Filtration problems...

[sapphire384]

hey-
i got a 14 gallon tank. it was from a tank kit and the filter it came with really sucked. it made ALOt of noise! so what i have is a huge sponge filter and an aquaclear 20 powerhead with the quick filter.

the sponge is awesome and the water is always clear, but there's alot of debris on the bottom (fish cr**). the foam on the quick filter ain't dirty either.

so, ummm, should i look into a bigger filter or just do more water changes? i do roughly 50% once a week.

oh, and the fish are 2 jewels and 1 small pleco.

and if im wrong, its cool. my girl is kinda guiding me and so far, yea she's spot on. just like to kinda, umm, outsource her (hope she won't read that...lol- sorry babe if you did!!!).

thanks.

 

[chesterthehero]

waterchanges are always good but syphoning the poop/ect off the bottom sounds like the solution to your problems

 

[Wulfonce]

Use a gravel vacuum when you do the water changes.

 

[unstopablepuffers]

really thats your best bet

 

[ozpkchris]

you need to get some flow on the bottom of the tank to kick up the debris,
the easier way is to set up a power head and point it towards the bottom to push the poop up towards the filter intake
the hard(fun) but more effective way is to build and ugj, same idea here. just do a search and you come up with some great instructions on how to build one