Ultimatum !!! Help with tank !

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Here's what I do on my 225, this works for me results may vary I have a relatively light bio-load. I run two AC110's and a Fulval 405 that's it. The 110's are for mechanical filtration the 405 is packed with old ceramic rings top to bottom.

I rinse the AC110's every two weeks on alternating weeks. I rinse out the 405 once a month. I do a 50-60% water change on Sunday sometimes a 75% depends on how ambitious I am and a 25-30% water change on Wednesday. On Sunday I dose the tank with a full dose of Prime for ~200 gallons of water on Wednesday I dose for 100 gallons of water. I have two large pieces of drift wood and two fake bamboo plants with about 2" of PFS as substrate. I rarely test my water, fish eat, grow show no signs of stress all is well. I do run sponge filters on all my other tanks and I swear by them for added Bio-filtration. I have a 90 with Altum Angelfish and run one AC70 and a sponge filter, I do two 50% water changes a week on that tank and rinse the AC70 every two weeks and rinse the sponge filter twice a year weather it needs it or not.......;) That's it, I rely on water changes more than filters.
 
Pataphysicist said:
I had a question for you guys. After going through all of this, the one thing that tells me why my system crashed is due to low bio filtration to handle the water changes. Maybe it was the Prime refills, maybe not. Ill never know for sure, since my 75 gallon have been treated with the same thing and never had a problem with it. The one thing that I have different on my 75 is my first HOB filter I purchased of walmart 3 years ago when I first got into the hobby. A tetra whisperer rated for 50 gallon lol. I think I cleaned that filter maybe 3-4 times in 3 years? got so much slime all over it, but I ignore it since I have the AC110's doing the job. Maybe that little tetra is the real BB winner here. Now on my 220 I run the Eheim 2262 Canister with amazing bio filtration, expensive too . Matrix / biohome/ Eheim Substrate pro. That's all there is inside that canister.

I also run 2 x SunSun's 402 that frankly, do little to nothing to help my filtration, being honest. I opened them a month ago after not opening them for 2 months and all the media was literally clean, as if they were brand new, which tells me they're not doing their job too well.

I also run 2 x Ac110's , but we all know that's nothing for a 220 , I just use them for Filter Floss and Purigen or Chemi Pure Elite, I switch back and forth.

So it comes down that's the real filtration on my 220, its the Eheim 2262, I know that's not enough to filter a tank this size, with fish this size. I know I should buy another eheim 2262 and call it the day and be safe for good. But right now is not a good time to drop $ 450 - 500 on another, specially after this disaster of losing fish and buying stuff to fish the issue.

So here it goes, should I add substrate to my tank and quit the bare bottom look? At least until I can get some more filtration? I have a local rock/plants spot that has amazing small river rocks, all natural and very cheap. Should I add them to the tank for some BB, which is going to help with filtration? or should I stay the same. Ill only be adding enough gravel for BB colonies to be there, not too much where I have to constantly be gravel vacuuming. Let me know guys, Thank you
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Hello; I have been following this thread and feel you have drwan an incorrect conclussion. based on what I have read, it was improper treatment of the tap water that allowed the chlorine and chloramine to kill off the bb in the tanks. This in turn allowed the ammonia from the fish's metabolism and the decay of food bits to build up to toxic levels.

I ran tanks 50 years ago withj no filtration at all. I then ran tanks with only UGF's. Then tanks with minimal, by todays standards, filtration setups. The bb will colonize the hard surfaces of a tank.

Having lots of bio-media in the flow stream gives the bb a place to be. However once the population of bb increases to match and feed on the ammonia available in a tank, adding more bio-media will not increase the number of bb while the fish population is stable. If you add more fish to a tank or over feed and have a lot of rotting food, the bb population will increase to take advantage of more ammonia to feed on.

While the filter media can be an ideal place for the bb to colonize, I think they also will be on most other hard surfaces of a tank. Lets say, in a tank with less than ideal filtration and dedicated bio-media, the bb will colonize the other hard surfaces. My guess is more bb will be found where there is more water flow, but thay will be somewhere. As i said, decades ago I ran tanks with almost no flow or external bio-media compared to the standards of today. I did not have ammonia issues.

To be more specific, adding substrate will not hurt a thing as far as the bb goes. There will likely be some bb colonization of the substrate wherever ammonia in the water is available to them . My take is that you have enough filtration and bio-media as far as the bb population goes. Add substrate if you like it. I add substrate to all my tanks except the QT.

Good luck
 
I leave my AC 110's for months at a time, but my tanks are lightly stocked. Just like Tom, I rely on water changes more than filters. Considering your situation, with a tank at ground zero, I would only change out the floss when required for now, and allow the BB build up for the next few months, only rinsing out in dechlorinated water when they start to get really munged up.
 
Well, thank you for all the information, I mean I can't even begin to describe the huge amount of help you guys have been. So once again thank you for the support and the patience you guys been having with me. I guess there is only one way to learn in this hobby, and that's by failing and making so many mistakes. It sucks that it costs the lives of the very animals we enjoy so much, our fault. Nothing else we could say. I just purchased a TMC Fluidized Sand Bed Filter rated for 500 gallons, along with a SunSun HQB - 3500 rated 800 gallons to add a good bio filtration, instead of purchasing another eheim or fluval, I think this would be a good permanent and easy solution for maintaining my tank healthy. Along with proper application of conditioner/ water changes etc. I only paid 150 with shipping for everything, so I didn't break the bank either. What you guys think?
 
Nice collection of monsters, I just have a question with regards to your filtration system. Are you running a wet/dry or canister? With such a large tank, I recommend wet dry system better. The reason why you're having mini cycles everytime you do a water change is because not enough beneficial bacteria to keep the ammonia in check.
 
Pataphysicist said:
my 75 gallon have been treated with the same thing and never had a problem with it.
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You don't really know that. If I remember correctly, you saw "0" nitrates on your 75 gallon, too, right? If you're seeing "0" nitrates, your tank's not cycled.


Pataphysicist said:
I guess there is only one way to learn in this hobby, and that's by failing and making so many mistakes
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There are many ways to learn. Trial and error is but one of them.
 
He has a 2262 filled with bio thats gotta be like 5 gallons of bio plus the other filters
 
jaws7777 said:
He has a 2262 filled with bio thats gotta be like 5 gallons of bio plus the other filters
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So far everything is reading good, My tetra safe start BB arrived today and i added all 3 x bottles to the tank, got cloudy for like 5 minutes then got crystal clear again. Hoping for the best in this, one thing i did notice is that my clown knife is literally just swimming in 1 spot, he can't see on either of his eyes, 1 is really bad like its swollen and pure white, the other still white. Just out of curiosity i waved a piece of prawn in front of him with tongues which he would usually smash it with no hesitation. the poor guy didn't even smell it, he ignored it completely and swam away from it :(((. I had this guy since he was a fry.. i don't think he'll make it out of this one, and i really don't want to come home and find him dead for 10 hours in the tank, that would make things even worse. Dont know what to do
 
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