Trouble With Water Changes

[toolgirl]

Good Afternoon!

I have had my tank for 6 months now. I properly cycled it and everything before adding any fish, and have added 4 plattys, 1 catfish, 5 neon tetras and 2 orandas gradually over the last 6 months (although one of my orandas is sick now and in a separate bowl ) My problem is (well I dont actually know if this is a problem, maybe it is quite common), that it doesnt seem to matter how much i clean my tank and change the water, there is still soooo much crap floating around after I have done it! I was doing a water change every week up until the last 3 weeks, where I have been doing it 5-7 times a week in an effort to try and make it cleaner, but nothing doing. I even have done like four one after the other and it still looks bad.

Perhaps is my filter not strong enough for the amount of fish? Or is it common that after you have done the water change because you have stirred up the muck that it all floats around like that?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hello toolgirl!

i suspect the filter is not big enough for your bio load (can you tell us the size of the tank and make/model of the filter so we can help to judge)

there will always be a certain amount of crud stirred up but with daily water changes it should be easy enough to keep a sensibly stocked and filtered tank clean.

can you explain exactly how you do your water changes, if you vac the floor of the tank etc

 

[toolgirl]

Hello! Thanks very much for the reply - I do my water changes by using a gravel cleaner, taking out about 25% of the water. Then clean the filter in the water i have removed, scrape the algae with an algae scraper, put the water back in etc...

Hello! Thanks very much for the reply - I do my water changes by using a gravel cleaner, taking out about 25% of the water. Then clean the filter in the water i have removed, scrape the algae with an algae scraper, put the water back in etc...

and by put the water back in i do mean fresh treated water not the stuff i have just taken out! just wanted to make that clear...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

how big is the tank and what filter are you running?

i often find after cleaning out the filter it spits out a load of gunk back into the tank, however unless your tanks very overstocked you shouldn't need to clean the filter every week. only clean it when the flow rate drops

 

[jimw13uk]

as Miss Wiggle said - whats the filter and tank size.
Just as a guide I change the wool filter pad every week without fail but the rest of the filter (4 pads) get washed once every month(Not all at the same time - I stagger the washing so each one gets washed once every 4 months) .

 

[iairj84]

I would clean the algae fist before gravel vaccing, the algae cleaning with put some of the algae into the water and substrate so it would be a little better to clean the algae beforehand. I agree that the filter doesn't need to be cleaned weekly, it's probably a little too much, and it throws a lot of garbage back into the water.
If you have the space in your filter I would throw some pillow stuffing or polyester fiber in there and it will help polish the water. The pillow fiber will need to be changed pretty frequently, probably every week or so. It also helps to minimize the disturbance the water makes coming from the bucket or the python or whatever... No matter how much gravel or sand vaccing you do their will always be stuff to be stirred up. I like to use a large cup and put the python tube into it, this helps to stop the stirring up of gravel and sand and nasties. The same method works with a plate and the bucket if you use that method.

I think if you use these methods your amount of garbage in the water should be greatly reduced. It's helped me a lot.

 

[Maximumbob]

Whenever you put your water back into the tank, I recommend pouring it into a colander. You can get a cheap one from the supermarket for a few quid. It disperses the flow of water as it enters the tank and stops the disruption of the substrate.

I too advocate glass cleaning and algae scrubbing prior to a water change.

Frequent changes of wool helps.

This helps prevent clogging of your filter sponges, which shouldn't need cleaning that often.

After, you've done all that messing around, take your fish net and scoop the debris thats floating on surface of tank.