Larger filter?

[jackiehawkhead]

I’ve been keeping freshwater tropical fish for a number of years and gradually upgraded to larger tanks. My current tank is a 230 litre Aqua One and when I set it up about 3 years ago I did so with the filter that it came with - an ocellaris 850.
I’ve always had a community aquarium and struggle really badly with algae but have put that down to the fact the tank is in a room with huge amounts of natural light and I like to leave the tank lights on by day.
Last November after introducing some new fish I had an absolute apocalypse and despite weeks of my best efforts to save the fish ended up losing all but a few.
For ages I thought I was going to run the tank down and sell it but am starting to reconsider.
Even though I now only have 2 harlequins and 3 Buenos Aires tetras on the tank it’s still getting pretty filthy and full of algae - I’m starting to wonder if the external filter is too small. The output flow is fairly miserable.
Has anyone any experience of this tank and a better choice of filter?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Last November after introducing some new fish I had an absolute apocalypse

This is why using a quarantine tank is important. The bacteria take under about 12 hours for both types to double. So unless your introduced fish wre pretty big, the problem was not the cycle. The bacteria live all over your tank and a lot are in the first 1/2 to 1 inch (1.25 to 2.5 cm) of the substrate. They are also living on live plants as well as hard syrfaces not in direct light. The bacteria are somewhat sensitive to light and tend to live in the darker places.

Since you did not provide any information on the symptoms the fish showed and how they were acting before they died, it is hard to determine what might have killed them.

Did you test your water when the deaths began?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

From what the Aqua One site states the 85o it is good for tqnks from 150-250L. If you are an overstocker, then you might need a second filter or a bigger one. But the bacteria will live everywhere they can in a tank.

Ich is not just one strain. There is at least one strain which can resist higher temps. Moreover, different strains are more or less deadly. it is not universal.

And then there are more medications and no-medication treatments that have been tried or used over the decades. I am one who has no problen using medications in my tanks when needed. I prefer to use the old standards which are ad mix of Formaldehyde and Malachite Green. These are strong meds and may not be good for all fish.

Here is a link to a paper from 2011 on Ich meds that covers a lot of the treatments that have been tried if they worked, how well and in which stage or stages of the Ich life cycle. There is more info on Ich there than any of us knew was possible

REVIEW ARTICLE

An assessment of the use of drug and non-drug interventions in the treatment of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis Fouquet, 1876, a protozoan parasite of freshwater fish.
http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/...macho et al Parasitology Ich chemo review.pdf

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello jackie. By following an aggressive water change routine, you don't need high end filtration. I prefer large tanks, they're so much easier to maintain and you can have more fish. I can use simple sponge filters, because I change most of the tank water weekly. The filters are just used to move the tank water around for a good oxygen level. The large water change reduces algae, because there's little dissolved food to sustain it. You also have the benefit of an optimum water chemistry for your fish and plants. If you have algae issues, you're not changing enough water and not often enough.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Byron]

I concur with the posts of @TwoTankAmin but I would suggest the algae issue has nothing to do with the filter. It is light and nutrients. It is true that regular water changes, keeping the filter clean, vacuuming the substrate will all help to avoid what I term problem algae, but in the end the problem algae occurs because of the light/nutrient balance is off. I don't know if this is a planted tank, that makes the balance more crucial. But problem algae is due to too much light--this can be intensity, spectrum off, and/or duration, and involves ambient room light too--and either too much or two few nutrients (in a planted tank). Nothing else.

 

[seangee]

The tank in my signature pic has an ocellaris 850, the tank was set up in 2015 or 2016 and has been running continuously since then. I added a Fluval spray bar and had to drill out the holes because the flow was too high for my tetras. A few general tips for low flow in canister filters

• Ensure the filter media and hoses are clean
• Keep the hoses as short as possible and follow a direct route from the filter to the tank
• Clean the impeller and shaft

All of these make a significant difference.
Also don't be tempted to skimp on water changes or routine maintenance because you only have a few fish. Unfortunately it doesn;t work that way - but it can be hard to stay motivated.