hi ok , well my parents have had a tank for years in our basement but they have never done wc or had the water tested, so i took the tank under my belt about 2 months ago, and discovered that there is all kinds of loose sidment on the bottom with the gravel, no matter how much i vacum i still can't get it out, i had my water tested today and the lfs said i should do a water change every 7 days and to vacum the gravel, is there any better method to clean it faster, i have a 55 gallon tank with the following stock, 1, 5" red belly pacu 1, 2" red belly pacu 1, 5" tinfoil barb, 1, 4 in gorumi 1 6 in pleco and 2 3-4 pictus catfish, my large pacu has no color from the gills up witch alarmed me, btw i have a 180 thats going up here soon, i know the pacu's will get large a indoor pond may be in the works!!
question
- Thread starter kildragon6
- Start date
Ok first off your overstocked already which won't be helping the situation, I'm not looking to start a fight, I'm just pointing this out.kildragon6;3112892; said:
You mention this has not been cared for some time, can you explain how long? For years without a water change and that stocking should be lethal.
Can you please explain the filtration this tank is running?
You've probably got a large colony of bacteria in that gravel and as daft as it sounds you don't want to over clean it.
Good luck on the 180 and the pond
You are probably gonna catch a boatload of criticism over your pacu and tinfoil barb in such a small tank from some of the members here,just a warning.I would get a few buckets and place the fish in them untill a complete water change is done.Try to save as much of the current water as you can and use some it to rinse off the gravel untill as much ofthe silt is washed away as can be.Try not to rinse the gravel with tapwater as it will kill what bacteria you have there.You will probably need a better filter also.
i am currently running a emporor 400 and two of the tetra 10-20 filters from walmart. And the tank was not really touched for years, but it only had the gourmie in it i have since added the rest. And it dosn't seemed to overstocked to me they all have plenty of room and soon well be in the 180 i have the tank just need to get all the filters and such for it.. the lfs said not to do a complete water change?? and also all my levels are good ecept the end result of the cycle can't rem what the name for it is
im not really sure but is it possible to hook the gravel vac up to one of the filters with a hose so i can clean but not do a wc in the process, i just did a wc last night??
You cant hook up the hose to the 400 and I doubt if you can attach one to those WalMart jobs either.When the water goes up that hose it has to empty out somewhere and if you want all of that junk out from the bottom of the tank you'll have to drain it completely.kildragon6;3113188; said:
Under normal conditions it is not necessary to do complete water changes but in your case with all of that gunk in there,there's no way around it and the filter is probably clogged with that stuff as well.It is probably your ammonia that is pretty high.kildragon6;3113152; said:
no the ammonia is fine and the fliters aren't cloged, its the end result i think its nitrates? im not to sure, but the filters should catch the gunk if i can hose it to them right??
oh and the water is crystal and you cna't really see anything on the bottom, but if you move somthing or if you run your hand threw it, there is debris everywhere thanks for the help btw
i appolgize for my quick messages and spelling im at work... but anyway i have done water changes, and i did a few in the week before i got the rest of the fish