Water Change Help Needed!

[Liquidshokk]

Help!

For the second week running, when I do a waterchange the pipe I use for sucking up the poo takes out too much water before Ive had a chance to suck all the dirt up! How are you supposed to be able to clean the bottom of the tank before so much water is out?!??!? Im worried Im gonna keep ending up with dirty tank each week....

Also this week the glass got a LOT greener than it did last week before a change, I used our magnetic glass cleaner then did a waterchange, now i think a lot of the green stuff is going to be floating around as I havent been able to clean it properly before 20% of the water went!! Grrrrrrr (this is second week of having fish in there, 3rd week overall)

Thanks

 

[newtotropical]

Whats in the tank? You seem to be producing a lot of "poo"!! How long do you have the lighting on?

 

[Castellop123]

The "Green stuff" ( algae ) will be filtered... Buy a smaller gravel siphon...

 

[mlawson]

You probably need a smaller syphon for a tank your size, the smaller ones are usually less
powerful and that way you can syphon all the detritus from the gravel.

Algae can be caused because of many factors.

Do you know how much Nitrate is present before water changes and how much is present in your water? (Also ammonia and Nitrite)

How large is your tank andhow many fish do you have?

How strong is your lighting and how long is it on for?

Do you have any live plants in your tank?

How long has it been setup for?

 

[Liquidshokk]

You probably need a smaller syphon for a tank your size, the smaller ones are usually less
powerful and that way you can syphon all the detritus from the gravel.

Algae can be caused because of many factors.

Do you know how much Nitrate is present before water changes and how much is present in your water? (Also ammonia and Nitrite)

How large is your tank andhow many fish do you have?

How strong is your lighting and how long is it on for?

Do you have any live plants in your tank?

How long has it been setup for?

In my tank I have 4 Platies.... The tank is 96 litres....20 gallons I believe someone said...I tested the water last weekend nd the nitrite and nitrate was high, no signs of ammonia though. the guy in the shop said the levels of nitrite/nitrate would be high as its a new tank and that a water change should settle it... I didnt do a water test before I did the water change today but will do once the tank has settled.

The lighting is on from when we go to work in the moring (8am) to around 10pm and off through the night. We are putting a blind up in the lounge where the tank is today as I think the tank is getting too much sunligt, maybe speeding up the green algae process?!?

We dont have any live plants in there, we did have but after the first week they died, believe they got too much light and they were quite flimsy ornamental plants so i didnt hold much hope from the start....

I think I will pick up a smaller siphon today as after sucking around in the gravel i can still see dirt floating around in the tank.... with reference to the amount of poo, I have to say I didnt realise that fish poo'd like they do....more often than not my platies have a trail of the stuff hanging from them as they swim I thought i was feeding them too much but I was only feeding them every other day up until a couple of days ago when i started feeding them daily as advised by the shop after 2 weeks.....

 

[Liquidshokk]

You probably need a smaller syphon for a tank your size, the smaller ones are usually less
powerful and that way you can syphon all the detritus from the gravel.

Algae can be caused because of many factors.

Do you know how much Nitrate is present before water changes and how much is present in your water? (Also ammonia and Nitrite)

How large is your tank andhow many fish do you have?

How strong is your lighting and how long is it on for?

Do you have any live plants in your tank?

How long has it been setup for?

In my tank I have 4 Platies.... The tank is 96 litres....20 gallons I believe someone said...I tested the water last weekend nd the nitrite and nitrate was high, no signs of ammonia though. the guy in the shop said the levels of nitrite/nitrate would be high as its a new tank and that a water change should settle it... I didnt do a water test before I did the water change today but will do once the tank has settled.

The lighting is on from when we go to work in the moring (8am) to around 10pm and off through the night. We are putting a blind up in the lounge where the tank is today as I think the tank is getting too much sunligt, maybe speeding up the green algae process?!?

We dont have any live plants in there, we did have but after the first week they died, believe they got too much light and they were quite flimsy ornamental plants so i didnt hold much hope from the start....

I think I will pick up a smaller siphon today as after sucking around in the gravel i can still see dirt floating around in the tank.... with reference to the amount of poo, I have to say I didnt realise that fish poo'd like they do....more often than not my platies have a trail of the stuff hanging from them as they swim I thought i was feeding them too much but I was only feeding them every other day up until a couple of days ago when i started feeding them daily as advised by the shop after 2 weeks.....

BTW Have just checked the bulb, its Jewell 18 watt / 590mm

 

[newtotropical]

Your lighting is on for too long. Im told that algee need over 4 hrs of light to bloom. ine are on for 4 hrs - off 1 hr - on 4hrs. Sunlight will cause the same problem, you could cut down the artificial light to compensate

Hope this helps

 

[Liquidshokk]

Your lighting is on for too long. Im told that algee need over 4 hrs of light to bloom. ine are on for 4 hrs - off 1 hr - on 4hrs. Sunlight will cause the same problem, you could cut down the artificial light to compensate

Hope this helps

That will be difficult to change given that me and my fatmate go to work for 7 hours a day. It would be a shame to come home from work and look at our fish in a dark tank too!?!?.... Is it the fish themselves that need light too though or just the tank?

I suppose i could turn it on before work 8am and switch it off in the evening as of 6pm....as im guessing leaving it off all day until 6 and switching it off at 10-11pm wouldnt give it enough light, right?

Anyone wanna run past me why exactly the tank needs light???

Thanks

 

[newtotropical]

Use a plug in timer!! less than a tenner from DIY shops............

 

[miniman]

I got quite a good fluval aquarium care guid with my tank.. it says 8-10 hrs if the aquarium has no plants and that any more will form green algae. 10 -12 hrs for aquarium with real plants - less time will cause brown algae and more will cause green algae.

I have bought a cheap time switch for mine so that they come on and off at set times - especially as I work shifts!

 

[newtotropical]

Do you have real plants? If so they need light if not, then so you can see your fish!!

PS where in soton you? What LFS do you use? Who wont you use??

I got quite a good fluval aquarium care guid with my tank.. it says 8-10 hrs if the aquarium has no plants and that any more will form green algae. 10 -12 hrs for aquarium with real plants - less time will cause brown algae and more will cause green algae.

I have bought a cheap time switch for mine so that they come on and off at set times - especially as I work shifts!

Agreed, also told that if you break it up into no more than 4hr "slots" helps keep algee down!

 

[Liquidshokk]

Do you have real plants? If so they need light if not, then so you can see your fish!!

PS where in soton you? What LFS do you use? Who wont you use??

No i dont have real plants, thinking of getting some strong longer living ones soon as hopefully they wont die after a week like the last ones! If i havent got plants then in theory i could leave my lights off until i come home and want to see my fish?!?!?!

Im from West End/Bitterne in Southampton, Ive got all my fish stuff from Arturi's down Allington lane, Im really impressed by them, they have really exotic fish and good prices and the staff are really friendly and helpful.

The only other place Ive looked at is Pets at home in Segensworth... Not impressed at all, pretty boring fish and the shop is practically empty!! If you know any other good/bad places I'd be pleased to hear about them ;-)

 

[newtotropical]

Do you have real plants? If so they need light if not, then so you can see your fish!!

PS where in soton you? What LFS do you use? Who wont you use??

No i dont have real plants, thinking of getting some strong longer living ones soon as hopefully they wont die after a week like the last ones! If i havent got plants then in theory i could leave my lights off until i come home and want to see my fish?!?!?!

Im from West End/Bitterne in Southampton, Ive got all my fish stuff from Arturi's down Allington lane, Im really impressed by them, they have really exotic fish and good prices and the staff are really friendly and helpful.

The only other place Ive looked at is Pets at home in Segensworth... Not impressed at all, pretty boring fish and the shop is practically empty!! If you know any other good/bad places I'd be pleased to hear about them ;-)

Im in hedge End! I use Arturis, but mostly i use Tropical Paradise in Boyatt Wood better advice than arturis!
Pets at home is fairly naff!!!

 

[Liquidshokk]

Im in hedge End! I use Arturis, but mostly i use Tropical Paradise in Boyatt Wood better advice than arturis!
Pets at home is fairly naff!!!
[/quote]

Wow, youre a stone throw away from me!

Will have to try Tropical Paradise for my next couple....although my flatmate is insisting on a pufferfish but I may have to talk him outta that....trying to keep it quite a classy tank not a freakshow.... Sorry to all pufferfish lovers!

 

[newtotropical]

And im told they will attack anything and everything in your tank! I wanted one but been put off!!