Need Help With New Tank - Always Needs Cleaning

[Aedes]

Hello, i've just started an aquarium and am having difficulty keeping it clean or at least clean looking. It seems that almost every 2 days i am suctioning off the bottom to get rid of fish poop etc. The rocks all have a nice layer of algae growing on them and the glass - well thank god for a magnetic algae scrubber! I'd be interested to find out what some people with much more experience than i would suggest my problem is or how i can solve it - looking at the "journals and photographs" section it seems that i am cleaning my tank much more frequently than most. I'll start with a run down of my specs:




Type of setup - mbuna

Tank Volume - 90 Gal (48" long x 18" deep x 24" high)

Filtration Type - Eheim Professional 3 model 2075 Specifications:

• Aquarium Size: 60 - 150 Gallons
• Flow Rate: 1250 l/h (this equals 330 gallons/hour which means roughly 3.5 tank changeovers/hour)
• Power Consumption: 16 Watts
• All Filtration media included: Mech Pro, Bio Mech, Substrat Pro, and filter pads (fine and coarse).

Lighting Type - 1 x 48" Aqualite T5 HO with 2 bulbs - white 6000 and roselite both 54W - light is usually on approximately 12 hours a day (pretty sure this needs to be shortened - even read about 1 guy who turns it off for 2-3 hours in middle of day which would be preferable as i'd like it to be on later at night so it can be enjoyed)

Substrate Type - play sand (filtered) approx 1-2 inches deep

Decor -

• ome island huts that the fish love to hid inside and underneath
• a few lava rocks but mostly granite (all items were either boiled or scrubbed prior to introduction - total weight ..? not sure maybe 60 - 100 lbs
• As for plants - 2 amazon swords that are starting to turn black on edges and Giant vallis(?) that seems to be growing a few inches a day!

Water chemistry - need to test: pH, KH, GH, temp

Maintenance - 30-40% water change every 2-3 days using gravel vac to suck off the crap from the top of the sand. Just cleaned the filter completely for the first time after 1.5 months - however i notice the intake and exit tubes have algal growth in them and will have to scrub them with a long brush soon (other suggestions?), scrub inside of glass once a week with magnetic algae scrubber.

Feeding - Omega One - Super color Veggie Kelp Pellets (read that my mbuna are vegetarians) - fed twice a day morning and night the following - a few small pinches most of which is ate before it hits the bottom of the tank - Freeze-dried tubifex worms flakes - small pinch on surface (for the tetras) done right after the cichlids start to feed.

Fish - oddly enough i'm not 100% on my cichlid species as my lfs keeps things confusing. This is what i think i have ... will post pix so correct me if i'm wrong.

• 2 x Metriaclima callainos - Cobalt Zebra
• 2 x Labidochromis caeruleus - Yellow Labs
• 2 x elongatus mdoka -
• 2 x Metriaclima estherae - red zebra (orange females)

Also...

• 5 x Synodontis eupterus catfish (roughly 2.5 inches in length)
• 5 x Red eye tetra
• 2 x black neon tetra
• 8 x Otocinclus (all under 1.5")

Additional comments - all the fish seem to get along - i rarely see any of the cichlids bothering the tetras (they were left over from a smaller 1st tank) or the Oto's. The catfish stay hidden mostly under rocks or inside my huts during daylight hours. My biggest problem with this tank is the water recently starts to get fuzzy within the first 24 hours of a 40% water change and bottom suck. The glass seems to keep getting algae growth and the outflow from the filter seems to be less than what i think it should be - only shooting out maybe 18" when lifted above water line.

Brief history of the tank - tank is less than 2 months old.

picture of bottom dirt 24 hours after tank was cleaned and vacuumed:

Not 100% on this species

Ditto:

Ditto:

Here's my sword damaged on edges:

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[rifty]

hi im amazed your tetra havnt been eaten even if mbuna are veggies i wouldnt be supprise if they munch them some where down the line sorry to say
your poop is a common problem with malawi setups what about a powerhead to blow it twards your filter or internal filter to help

 

[Squidward]

Mbuna produce a lot of waste.

With mine, I found that with the water current and the rocks, the poop used to accumulate in one corner. SO it was relatively easy to clean.

I would remove the Otos and Tetras. A Mbuna set up is not really for them.

 

[ZoddyZod]

as said above, some additional water turnoever would help. You currently have 3.5 turnover which is not very high (planted tanks aim for x10). You could either invest in an additional filter or buy a powerhead or two. The more movement in the water, the more likely the poop will end up in the filter intake.

by the way, like your setup.....looks very 'Apocalypse Now'

 

[Aedes]

as said above, some additional water turnoever would help. You currently have 3.5 turnover which is not very high (planted tanks aim for x10). You could either invest in an additional filter or buy a powerhead or two. The more movement in the water, the more likely the poop will end up in the filter intake.

by the way, like your setup.....looks very 'Apocalypse Now'

Thanks. I'm going to cut back the light to 8 hours a day (likely noon - 8pm) and add a power head to increase circulation. I've already cut out the "micro nutrients" for the plants. Apocalypse Now huh? Funny that's my favourite movie of all time but never really thought of it in regards to this tank until you mentioned it. But yes, I was striving for the South Pacific huts on the beach fading into jungle, so i guess very similar - only difference is instead of helicopters dropping missiles and bombs, I have cichlids swimming over the village dropping #$%@

 

[bullit]

smaller amounts fed maybe but cut the lighting times alot. i go for 3-4 hours. Thats whats causing all the green.

 

[Davo86]

The age of the setup is crying out to me tbh, how was the tank cycled? Also do you know any of the water parameters? The algae issue is a sure sign that there is ammonia present in the water which would suggest the tank might not be fully cycled

I also notice the filter inlet and outlet are on the same side? which can lead to more deadspots, As said the filtration is insufficient (especially for cichlids) as while the pump output may be 1250lph, the true Flow rate will be much less, guessing around 800Lph at most

Personally I'd add a good sized internal filter to the left side of the tank.

Also until the algae issue is resolved I would cut down on feeding to once per day

 

[Aedes]

The age of the setup is crying out to me tbh, how was the tank cycled? Also do you know any of the water parameters? The algae issue is a sure sign that there is ammonia present in the water which would suggest the tank might not be fully cycled

I also notice the filter inlet and outlet are on the same side? which can lead to more deadspots, As said the filtration is insufficient (especially for cichlids) as while the pump output may be 1250lph, the true Flow rate will be much less, guessing around 800Lph at most

Personally I'd add a good sized internal filter to the left side of the tank.

Also until the algae issue is resolved I would cut down on feeding to once per day

I will test the water chemistry tonight and post.

As for the cycling of the tank, i read lots of forums and posts many saying to do a fishless cycle, many saying to use fish and both citing good reasons for their arguments. In the end, i did the following - i put the tetras from my starter tank in and used filter media from that small tank inside my Eheim to give that media a kick start. After a few days i introduced the cichlids and the plants. Over the last month i've introduced the syndontis and the Oto's. All seem healthy, only the algae seems to be out of control.

I am definitely going to cut back the light time. I will cut back food amount by a small margin. As for filters or water movement, i think i will try a power head first as the thought of another fliter is less appealing for 2 reasons - 1 financial and 2 i don't like the idea of a power wheel or internal filter. The cannister appealed to me as it did not involve much inside the tank and was hidden underneath. I want to keep the tank as free from mechanics as i can (why i use an inline heater).

Interesting about your mention of my inlet and outlet - that's one thing i never stumbled across - they should be on opposite sides of the tank for best effect?

Cheers!

 

[rifty]

inlet and outlet on one side i would say are fine???
never heard splitting them either?
if you dont want a ton of gubbins in the tank get another external! im guessing for the look id totally agree it looks much better however malawis need good water movement and clean water so you will need to consider these factors too especially the bigger they get

with regards to feed malawis only need a little food once a day is the norm imo i skip one day a week feeding seems to encourage healthy fish!

 

[Aedes]

Ok for what it's worth, here's my test results before and after a 50% water change:

Ph - before 8.0 - after 7.8
Ammonia - before 0.25 ppm - after 0
Nitrite - before 0.25 ppm - after 0
Nitrate - before 40 ppm - after 20 ppm

 

[Davo86]

Ok for what it's worth, here's my test results before and after a 50% water change:

Ph - before 8.0 - after 7.8
Ammonia - before 0.25 ppm - after 0
Nitrite - before 0.25 ppm - after 0
Nitrate - before 40 ppm - after 20 ppm

The ammonia and nitrite readings suggest either the tank is not fully cycled or the filter is struggling,
These two in particular should be 0 at all times (with even 0.1 being toxic to fish) They also act as strong fertilizers to algae

The thing with having both inlet and outlet on one side is that if the outlet blows waste across from the right to the left and the inlet is on the right then how will it ever pick up the majority of the waste? you'll more than likely end up with on side much dirtier than the other