Help I am a novice

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

memryan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 4, 2010
11
0
0
Boston
My 12 yr old son got a 40 gallon seaclear system 2 tank and a few cichlids in October. We are doing something terribly wrong though because every week the water is disgusting and we are doing 60% water changes. It is as if the filter is not filtering. The directions with this tank were terrible. Are the bio balls the filter? We have the white "prefilter" that we are rinsing weekly. Should we have carbon somewhere in this tank?? What exactly is filtering the water? Because 3 days after cleaning the tank is a cloudy mess...it seems that there must be a place to put carbon? Is this a terrible tank? I am extremely frustrated. Can anyone help me out with this?
 
The Seaclear system 2 supposedly came with everything hidden in the back panel. There is a heater, then a white mesh thing that is called a "prefilter", and then a zillion "bioballs". ??
 
Sorry i dont know much about that particular filter. I do know that sometimes when you do to big of a water change your tank may begin to cycle again. Kind of a mini cycle. The filter should have a sponge or filter for large percipitates then carbon for clarity and absorbtion,then a biological media like bio balls or bio max for a biological growth to form
 
IMO you should go out and buy a aquaclear70 fo that tank and hook up both the filters for about a month untill the new filter is established. Then take the old filter out back and fix it by whacking it with a hammer.LOL lol
 
Are you rinsing your filter media in tap water? If so, you are probably destroying your bio-filter every time you clean it, and you're going through a cycle over and over again.
 
bob965;3757509; said:
Are you rinsing your filter media in tap water? If so, you are probably destroying your bio-filter every time you clean it, and you're going through a cycle over and over again.
Click to expand...

I think the filter he has is a generic LFS filter and they are crap. Do you think if the tank was cycling over and over that would be the reason for cloudy water? And i dont think those filters have carbon in them. There just a bio ?
 
The Seaclears are acrylic aquariums with an integrated wet/dry filter. The cloudiness is probably caused by a bacterial bloom due to the fact that the cycle keeps being disrupted, or it wasn't cycled properly in the first place.
 
I'm curious what kind of cichlids you have in the tank, and how many . . . you may have a heavy bio-load (too many fish, and/or fish that are too large), and that could be over-powering the filter
 
bob965;3757541; said:
The Seaclears are acrylic aquariums with an integrated wet/dry filter. The cloudiness is probably caused by a bacterial bloom due to the fact that the cycle keeps being disrupted, or it wasn't cycled properly in the first place.
Click to expand...



If water changes are done prior to the biological filter being establised it very well could be the fact that it wasnt cycled properly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom