yeah those fish a very messy and get big in a confined space means all their crap and food leftover is in one area raising the nitrates either get a bigger tank or start doing 50% water changes good luck!
Nitrates through the roof.
- Thread starter mrkanders58
- Start date
2 of the fish you listed are extremely messy eaters. Everything they spit out is settlin to the bottom of the tank and breaking down. Then building up Nitrates in the gravel bed. Ditch the under gravel clean the gravel well and start with fresh water. Your canister should be seeded well enough to handle a cleaning like this. Also remember to use something like Seachem Prime when you do your water changes.
As for the Oscar in a 55. With nitrates through the roof, and the small tank I'd bet money your O is already stunted. How big is he ATM? The Pacu is eventually going to be big enough to break the glass on that tank. And water quality IMHO does not stop a Pacu from growing.
Mike
As for the Oscar in a 55. With nitrates through the roof, and the small tank I'd bet money your O is already stunted. How big is he ATM? The Pacu is eventually going to be big enough to break the glass on that tank. And water quality IMHO does not stop a Pacu from growing.
Mike
With the high bioload from your fish, you are going to have high nitrates. Nitrates are just the end product in the Nitrogen Cycle. The fact that you don't have any ammonia or nitrites indicates that you have enough beneficial bacteria in your filtration to convert the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. We started out with a yardsale 55 gallon tank that contained four oscars, two large pacu and two 12" plecos. Once we learned about the Nitrogen Cycle, we changed out about 60 gallons a day, 15 gallons at a time to keep the nitrates low and to remove all the poop from those poop machines. It took 1 - 1 1/2 hours every day vacuuming gravel and changing water. You're probably going to have to do daily large water changes. When we got our pacu, they were already 15". A 15" fish turning around in a 12" wide tank is not good.
If you are planning on keeping your pacu, start planning now for a really large tank. A 300 gallon tank will buy you a couple of years, but will eventually be too small for your pacu.
Im using a Aqua-Top 500 with built in uv. Its a four stage filter with Fuval pre filter ceramic in the first stage, carbon next, amonia chips and nitra zorb pillow next, then Fluval ceramic last.
Looks like I not only have some work to do but decisions to make. Im doing weekly water changes now but will have to step it up. I have always been a big fan of the under gravel filter but looks like I will be giving that up. The new canister filter has only been set up for a month so I think I should give it a little more time to build up bacteria before removing the under gravel. This is a good lesson on checking out fish before you add them to your tank. I wanted a tank mate for my Oscar when I got the Pacu but had no idea they got so big so fast. Thanks so much for all the help!
If your canister has been running for a month, you should be good to go ahead and remove the under gravel filter. It only takes a couple of weeks for a filter become seeded with bacteria. Especially with the current bioload. Once you remove it, start stepping up those water changes.
I agree that your canister should have plenty of beneficial bacteria to be able to remove your undergravel filter. BUT, I would suggest you still pay attention to water parameter levels in the week or two after you remove it. Also, if you start doing water changes daily (or even every 3 days) you really shouldn't have any problems with ammonia or nitrites. And, as others have already said - unless you upgrade the tank, you will have nitrate problems and the fish will be stunted.
Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but I was curious
What happened to the pacu's, did u euthanize them sell them or did you go BIG ?
Judging by your profile name I guess you kept them
Sorry to sidetrack the thread, but I was curious
What happened to the pacu's, did u euthanize them sell them or did you go BIG ?
Judging by your profile name I guess you kept them
We moved them to a 300 gallon tank nearly six years ago. I figured I had about three years to decide if we had to go bigger. After three years, it was obvious that the pacu needed a bigger tank.
We found out that it is not always easy to upgrade. We are now in year three of going big. We should have gone big six years ago and just skipped the 300 gallon tank.
