What to do about Pleco Poo!!!

[Ramesh]

I have 4 large Sailfin Gibbiceps 30cm+ and several small common Plecos and gold Gibbiceps that are between 10-15cm.
They are great additions to my tanks but I am stunned by the amount of poo they are capable of producing.
What other than vacum cleaning (water changes) can you do??

I resently set up an 8'x4'x28" 500g tank and added two of my XL Gibbies to clean up the large logs that had been soaking and had become covered in a grey slime/fungus.
The next morning the fungus/slime was gone but the poo was epic......the bottom of the tank was smothered.

Is there anything that can be done??

 

[zerojquan85]

Are the logs your using DRIFTWOOD DRIFTWOOD.. or regular wood u get from your any tree and u soak it in water...

Driftwood like malaysian or african? those are better driftwood for Plecos....

as for cleaning.. water change is most important...... no matter what problems u have..

 

[Ramesh]

One piece is like Malaysian driftwood the other is from a river bed but is an old branch.

 

[Pharaoh]

Vaccuuming is the only option.

Well, that is unless you think about installing an undergravel jet system which would blow the debris into the filters.

 

[matubula]

The only way you can reduce the amount of poo would be feed less or reduce their numbers. Other than that you will have to find a way to cope with it. Personally I use a circulation pump to blow the waste to 2 1000lph internal filters which need cleaning a couple of times a week. Or vacuum more as previously stated.

 

[wingate2581]

The only way you can reduce the amount of poo would be feed less or reduce their numbers. Other than that you will have to find a way to cope with it. Personally I use a circulation pump to blow the waste to 2 1000lph internal filters which need cleaning a couple of times a week. Or vacuum more as previously stated.

I agree. Powerheads and overfiltration is your best bet.

 

[Ramesh]

I don't mind cleaning the poo it's great fertilser or the garden, I am just astonded by the amount of waste they can produce.
I personally prefer to vac than have it all collect in my filters.
All the poo makes me worry about water quality issues so I always do a quick vac of the tanks when I notice build up.

 

[matubula]

I don't mind cleaning the poo it's great fertilser or the garden, I am just astonded by the amount of waste they can produce.
I personally prefer to vac than have it all collect in my filters.
All the poo makes me worry about water quality issues so I always do a quick vac of the tanks when I notice build up.

Thats a good mindset you have. The internal filters I use are only for mechanical filtration to save the externals which handle the bio filtration.

 

[sostoudt]

I don't mind cleaning the poo it's great fertilser or the garden, I am just astonded by the amount of waste they can produce.
I personally prefer to vac than have it all collect in my filters.
All the poo makes me worry about water quality issues so I always do a quick vac of the tanks when I notice build up.

alot of herbavores dont digest the food completely, there nothing you can really do about it. this is the reason they crap so much. you know how much a cow poops it takes 4 stomachs to get down to just that much.


just be glad you dont have a manatee or something

edit: if you didnt know a cow craps around 50 lbs a day

 

[Ramesh]

Excellent point about the speed/length of the digestive process and it's efficiency.
They are large fish (30cm+) and can consume an amazing amount of food in a short time.