Fish Tank Help - Desperate!

[Carry Pine]

No I don't want a design for a timber cabinet to hold the fish tank but I am absolutely desperate for a solution (no pun) to my daughter's ongoing fishtank dramas.

Daughter has a fairly large fish tank with all the gismos on it but it gets dirty every now and again and the filter needs to be taken apart. It is absolutely putrid each time and guess who cleans it? Then I need to get the thing working again which takes at least an hour of fiddling. There must be an easier way!

The hoses are always green and even if I replaced them, they would go green again in a few weeks. Daughter gets advice from the 'fish shop' which has immaculate hoses and their tanks don't even look like getting dirty. So anything i say about temperature of the water, additives, ph level - well I'm over 50, what would i know?

Someone please help this poor guy. (Please no advice similar to SWMBO to dump the $%#@&(& thing!)

Carry Pine

[DavidG]

1. Change half the water once per week. Use pre conditioned water.
2. Clean the filter weekly.
3. Use an algaecide to reduce the algae bloom.
4. Control the amount of UV light reaching the tank.

Others can add some more.......

[Hafgan]

:iagree:

...especially point 4 above. Notice how they always in a room with no natural light?!?!

Basically, excrem$nt from fish + sunlight = algae.....

Alternative is using snails or certain types of fish...

Cheers

Hafgan

[jonesy007]

Point number four is a biggy.
Sunlight is bad i have now four fish tanks. If you have real plants try plastic for awhile not as nice but gives the tank time to settle. If it is just a slight green ting on the tubes that's just part of having a fish tank you can replace the tube and that will fix that for another year or so. Also what type of filter are you using i found the best and i men the best for a medium and small tank is a hang on type filter such as an aquaclear see pic below they have a pad that the water runs threw and to clean just pull out the pad no messing around these filters are yje best and i swear by them i own four different sizes of them. Also is the tank tropical saltwater or just coldwater?

Cheers
Jonesy

[daninjt]

Sorry to say there is no silver bullet for maintaining a decent sized tank, salt water or fresh.:( it is not something you can set and forget.:no:

You need to establish an equilibrium of light, filtration (mechanical and biological), nutrients in the water and the bio load in the tank. Without teaching you how to suck eggs :), either you or your daughter needs to read up on how to set up and maintain a tank. Once you have the set up right, maintainence becomes easier.

But cleaning absolutely everything in the filter periodically will destroy whatever biological filtration has been established and put you back to square one.

Snails/fish to eat algae, getting the right plants for the lighting conditions, monitoring and maintaining the right pH levels and other water parameters, etc are all part of it.

Best of luck with it

Dan

[GoGuppy]

Hi CP

With aquariums, easy does it usuallly.:wink:

When you say the tank gets dirty, what do you mean exacty, that is does the water get a brownish tint, or does it go green, or something else? If it a brown tint then this could be tannin leeching out of a wooden article you may have in the tank. If it's green this could be micro-algae floating in the tank.

The green in the hoses appears to be algae and this should be removed from time to time when it starts restricting the water flow to the filter.

Aquarium filters always look mucky when you open them up, that's the good bacteria in there doing their job converting amonia to nitrites and then converting nitrites to nitates. I agree with Dan that by cleaning the filter too often and/or too thoroughly it is possible to kill the beneficial bacteria and this would worsen the problems you are having. I would leave it alone for say two months or so, unless of cause you notice that the water flow has reduced significantly.

Similarly, the comments made above re daylight reaching the tank are valid. If this is the case either shield the glass with brown paper during the day (especially if it a side wall of the tank) or pull the blinds to shade the tank. Also, I would reduce the tank lighting to being on for no more than 7 or 8 hours a day until the tank has settled down.

My main tip of the day is: Go to http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/ , sign up (free) and post a thread with the same message you had above and I am 100% sure the friendly folk there will help you out. :2tsup: :2tsup:

Good luck and Cheers

[Carry Pine]

Thank you everyone for the replies. Seems like Dad cleaning the fiulter out completely every year or so is a no no. I did read that somewhere but it didn't seem right to leave all that gunk behind.
I'll stew over the suggestions and get back to you.

CP

[GoGuppy]

Thank you everyone for the replies. Seems like Dad cleaning the filter out completely every year or so is a no no. I did read that somewhere but it didn't seem right to leave all that gunk behind.
CP

Hi CP
An annual clean of the filter is fine in priciple, but just make sure you use only water from the fish tank (and nothing else) to gently rinse the filter internal components and filter media in a clean bucket or other container. Do not use hot water or any soap, detergent or bleach as you must try to disturb the good bacteria as little as possible.

If the last filter clean was over say three to six months ago, you could give it a gentle clean as per above if you feel it necessary. They can be a bother to get running again without generating noise, as this is air trapped in the system and may take a bit of time and effort to get rid of.
Cheers

[Ianab]

Most important in my experience is regular maintenance. Specifically water changes and filter cleaning.

The amount and frequency of water changes depends on how heavily stocked your tank is, but up to 50% per week is fine, and may be needed if the tank is heavily stocked. But 20% per week may be OK for a lightly stocked tank.

Filter cleaning, do it regular, as soon as you see the water flow slow down. How often that is depends on the type of filter and fish. My big tank only has basic filters and big poop machine Plecos, I have to rinse out the filter pads each week. A good cannister filter and smaller fish, you can probably go for months. When you clean out the filter, just rinse the pads in old tank water and stuff them back in. Dont try and get them too clean, just get rid of most of the gunge. The filter contains most of the tanks Nitrogen cycle bacteria, and you need to look after them. Leaving it untill the filter is totally clogged will just kill off the cycle bacteria and set up an anaerobic situation in the filter... A nasty thing in all ways.

The algae in water lines is pretty normal, as long as they aren't blocked, dont worry. If the tank is growing excess algae then you need to look at the light levels. If you aren't growing real plants then lights are totally optional, and will generally just encourage algae. My tanks are not planted or brightly light, and I keep various plecos. But any place they cant reach will have a bit of algae, but it's not harmfull.

Main thing is to establish a stable environment in the tank and keeping it stable. By doing regular water changes and partial cleans there is no big change in the tank conditions and everything runs smoothly.

Ian

[GoGuppy]

Boy-oh-boy, soo many suggestions, some conflicting, very confusing for a less experienced fish keeper, no doubt.??:???

The simple explanation is that fish ain't fish and one fish tank is not the same as the next!! Some tank set-ups, like mine, are fine without constantly pulling the filter apart. I take regular water samples to test the parameters and find that they are all zero, unless I add phosphate, nitrates and other nutients to feed the plants. It helps that the fish are very well behaved and do not foul the water (..too much:wink:): they are tropicals, mainly native rainbows. I do a 10% water change weekly (if I don't forget) and the setup is ticking over nicely.

But, if you have say coldwater goldfish of african cichlids, the conditions in the tank are very very different and much more attention to the water parameters is required.

Thus, unless we know your tank set-up, the type of fish you keep, is the tank planted, etc, etc it is difficult to make firm recommendations to fix all problems. As danijt said above, there is no one silver bullet to apply.

Having said that, if you can tell us more about your set-up we'll be happy to assist (or cause even more confusion!!:? )
Cheers

[Buzza]

Cold water fish tanks are pooey. :-

The tropical tank reqires a cheap heater, and that can also be used with cold water fish, and the higher constant temperature will break down fish wastes faster. I put that little bit in, as Carry Pine does not tell us which type is kept in the problem tank.

The sure fire way to go, is to select all of the fish you want to keep, then reduce that amount to just a handful, say about six fish. . . . unless you have a two metre long tank, which allows you to keep a few more. Add a algae eater (Chinese Sucking Catfish) to keep the glass clean.

I notice that frog tanks are just about the pooiest of all pet habitats, apart from a ferret cage. :oo:

[prozac]

Does the tank have a flouro light and is the tube the right type? Can't tell you tonight which type of tube you need as I shut the brain down earlier this evening and not sure when I'll boot it up again. Without a flouro the tank will go green.

Point 2. How much food does your daughter shovel in (into the tank) every day? Maybe she is worried the fish might go hungry and is tipping in too much feed.

[Carry Pine]

Thanks prozac. I'm taking all this in at the moment. By the way- who's desperate? I noticed the time of your post!
You were probably waiting up with me to see the Australian pole vaulter who was going to be 'on next' on Channel 7 from about 8:00pm onwards. I got to bed at 1:00am after seeing it.
(But I could have seen it all on my next G mobile if I had coverage where I live and if the screen was big enough to fit in the pole vault posts.)

Graham

[prozac]

Thanks prozac. I'm taking all this in at the moment. By the way- who's desperate? I noticed the time of your post!
You were probably waiting up with me to see the Australian pole vaulter who was going to be 'on next' on Channel 7 from about 8:00pm onwards. I got to bed at 1:00am after seeing it.
(But I could have seen it all on my next G mobile if I had coverage where I live and if the screen was big enough to fit in the pole vault posts.)

Graham

Yes I was and the pole vaulting was great, pity we had watch it over and over the following day. I think he just pulled out a longer pole after he missed 5.9m.

[prozac]

Forgot to mention that it is not a good thing to rinse your filter in Sydney tap water. The chlorine, flouride or whatever it is in the water kills the good bacteria in the filter and your tank may go off. I take water from the tank to wash the filter. If you had tank water that would probably be ok too.

[Carry Pine]

Thanks Prozac.... but still nothing better to do at 12.25am?

By the way, I'm sponsoring a catfish and I'm naming it after you.

Graham

[prozac]

Which catfish are you sponsoring and WHY???

[prozac]

Thanks Prozac.... but still nothing better to do at 12.25am?

By the way, I'm sponsoring a catfish and I'm naming it after you.

Graham

Waiting for the other 'lympics to start.

[Carry Pine]

Prozac,

(By the way, a European wasp just flew past my ear- 11 degrees outside and 7:43 at night!)

Seeing as I killed the 2 existing catfish in the tank I feel obligated to replace them. Visited last weekend (2 weeks since tank clean out) and everything looked great. It's really up to her to work out some strategies. Problem is that i get called in at the 11th hour to sort out a giant mess and I guess I go over the top.

CP

[dean30bb]

i no this thread is old but try this site i keep 6 tanks and im a member of this site any thing you need to know every one can help you its the exact same set up as this site:D

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/

[Carry Pine]

Thanks everyone! The tank is going to be sold. Too much of a hassle for daughter and it's not really fair to make dad spend 2 hours cleaning the thing every time he visits. Will post for sale on Forum soon.
One catfish refuses to die.

Graham