I have a 390L with 2 Gulper Catfish and a number of smaller fish.
At the moment it is decorated with play sand, rocks, lots of wood, some real plants and some plastic plants.
Filter is Eheim 2080 (rated for tanks up to 1,200L) and I have a 12,000L/H Wavemaker that I put on occasionally.
Although the tank looks great and the fish seem extremely happy, I have noticed large amounts of crap building up in the tank, rather than being taken to the filter where I can dispose of it easily. By crap I mean there are a lot of suspended particles in the water, and when objects are moved (paricularly the plastic plants), the amount of particles disturbed is just that...disturbing.
Despite increasing my water changes to near 50% a week rather than my usual 35% a week, I have seen no improvement.
Filter has Eheim Substrat Pro, Eheim Mech, Foam and Floss.
I have had this setup for many years with other fish in the tank (mainly Malawis) and have not seen such crap.
I have decided that it is best that I go sterile. I intend to keep my sand, have a load of wood and rocks scatted on the bottom where the Gulpes can wedge themselves in and provide cover, whilst keeping the top of the tank open, as well as the filter inlets. Is this a good idea? I intend to keep one plastic plant stuck to the roof of the tank as this is the primary place where my small fish breed so I would like to keep that.
So, any opinion suggestion welcome.
Would also like to see some pictures of 'sterile' (if that is the right word), or a sparsely decorated tanks.
ps. All my params are fine so it seems to be more of a personal choice at this stage, but I could see problems in the future if allowed to continue.
pps. would a small internal filter help with the suspended particles, if so, what to put in it?
THANKS!
At the moment it is decorated with play sand, rocks, lots of wood, some real plants and some plastic plants.
Filter is Eheim 2080 (rated for tanks up to 1,200L) and I have a 12,000L/H Wavemaker that I put on occasionally.
Although the tank looks great and the fish seem extremely happy, I have noticed large amounts of crap building up in the tank, rather than being taken to the filter where I can dispose of it easily. By crap I mean there are a lot of suspended particles in the water, and when objects are moved (paricularly the plastic plants), the amount of particles disturbed is just that...disturbing.
Despite increasing my water changes to near 50% a week rather than my usual 35% a week, I have seen no improvement.
Filter has Eheim Substrat Pro, Eheim Mech, Foam and Floss.
I have had this setup for many years with other fish in the tank (mainly Malawis) and have not seen such crap.
I have decided that it is best that I go sterile. I intend to keep my sand, have a load of wood and rocks scatted on the bottom where the Gulpes can wedge themselves in and provide cover, whilst keeping the top of the tank open, as well as the filter inlets. Is this a good idea? I intend to keep one plastic plant stuck to the roof of the tank as this is the primary place where my small fish breed so I would like to keep that.
So, any opinion suggestion welcome.
Would also like to see some pictures of 'sterile' (if that is the right word), or a sparsely decorated tanks.
ps. All my params are fine so it seems to be more of a personal choice at this stage, but I could see problems in the future if allowed to continue.
pps. would a small internal filter help with the suspended particles, if so, what to put in it?
THANKS!
