Sand in a Aquarium

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Freshwaterfishlover

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MFK Member
Jul 5, 2019
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Like 3 months ago my 180 gallon tank started to get cloudy. Before that my tank was more or less clear. I was running a Cascade canister filter1200(325GPH) and a Cascade Canister filter 1500 (350GPH). I tried doing multiple water changes but, saw no change. Yesterday I replaced the Cascade 1200 with a Fluval FX6 (925GPH) and kept the Cascade 1500.

This morning the tank was cloudier then the day before. What do you guys think if I replace the Sand with Gravel the water will clear up. I have a Long Nose Gar, Florida Gar and a Tiger Shovel Nose Catfish. It started around the time I added my Tiger Shovelnose. Thought maybe he was sitting up the Sand.
 
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Rocksor said:
It sounds more like an overfeeding problem than a sand problem. Sand might make the tank cloudy after adding it for no more than a month, not months later after being clear.
Click to expand...

I don't over feed by far. I feed 6 pieces of imitation Crab 2 times a day and a few times a week I feed frozen Blood Worms. Sometimes it seems like the Catfish throws up the Imitation Crab because I see the Imitation Crab looking like cotton floating in the tank later after I see the Catfish eating.
When I do feed blood worms and the left overs fall to the ground I clean it up with in a hour.

I was saying maybe the Catfish moving around stirs up the Sand. I now have way enough Filtration and the best filter of all time. fluval.
 
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I’ve owned the Aquarium close to 3 years and never had problems till 3 or 4 months ago. 3 or 4 months ago my 3 stingrays died. I had one for over a year and a half. Today I come home to find my 14” Tiger Shovelnose dead. I feel like giving up. I just tested the Nitrite and it is at .25, but maybe do to the dead fish.
 
I think I’m going to change to pea Gravel so I can vacuum the gravel.
 
I have used sand for decades, and vacuum it, I doubt sand is the primary problem.
And pea gravel tends to collect detritus, which might degrade water quality even more.
Did you add any new fish to the tank prior to the death of the stingrays?
I consider a 180 gal tank too small a tank for stingrays, and a 14" cat.
Its the size tank I am running now, and would not consider it adequate for those fish.
Maybe if the fish were young when you first added them, they have finally overwhelmed the system.
I would venture to say with 3 strinrays, and that catfish you'd be needing to do substantial "daily" or "every other day" water changes to keep up with bioload.
The imitation crab is pretty oily, and if left long enough to fungus up, that is a problem, sounds like you need to be running a protein skimmer with that feeding regime.
 
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Here is my theory after observing the fish tank for a few days. Some will probably disagree, but again it’s my theory. After adding the Fluval FX6 after day one the tank started to clear up. I had 2 Gar Fish and 3 Stingrays adding them months Apart. The tank never really had problems and the PH stayed fairly consistent. After adding the 14” Tiger Shovelnose Catfish is when all my problems started.
I think the tank limit was 2 Gar and 3 Stingrays and by adding the Tiger Shovelnose Catfish it over loaded the system And in General maybe to big for a 180 gallon. My PH would drop the next day after doing Water changes. Now my PH Has risen to 6.8. I think its a combination of not having enough filtration for a Tiger Shovelnose Catfish and the tank just being to small for a 180 gallon.
If things stay calm for a Few weeks I will add one Stingray and see what happens?
 
Freshwaterfishlover said:
Here is my theory after observing the fish tank for a few days. Some will probably disagree, but again it’s my theory. After adding the Fluval FX6 after day one the tank started to clear up. I had 2 Gar Fish and 3 Stingrays adding them months Apart. The tank never really had problems and the PH stayed fairly consistent. After adding the 14” Tiger Shovelnose Catfish is when all my problems started.
I think the tank limit was 2 Gar and 3 Stingrays and by adding the Tiger Shovelnose Catfish it over loaded the system And in General maybe to big for a 180 gallon. My PH would drop the next day after doing Water changes. Now my PH Has risen to 6.8. I think its a combination of not having enough filtration for a Tiger Shovelnose Catfish and the tank just being to small for a 180 gallon.
If things stay calm for a Few weeks I will add one Stingray and see what happens?
Click to expand...
What kind of logic is this? You realized your tank is overstocked and you want to add another stingray? After all, it’s your tank and your choices, good luck.
 
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