Poor water quality

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Wulfonce

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2009
881
9
18
Ontario
I have a 125g with 3 Oscars around 4.5" each. I do 25% water changes about every week and a half. The tank is filtered with duel penguin 350's (HOB filters) for a total of 700gph and a turnover of 5.6x per hour. I clean the filters about twice a month.

I find that my water is consistently cloudy and particles of food can be seen floating in the water for hours sometimes days after a feeding. I feed the oscars once a day everyday. The tank has flagstone and driftwood. I have found a few dead spots where the current seems to spin the debris around preventing it from finding the filters. I have tried a powerhead and it does help but the water still looks cloudy even when there is no debris in the water.

I'm thinking about adding a canister filter. Would this help my problem? Do canisters clean more thoroughly then HOB filters? Would a UV sterilizer have any effect?

Any help would be great. :)
 
I took my 125 - fairly heavily stocked, from 2 lg. whisper hobs to a Fluval FX5. I had constant problems... filters constantly overflowing, bad water quality, etc. Now my water is crystal clear and the parameters are excellent. I would highly recommend switching up to a FX5 ... well worth the money. Also had huge success with Seachem Prime getting my numbers under control. Life is good, finally!!!
 
Jenni;5020973; said:
I took my 125 - fairly heavily stocked, from 2 lg. whisper hobs to a Fluval FX5. I had constant problems... filters constantly overflowing, bad water quality, etc. Now my water is crystal clear and the parameters are excellent. I would highly recommend switching up to a FX5 ... well worth the money. Also had huge success with Seachem Prime getting my numbers under control. Life is good, finally!!!
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I was hoping no one would suggest that. It's out of my price range.;)
Is there something less expensive that might work?

EDIT: anyone know any websites where I could get a cheap fx5?
 
Look for FX5 on ebay. You can usually find new ones for around $200. I know a canister might seem too pricey, but HOB filters just aren't going to cut it with three Oscars in a 125g. I'd recommend running both an FX5 and the HOBs, because they are such messy fish. Yes, it's a lot of filtration and it's an investment, but water quality is very important with Oscars due to their susceptibility to Hole in the Head disease.
 
Wulfonce;5020983; said:
I was hoping no one would suggest that. It's out of my price range.;)
Is there something less expensive that might work?

EDIT: anyone know any websites where I could get a cheap fx5?
Click to expand...

I got my FX5 off Amazon for $235 shipped.
 
Natalie;5021036; said:
Look for FX5 on ebay. You can usually find new ones for around $200. I know a canister might seem too pricey, but HOB filters just aren't going to cut it with three Oscars in a 125g. I'd recommend running both an FX5 and the HOBs, because they are such messy fish. Yes, it's a lot of filtration and it's an investment, but water quality is very important with Oscars due to their susceptibility to Hole in the Head disease.
Click to expand...


I was looking on a regular basis at ebay for a FX5 and cheapest I found was $210 new. Maybe if I had kept looking for more then a month, one might turn up in that price range?.
 
Has anyone tried the generic 4-tray canisters they sell on ebay for about $125.00? I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with them.
 
Flag stone is often limestone and can be porous leaching into the water stuff to cloud it. Unless your flag stone is old and been in aquariums for some time I would assume that is the culprit.

Tell me is the cloudiness white tinted or brown tinted?

If its brown it would be your drift wood if its white most likely your flag stone.
 
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