water was, well, nearly MUD. Then I SLOWLY added the sand cup by cup. Add each cup as low to the bottom of the tank as possible, if you just plop it in it will swirl about and most of it will float and contribute to the water pollution. There was so much cr*p floating around I wondered if my fish were going to make it and if I had made a mistake in undertaking this process. After I got about two inches of sand in I added back all of my ornaments and stuff and then filled the tank with the reserved water that i had removed and the rest with fresh RO water. Needless to say my water cleared up after about an hour or so. My fish seemed okay and I kept the lights on.

You can add Kent PolyOx to the water after this to help clear up the water faster. Also, I did not feed my fish for about two days afterward. Once everything had settled/filtered i vacuumed out the rest off the surface of the sand and removed the filter floss and cleaned the filter cartridge. I did not replace the cartridge, just swished it around in some clean RO water to get the extra gunk out.

Hope this helps, hopefully you will get this in time before chaging 100% of your water. If you want you can PM me for more info.

Good Luck!

p.s. i have had crystal clear water ever sine and my H2O parameters are absolutely perfect. And sorry for the typos.