In my case, I keep a small net in my free hand when vac'ing. Sometimes, there's gunk that you can't get no matter how long you vac, stir, etc. I swirl the vac head above it, then swirl the net through the water a few times. It definitely helps.
I have sand in a 30" deep tank that is tough to vacuum. I have found that the depth on the tank greatly reduces the effectiveness of the gravel vac on my python, especially with the 30" extension. I have a Eurpterus Syno cat and some larger cichlids that are constantly sifting sand. I rarely find "poop" deposits even under driftwood. I do not have any plecos which certainly helps! I have strong current from fx5, xp3, two powerful airstones and a koralia 1050 pump. The combo keeps the sand very clean. This tank is a 150 gallon and the combo works!
anyone who keeps large fish must realize that they are crap machines. I have wild discus, festivum's, a school of tetras and a bn pleco thats 5". I cannot have powerheads as discus do not like current. I would rather have the waste collect on the sand as it's easier to clean. your filter does'nt have to suck up the waste to be effective. vacuuming the substrate is just a part of fishkeeping. I do a 50% wc every 4 or 5 days and my nitrates are never over 5ppm.
Cool thanks everyone. I took out a large pleco i had, and pointed the flow downward a bit. Reorganized the driftwood so that the bottem has a bit of a current.
The clown loach is in the tank to stir up sand.
I dont think bichirs like powerheads so im staying away from that idea.
Yes i reliaize all my fish will grow over 2 feet. Takes a long time to grow them that large and people who are looking for large fish will pay large dollars for them.
And on the point of keeping a single clown fish.....it is cruel....the whole idea of keeping fish in an aquarium is cruel. Your an idiot if you think their is much diffrence. I came to MFK so i would stop hearing that im being cruel with my fish keeping. I get so irritated when people think that thier somehow nice to a fish they have imprisoned.
And yes i understand i have to vaccume the sand. but the amount of poo that used to still be on the sand after vaccuming 10gal of water out was not an acceptable about. I would love to vaccume every 2 weeks. I thought having a fx5 on a 60gal would mean a smaller amount of mantance (aka less vaccuming).
Proud to say that since i took the large pleco out and reorganized that the problem is gone. SOME OF YOU thank you for the advice. it gave me good ideas.
If you aren't using your filter for mechanical filtration then you are completely wasting money on canisters. You are basically using your $200+ FX5 as a 5 gallon bucket filled with bio media. If this is your goal, then it could be accomplished with a lot cheaper set up.
And keeping one clown loach can't be justified by "keeping fish in aquariums is cruel." I dont think keeping a lot of species in clean, oversized tanka and fed a high quality diet with no threat of predation is cruel.
There is a difference between keeping a dog in a crate all day and night and having a dog that is able to hang out in the backyard, go on walks, hang out in the house, etc.
agitating the water to get the solid waste in to a canister filter is dumb... Don't do that. Vaccuum it out so it doesn't have time to break down and dirty your water. Sucking it in to a filter and your filter will start working against you more quickly.
Then why have a "FILTER" if you don't want to actually filter anything?
If you want to just go the route of vacuuming crap off the gravel and not using your canister for mech, why not just spend $20 on a sponge filter and call it a day? More than enough bio in sponges for big tanks...
I have a wavemaker in my tank as well as FX5 and a UV filter. My bichirs love the flow created by them.
Danh;4910422; said:
agitating the water to get the solid waste in to a canister filter is dumb... Don't do that. Vaccuum it out so it doesn't have time to break down and dirty your water. Sucking it in to a filter and your filter will start working against you more quickly.
Ok i'll remove the 6 sponges in my FX5 since it serves no purpose
Wikipedia said:
Filtration is commonly the mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass. Oversize solids in the fluid are retained, but the separation is not complete; solids will be contaminated with some fluid and filtrate will contain fine particles (depending on the pore size and filter thickness). Filtration is also used to describe some biological processes, especially in water treatmentsewage treatment in which undesirable constituents are removed by adsorption into a biological film grown on or in the filter medium.
I will say, there are some fish that produce huge poops (where's that biggest poop thread? Lungfish ehhh) but that's really not what we're dealing with for the OP's stock.
