Need better filtration?

[jaytech33]

Hello everyone,

I'm having a (white) cloudy water issue with my tank and I think it may be time to bump up filtration. Here is what is going on:

The tank has been up and running for 2 years now. 90 gallon river tank, (2) aquaclear 400 power heads, (2) 300 watt heaters, hydor air pump and an Xp3 with sponges, ceramic rings, bioballs, and filter floss.

Currently the tank is stocked with 1 pink,2 gold, and 1 blue gourami, 5 danios, 2 pictus cats, 6 small clown loaches and an 18" L001.

I gravel vac every week with a 25-35% water change. Clean the XP3 once a month ( wash the foams in tank water, change the filter floss).

About 2 months ago I noticed the water was a bit cloudy and it progressively got worse in a matter of days. I did 25% water changes every other day for a week, it fixed the problem, but 3 days later the water starts to get cloudy again.

I purchased a magnum HOT and some diatom powder and now run that for about 6 hours once a week between water changes. With this the water stays crystal clear.

The other thing I noticed is I now need to clean the inside of the glass as it gets a filmy residue on the glass. I have never had to do this before, the inside of the glass was always clean.

SO after reading all of my ramblings what do you think? My thought was to grab an FX5 and run that with the Xp3. Am I on the right track here thinking my bioload is too much for the XP3?

Here is a video of my community tank, the feeding frenzy starts around the 3:30 mark, and it's shot in HD if you want to watch the HQ version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DngoopMJo

Thank you in advance

 

[Bderick67]

You can't tell that it's a bioload issue without testing your water parameters, ie ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Sounds more like mechanical filtration to me.

 

[jaytech33]

sorry I forgot the parameters......

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 20-40, ph 6.8

 

[davidtcb1]

The XP3 and Magnum HOT should be enough to handle that load adequately. I'd suggest making an effort to get your nitrates down further by feeding less. The XP3 may be "too clean" too. I only clean my Renas every 2-3 months.

 

[jaytech33]

That is what the water looked like at it's worst point.

My concern is that I have been doing everything the same for 2 years, and now this problem is happening. The only additions to the tank were the 6 small clowns.

 

[davidtcb1]

That is what the water looked like at it's worst point.

My concern is that I have been doing everything the same for 2 years, and now this problem is happening. The only additions to the tank were the 6 small clowns.

White cloudy or green cloudy? White usually means a bacterial bloom, green an algae bloom.

 

[invisyblegypsey]

my wifes 55g did this and what i did was this. i took out all the decorations , and realy stir'd the gravel up and used my python to git all the poop out reset the rocks and live plants and filled it back up . in one day the ehime clasic had it crystal clear.
the heavey ravel cleaning wasnt donr for two years, just the regular quik clean

 

[Bderick67]

sorry I forgot the parameters......

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 20-40, ph 6.8

Definetly not a bio problem.

It mat be that the foam sponges in your XP3 are saturated. I would thuroughly clean them or get new ones.

 

[jaytech33]

Definetly not a bio problem.

It mat be that the foam sponges in your XP3 are saturated. I would thuroughly clean them or get new ones.

I was under the impression that just cleaning the foams would be good enough. I am still using the original foams for 2 years now.

If I replaced all 4 foam layers in the xp3 should I cut up the old ones and put in with the ceramic rings and bio balls to keep the bio levels stable?
I'm thinking removing that much bacteria and tossing in the trash is a bad idea.

 

[Mattyou]

Take the sponges to the sink and clean the crap out of them. The sponges are (should not) not be your primary BB. Hit them with clean water. Lift rocks as mentioned above and clean the bejesuses out of the tank.
If the problem persists, your local water provider could have changed up their treatment/additives on you. Did you replace your lights recently or maybe they are due? Look at what you have and have not done to fix/cause the problem.