JamieC77;958570; said:
I think Repair is referring to the tank water after its been siphoned out of the tank, like in a bucket.
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- Thread starter JamieC77
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I think Repair is referring to the tank water after its been siphoned out of the tank, like in a bucket.
Believe me I tried cleaning a filter spunge in the tank once when I was first starting out and wow that was a mess, the bucket is defenatly better idea lol.
Sounds like your going to have higher nitrates regardless, but I would still try to get them down around 20 or so. Start with the filters and then start doing water changes everyday until they come down.
Sounds like your going to have higher nitrates regardless, but I would still try to get them down around 20 or so. Start with the filters and then start doing water changes everyday until they come down.
JamieC77;958521; said:
With the emp 400s you should be rinsing/changing the filter cartridges and do nothing with the bio wheels, except kep them from drying out during maintainence. With my Emp 400's I rinse the cartridges with hot tap water on a bi weekly basis, and change the cartrigde every two months. Personally I do not want the benifical bacteria growing on something which will be discarded. You want a strong BB colony on your bio wheels so by rinsing the cartridges regularly the BB will only grow stonger on the bio wheel.
First off I would test your tank water with another test kit to compare against your current one. If the results are the same, then I would do daily 50% water changes until your nitrates are at 40ppm then go to a weekly 50% water change. As long as you have been doing the weekly changes youve stated, this will not effect your fish. Make sure the temp of the new water is the same and I would check the pH of the tap water and make sure it matches the tank water. If there is a big difference in pH then this is not gonna work for you.
What are the types and sizes of the 4 fish you have and how big are the plecos?
I have an aro that is about 10 or 12 inches, a parron shark that is about the same size, a lima that is about 6 inches and a 6 or 7 inch motoro ray. My snowball pleco is about 5 inches and my leopard pleco is about 6 inches. (I know thats not the real names of the plecos that's just what I call them. 
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assuming your tapwater has zero nitrates, and you are changing water regularly, you need to re-evaluate how much you are feeding your fish.
what goes in must come out, and the end result is nitrates.
rinsing your filter cartridges in tank water is not a bad idea, depending on how long you do it for, but it really won't help your nitrate problem.
if you had an ammonia or nitrIte problem, then that would be something to look at.
but your tank is handling the ammonia and nitrite just fine.
its the end product of the nitrogen cycle that we have to look at.
and to help bring those levels down, its best to increase the frequency of your water changes and cut back on the feeding.
what goes in must come out, and the end result is nitrates.
rinsing your filter cartridges in tank water is not a bad idea, depending on how long you do it for, but it really won't help your nitrate problem.
if you had an ammonia or nitrIte problem, then that would be something to look at.
but your tank is handling the ammonia and nitrite just fine.
its the end product of the nitrogen cycle that we have to look at.
and to help bring those levels down, its best to increase the frequency of your water changes and cut back on the feeding.
you can also look at changing a little more water.
20 gallons per week may not be sufficient on a 120 with messy fish.
I change 35 gallons per week on a 90 for example, because I too have big messy fish.
20 gallons per week may not be sufficient on a 120 with messy fish.
I change 35 gallons per week on a 90 for example, because I too have big messy fish.
for fish like that, its probably okay to feed 5 or 6 times per week.
sometimes I skip a day.
its good to give your fish a break sometimes from chowing down on high protein food all the time, and it helps to keep your water quality a bit better too.
they will still grow nice and big on 6 feedings per week.
sometimes I skip a day.
its good to give your fish a break sometimes from chowing down on high protein food all the time, and it helps to keep your water quality a bit better too.
they will still grow nice and big on 6 feedings per week.
