Pleco Waste

[Renier]

Hi Guys...

My pleco is about 20cm and it seems that he is producing allot of waste. I noticed this after I changed my black gravel to sand. It looks horrible. And the waste seems to be heavy, as the gravel vacume doesn't even get rid of it. Any tips on how to get rid of pleco waste? ps. I'm not overfeeding.

Thanks

 

[ZoddyZod]

they do produce LOTS and there is nothing you can do about that.

What filter are you running and what is the size of the tank?

 

[Renier]

300L and it's a dophin canister filter.

 

[ZoddyZod]

300L and it's a dophin canister filter.

and what is the rating of the filter, as in how many litres of water does it turnover every hour?

 

[Renier]

Sorry should have specified. 920.

it's the c700

 

[ZoddyZod]

Sorry should have specified. 920.

it's the c700

so x3 the tank volume per hour.

I would advise either adding another filter or placing powerheads in the tank to increase the water tunrover and increase the agitation of the waste. If your filter is external (I am not familiar with the model) then try and get the intake as near to the substrate as possible. This will aid getting the waste into the filter from where you can easily remove during your regular filter cleaning.

 

[Rogue4Fish]

You could skim a net loosely over the sand.

This is what I do with my turtle. Takes a bit of effort, but gets rid of the bilk of it.

 

[simonas]

I find that vaccuuming the bottom with the hose at water change time is the only solution, plecs are messy things comes with territory