My Oscar Setup, Some Questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
cbobruk said:
I am running a penguin 350 (was on my previous 29g) and an ac110, however I cannot get my water to be really crystal clear. The driftwood is a newer addition, and the tannins are making it brown but there is also a haziness I cannot get rid of.
Trates, trites and ammonia 0, I even did a 50% water change today and it did not solve the problem.

Any Help?
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if you have zero nitrates then IMO your tank is not cycled. the haziness is most likely the bacteria trying to establish. which test kit are you using? with two oscars in there, if the tank is not cycled, there should be a fairly high ammonia reading.

how did you go about cycling your tank?

how do you clean your filters? if with tapwater, you are constantly killing off your bacteria. rinse your media in a bucket of tank water instead.

i would suggest a minimum of two Aquaclear 110's on there, and even more filtration would be better. my oscar and p. polleni (black diamond cichlid) tank is running an aquaclear 110 and a rena xp4 canister. tank is bare bottomed to aid in cleaning, and i only have to clean my filters every few months, with the xp4 going longer than that sometimes.
 
You could try adding a wet/dry system. The AC110 and Penguin are not enough filtration for 2 Oscars. The real solution would be to either get rid of 1 of the Oscars or add more filtration. Nice save though.
 
BigFishMommy said:
if you have zero nitrates then IMO your tank is not cycled. the haziness is most likely the bacteria trying to establish. which test kit are you using? with two oscars in there, if the tank is not cycled, there should be a fairly high ammonia reading.

how did you go about cycling your tank?

how do you clean your filters? if with tapwater, you are constantly killing off your bacteria. rinse your media in a bucket of tank water instead.

i would suggest a minimum of two Aquaclear 110's on there, and even more filtration would be better. my oscar and p. polleni (black diamond cichlid) tank is running an aquaclear 110 and a rena xp4 canister. tank is bare bottomed to aid in cleaning, and i only have to clean my filters every few months, with the xp4 going longer than that sometimes.
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My bad, My test kit does not have a bottle to test nitrates, only nitrites. Im using a tetra laborett kit.
I just did another test, ammonia is 0-3ppm (orange for 3, yellow is <3, color is yellow but has a very light orange tint) and Nitrites are 0.25mg/l. ph is 7.0

I ditched the pads on the penguin and filled both compartments full with fluval ceramic rings. The aquaclear has the 1 provided sponge filter, and the rest is packed with filter floss now. Also, I bought a marineland maxi jet aimed across the bottom to help debris to the filter.

Cycled the tank a long time ago, fishless. I ran the filters from my old 30 and used a bunch of gravel to seed the tank. It ran like this for 6 weeks before the O's were introduced.

I know this set up is not sufficient, but I hope it will get me through until Christmas time, where I can afford an fx5.
 
Definatly look into canister filtration as mentioned..




For now, I'd keep with both HOB filters as you have. Keep doing often water changes as Oscars tend to be very messy in their enviornment. You should be fine until you get the canister filter of your choice. If your on a low budget route, I'd definatly recommend looking into the Odyssea canister filters. I got my odyssea CFS500 for $70 shipped to my house and haven't had ny problems with it yet. Hope everything works out!
 
It all depends on where they were and how they were as juvies.. It actually depends on alot of things...
 
Kyle_91 said:
It all depends on where they were and how they were as juvies.. It actually depends on alot of things...
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No it doesn't, Oscars are like Pit Bulls, sure they can be cute and all, but deep down they are born and bred to be aggressive, it's in the genes. It cracks me up when I hear Pit Bull Owners trying to say their dog is harmless, same for Oscar owners. These fish are aggressive, this doesn't mean they can't get along or that you shouldn't keep them. I love my two oscars and yes they terrorize the whole tank but for the most part all the fish get along and know their place. You just have to keep an eye on them and not be disillusioned about their temperament.
 
plecostic said:
No it doesn't, Oscars are like Pit Bulls, sure they can be cute and all, but deep down they are born and bred to be aggressive, it's in the genes. It cracks me up when I hear Pit Bull Owners trying to say their dog is harmless, same for Oscar owners. These fish are aggressive, this doesn't mean they can't get along or that you shouldn't keep them. I love my two oscars and yes they terrorize the whole tank but for the most part all the fish get along and know their place. You just have to keep an eye on them and not be disillusioned about their temperament.
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Second time you gave asinine comments now. Oscars are cichlids. All cichlids can be aggressive but there are exceptions. Try explaining this to the hundreds of people who keep Oscars in community set ups. You'd get shot down in a heartbeat.
 
all oscars have potential to be aggressive. Doesn't mean they can be. years ago, I had an oscar that would attack anything and everything that moved. Now I have an oscar that is just a big gentle giant, who sometimes gets picked on by fish that are 1/4th its size.

Ultimately, it depends on the fish, and how it was raised. and sometimes, a fish that is calm and peaceful in one tank, can turn aggressive in a new tank. Here is a good oscar community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVf8xHNPZqY

and pit bulls can be extremely nice and friendly. I have a friend who's pitbull is one of the nicest dogs i've ever seen.
 
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