Bottom feeder
- Thread starter maverick1
- Start date
like madness said, thats the only thing that will really take care of uneaten food...adding to the fact that the current fish might not take too kindly to a bottom feeder
Siphons are good to use period, but saying it's the only thing that will work is plain wrong.. There are plenty of catfish species that will work with the 3 fish.. They are going to be more concerned with eachother than anything else.
is the uneaten food and waste youre talking about just unsightly or is it throwing your water parameters off?
If the answer is the first, then a siphon or python would be fine.
If your answer is the 2nd, the best solution would be to have (if you dont already) more than adequate filtration, preferably a sump to solve the issue.
I have a 265 with overflows and a 55 gallon sump with bio-balls in my overflows and in 2 spaces in my sump and when I had a stock similar to yours, I never vacuumed anything. There is too much water for that little bit of food or waste to screw with your water parameters if the filtration is setup correctly. All I do is 50-60% water changes weekly and change the media pads at the same time...and I havent had a single issue with parameters out of whack at all...ever.
I currently have moved my pairs of fish to other places and even with the bioload I have now and no vacuuming, they are stable and about as good as it gets.
One reason I dont vacuum is because I have about 100lbs of driftwood, 200+ lbs of rocks and until last week, tons of live plants. For me, I dont see the waste because the aquascaping and the powerheads keep it out of sight, usually under the driftwood.
Now, i do vacuum roughly 2x a year if it needs it, but the waste and uneaten food gets broken down eventually and has never been an issue.
All that being said, i dont know if you dont have overflows that this will work for you. I dont have any experience with any other setup this large without overflows.
Good Luck...and good to see another NC MFKer...whereabouts in NC?
If the answer is the first, then a siphon or python would be fine.
If your answer is the 2nd, the best solution would be to have (if you dont already) more than adequate filtration, preferably a sump to solve the issue.
I have a 265 with overflows and a 55 gallon sump with bio-balls in my overflows and in 2 spaces in my sump and when I had a stock similar to yours, I never vacuumed anything. There is too much water for that little bit of food or waste to screw with your water parameters if the filtration is setup correctly. All I do is 50-60% water changes weekly and change the media pads at the same time...and I havent had a single issue with parameters out of whack at all...ever.
I currently have moved my pairs of fish to other places and even with the bioload I have now and no vacuuming, they are stable and about as good as it gets.
One reason I dont vacuum is because I have about 100lbs of driftwood, 200+ lbs of rocks and until last week, tons of live plants. For me, I dont see the waste because the aquascaping and the powerheads keep it out of sight, usually under the driftwood.
Now, i do vacuum roughly 2x a year if it needs it, but the waste and uneaten food gets broken down eventually and has never been an issue.
All that being said, i dont know if you dont have overflows that this will work for you. I dont have any experience with any other setup this large without overflows.
Good Luck...and good to see another NC MFKer...whereabouts in NC?
