Advice needed!

[invokethegoddess]

We are fairly new to the "hobby" and need some advice...Here is some backround info...
180 Gallon
2 14-16" Pacus
2 10" Tinfoil Barbs
1 16" Pleco
8 Firemouth Meeki
3 Frontosa
1 moori
and a few small oddballs.
Fluval FX5 filtration.
New 120 gallon currently empty and soom to be home to our cichlids.
Please don't respond and tell me we are overstocked...We know!!
We just picked up a 120 gallon and will be moving the cichlids and the oddballs as soon as we are all set up. We will be leaving the tinfoils and the Pacu's in the 180 untill we can upgrade...we know ...the pacu's need at least 300 gallons...
Here is the problem that we need advice with ....I am having to do water changes almost every 5 or 6 days. We keep on having ammonia problems. We were told to get rid of the pleco, that he is producing too much waste. He constantly has long strings of poop behind him and it is not breaking up. The water turns yellow after 4 or 5 days. We put a Aquaclear Powerhead to move the water but it doesn't seem to help much. We only get 5 or 6 days out of our tank before we have to clean and do a water change.
Should the FX5 be able to handle the Job?? We have a spare Fluval 405 and are going to hook that up in the 180 as well.
We are hoping with the cichlids out that things might improve...although the are fairly small and they don't do too much dammage.
The Pacu's are staying. Should we give up the Pleco??
Any advice will be appreciated.
We are going to try sponge filters for our 120 and see how they do. Our friend/breeder/supplier uses them(and nothing else) and his tanks are pristine.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Sounds like you've got the usual responses to your overstocking covered.

My question would be more around your feeding schedule.

What are you feeding?

How often and how much are you feeding?

FYI - Ive ben very happy with the fx5 on my 180g.

 

[invokethegoddess]

I definately am guilty of overfeeding...I have cut down to 1 feeding a day. I have had difficulty finding a good (large)Pellet that the Pacu like. They rarely go after anything that sinks. I find the shrimp pellets too messy. They love the algae disks...but they are kinda costly. I have been trying to get them used to veggies(zuccini etc.) ...but they look at me like I am crazy when I put veggies in the tank. (We adopted them and don't know what they were raised on...obvioulsy not veggies LOL )
I have cut back my feeding to once a day. (and the fish are not too happy!!) I alternate between flakes or small sinking crumbles for the cichlids.
I am hoping when I spit the "Big Boys" from the "Little 'uns" that the choice of "What to feed" will be easier.

Have you had problems with the FX5? Do you use the blue polishing pads?? I have been reading some other posts and there have been lots of negative posts about the polishing pads. I think that may be one of my problems too.

 

[invokethegoddess]

Quick update....it's been a looooooong day......Have both tanks running the 180 with 2 pacu's 2 tinfoil barbs and a rather large common pleco and the 120 with firemouth, frontosa,moori and others.
Removed all of the gravel from the 180 to replace with larger rocks...but i'm rather liking the look of the bare bottom.
Any advice on barebottom tanks??

 

[Steve737]

I dislike using the white and blue polishing pads in my FX5. They seem to clog up within a week, in a very understocked 210. The flow slows down to a near trickle. So I took them out and am using pot scrubbies in their place.

 

[invokethegoddess]

I've been poking around alot on all of the threads I can find and that seems to be a common problem....I think i'm going to ditch mine as well...I just bought a new 3pack at Petland yesterday....7 bucks wasted...oh well....maybe I can scrub my pots with them!! LOL

 

[Wolf3101]

I really love the emporer 400's for the extra biological filtration and water movement. We baught a perminate type of filter pad with extra bio serface and cleanable pads for all of ours. I'd recomend adding one to each of your tanks. Once the bio wheels establish themselves you'll no longer have any ammonia problems even at higher stocking levels.

P.S. let me know if you want links to what I'm talking about.

 

[ewurm]

Having to water changes weekly on a monster tank is the standard, not the exception. A 300 for the pacus will not be sufficient for their entire lives. Moving some cichlids will help, but Pacu are not very sustainable fish for most fishkeepers.

 

[invokethegoddess]

It's not the water changes that I an concerned with...it's the ammonia levels.
We will see how it goes with the new arrangements....we'll add more filtration if need be. We'll do the best for the Pacu's that we can...we are committed and they have no other alternative....

 

[Dr Joe]

Hi and congrats on the new tank.

Keep the pleco, the pacu are bigger aste generators .

The waste problem with the pleco is because of his diet.

Pleco food...Your going to love this...Dry dog food (round pellet type) Cheap and works well, You could buy commerial tilapia food, but it comes in 50lbs bags (check your farm & feed stores).There is alot of filler in this (dog food) some you will notice the filter getting dirtier (but that's what pre-filters are for).

Polishing pads clog up faster if your filter is not doing it's job properly.

Ammonia...apparently not enough bio-filtration for the job.

Adding a second FX5 inline with the first one & and setting up the first one for mechanical filtration only, the second for bio-filtration only (I'm not crazy about this setup but it can work).

In all honesty you would be happier witha good size W/D systems, they're cheap (relative), easy to deal with and far more efficient. And if your a DIY'er FUN.

Or if you have the facilities to handle a continuous drip system...(still out to lunch on not using de-chlor on this tho).

with ewurm on W/C's for Monster tanks.

Belly dancing huh? You still have the energy after doing the tanks?!

Keep us posted,

Dr Joe

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