You don't have to paint the bottom. None of my tanks have a drop of paint on them.
FX6 HELP 360 gallon
- Thread starter Mbuloverxxt
- Start date
Good point. I'm assuming a nice strong powerhead pointing at the bottom to keep poop and debris moving is a good idea? Or how do you keep everything from "collecting"? Only thing I can think of is a wave maker/powerhead blowing from one end pointed to the other, but not sure if that would just make a mess, or if the filters would pick up whatever is kicked up
I don't, I suck it up when I see waste however I'm doing almost daily water changes so I don't really have to worry about waste as it is gone swiftly due to the volume of water changes I do.
Hmm, for you I would get a length of tubing and a 5 gallon bucket and just siphon out waste when you see it.
I had similar issue and by simply putting the intake higher I reduced sand intake emensly. With that said I use pool sand. Its cheap and great!
So sorry for your loss!!
Do you like the sand you have despite the fine grain size? If so, I would raise the filter intake another inch and try how it works before spending time and money to replace the existing sand.
Another thing I noticed is that the bottom of your heaters tend to get somewhat buried in the sand, probably due to the flow or fish moving it around. Try removing some of the sand so that you end up with 1 inch or so and see if that helps.
Adjusting the direction of the FX outputs may also help if they are pushing the sand around. It may take a few tries to get it just right.
Do you like the sand you have despite the fine grain size? If so, I would raise the filter intake another inch and try how it works before spending time and money to replace the existing sand.
Another thing I noticed is that the bottom of your heaters tend to get somewhat buried in the sand, probably due to the flow or fish moving it around. Try removing some of the sand so that you end up with 1 inch or so and see if that helps.
Adjusting the direction of the FX outputs may also help if they are pushing the sand around. It may take a few tries to get it just right.
I agree that raising intakes would be a good idea, it appears they are very close to the substrate.
To me filters aren't there to pick up feces, and detritus, although with that method its out of sight, but in reality then its still in the tank leaching invisible nutrients back in the water (basically swept under the rug).
Vacuuming is the proper method of getting rid of that stuff, and as the OP was doing that daily that's also the perfect method to get rid of negative nutrients like nitrate.
I use pool filter sand ($5 for 50 lbs where I got it).
By putting a thin layer of PFS on top of the fine stuff, that might prevent getting as much getting sucked up in the filter (especially if intakes were raised), and and prevent a cycle crash caused by switching a majority of substrate all at once.
Normal vacuuming will also remove a lot of the fin particles.
I don't like canisters just for this reason, I prefer sumps that remove water by skimming the surface, so substrate is almost never coming in contact with, and ruining pumps and impellers.
And the waste that accumulates at the air water interface is much more deleterious (although also, unseen unless water movement stops, and it appears as a film)
To me filters aren't there to pick up feces, and detritus, although with that method its out of sight, but in reality then its still in the tank leaching invisible nutrients back in the water (basically swept under the rug).
Vacuuming is the proper method of getting rid of that stuff, and as the OP was doing that daily that's also the perfect method to get rid of negative nutrients like nitrate.
I use pool filter sand ($5 for 50 lbs where I got it).
By putting a thin layer of PFS on top of the fine stuff, that might prevent getting as much getting sucked up in the filter (especially if intakes were raised), and and prevent a cycle crash caused by switching a majority of substrate all at once.
Normal vacuuming will also remove a lot of the fin particles.
I don't like canisters just for this reason, I prefer sumps that remove water by skimming the surface, so substrate is almost never coming in contact with, and ruining pumps and impellers.
And the waste that accumulates at the air water interface is much more deleterious (although also, unseen unless water movement stops, and it appears as a film)
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Here is a couple pictures of the intakes and outtakes to maybe give you a little better of an idea of what I should do. I honestly like the look of the sand and it all costed me like 250$ to fill that tank. But I also dont want to ruin the canister. Hopefully pictures help you. I'm home from work now so if you need anything else can always ask and maybe help walk me through it if you dont mind
Oh! And also, the water is usually a little higher up, just when i had to tear the fx6s down and clean all the sand out and flush the hoses i lost water. Lol be doing a water change today anyways.
