I really don't think it should matter how many fish I have in the tank, it doesn't look overcrowded to me. I mean you go to a local fish store and they have plenty of grown cichlids in a tank crowded together and the water is crystal clear. I do agree with you though my goldfish are getting to be beasts and are really messy, two of them are probably 8-9 inches my oscar is full grown, my shovelnose is 21 inches, my plecos are 14-16 inches, the parrots are probably about the size of softballs. The thing is the water hasn't always been like this besides the past month... so I really don't know I guess I'm going to have to do some experimenting with a sterilizer and then a diatom type filter.
Enough filtration, water will not stay clear! HELPPP
- Thread starter megan_mf
- Start date
I tactually does matter how many fish you have in the tank. IMO you are pushing the limits of what your system can handle. You have some every large and messy fish. The ones in the lfs are only housed temporally and they usually run very large centralized filtration systems that feed all or a large portion of their tanks. Uv may help clear algae up, but I'd bet a lot of it is just floating detritus. Finer filtration pads can grab the super fine stuff, or diatom filters but either way you have a lot of poop machines in there........you may need more filtration, or less fish
This idea is probably the cheapest way to achieve your goal of clearer water. Removing many of those fish would be a good idea, too.
Fully agree, for me your stocks seems to be on the high side. That equates to high maintenance, since it's mechanical let's manage the ammonia. Thanks for sharing
You are really overstocked. I'm curious if you ever test your water parameters. If I had that tank and stock list I'd probably be doing at least 2 75 percent water changes a week to try and keep up. The amount of fish and size of fish does really matter a lot on keeping your water clean. You really need to get rid of some fish or get a bigger tank. The tiger shovelnose should technically have at least a 500 gallon aquarium although larger would be better.
I'm curious how often you were feeding? You said you cut back to once a day. You only need to feed once a day max. Feeding every other day wouldn't hurt.
I was feeding twice a day, morning and night. And my catfish is only a year and a half so I've just been making tank swaps once he grows out of it. I am not about to drop over a thousand dollars on a tank when the time comes I will make the accommodations. Like I have said the water was never this way so it was fine until like a month ago, I've had these fish in this tank for two years and never had a problem. I don't believe I am overstocked but I am definitely maxed out. But thanks, I will feed every other day I barely have the lights on as it is and have enough filtration. I will try getting different pads and try the kiss filter and get a uv sterilizer.
All of your fish likely have grown a lot each month, so even if 2 months ago your water was fine your fish should have grown enough to make them dirtier. Goldfish are really dirty fish. Besides the fish poop they expel stuff from their gills that pollutes the water. Plecos are also very dirty fish, especially at that size. Large plecos don't really eat algae anymore, so getting rid of it won't starve them. The tsn is really dirtying up your water the size it is now. Also with the tsn as it gets bigger there is a chance it's going to eat some of your other fish. I'd recommend testing your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels and posting and going from there. A while back I thought I was keeping up on water changes and bought a good test kit and was shocked to find one of my aquariums had a nitrate level of 160.
How often and what is the percentage of water changes?
Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte, if so, what are they?
Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte, if so, what are they?
