Canister Schedule

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acewiza

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Aug 11, 2015
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The cannister on this 190-gallon tank is on a 5-month cleaning schedule:

Aquarium11.jpg


The substrate gets vacuumed every couple of months or so, and the tank's been solidly stable since inception over 2 years ago. The Oscar started as a 3-inch baby, achieving his now 8" stature in that time. Fish all seem happy, growing - even the little Figure-8 Puffers and Danios who should have been eaten by now, according to conventional wisdom. For some reason, the lone Mbuna adopted from a broken home is doing well, despite predictions of his death and destruction surrounding the situation here. There have been a few lineup changes/adds in that time with NO deaths.

How can this possibly be? :whistle:
 
It is a huge tank.

Maybe the Oscar is lazy or maybe he hasn't reached his maturity yet.

Most of the time the issuance of impending doom warnings, relates to the "rule" not the exception.

Think the probability of newbies who would use this stocking combination and I imagine few would be touting success at your point in time.

Glad the fish get along. (warning) Just don't be surprised in the event a disaster happens some time. Oscars frequently hate all other tankmates. Very common experience.

The fish seem very happy. Congrats on keeping the tank healthy for such a long time! That is a very, big deal.
 
The substrate gets vacuumed every couple of months or so, and the tank's been solidly stable since inception over 2 years ago. The Oscar started as a 3-inch baby, achieving his now 8" stature in that time. Fish all seem happy, growing - even the little Figure-8 Puffers and Danios who should have been eaten by now, according to conventional wisdom. For some reason, the lone Mbuna adopted from a broken home is doing well, despite predictions of his death and destruction surrounding the situation here. There have been a few lineup changes/adds in that time with NO deaths.
so far you are lucky he is still small and that helps you with keeping the tank clean but
before you get overly excited lets take a little stroll .

your tank and sub-straight remain stable for over 2 years kudo's. you didn't have that Oscar for those 2 years , looking at the size of the Oscar I would say 8/9 months tops.
he is still small that is why you can keep up with him wait till he grows.

I had Oscars as a kid no they are not Felix Unger clean and tidy . they are totally the opposite think Oscar Madison a big slob , hence the name Oscar a well fitting name for a dirty fish .

Your fish is just beginning to come into it's maturity as he does he keeps growing , I had one almost 20 inches in size (They can get bigger), all they do is eat and eat than the other thing . you also need to understand they need other foods rather than just pellets like feeders ect so you can expect your danios to become a meal sooner or later ,

Oscars will stir up the sub-straight bringing out all those nasty s , Now this is the kicker
your nice clean tank isn't so clean anymore , the canister can't handle 5 months of this one fish . I had to clean my tank 2 times a week. Oscars are a very messy fish and he will prove that to you ,

all those nice decorations you have in your tank once your Oscar starts getting big all those decorations will be no more, he will be constantly pulling them out and tossing them.

Now you also said all the other fish didn't get eaten wait that will change too. I had a 6 and a half inch iridescent shark in my tank with my Oscar , he was in there from day 1 just like the Oscar , I came home from school to find my Oscar finishing up on my shark.

of coarse it is easy keeping your tank clean he is still small , you haven't had the chance to experience his true bio mass .
 
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Those Oscars can look like plates when they grow up. Since your tank is sooo big that is a blessing as they still like to swim and people usually have them in 55G where it is too hard to really do that so the size of the tank is a monster advantage (over the usual newb tanks.)

As he grows more canister filter cleaning is necessary. Also as the media ages and kinda get more mucky, flow through lessens (specificaly thinking of sponges) I am having that experience now with my FX-5, and cleaning is necessary more frequently.
Cheers
 
I hate to be repetitive or doom and gloom, but I think your tank is a ticking time bomb. In my experience, fish do not become aggressive until they are sexually mature and fully grown. It's like with your children. Once they hit puberty they start testing their limits and getting into arguments more often then when they were kids.

I found this to be the case when I first got into the hobby. Literally in one day out of the blue my GBR's and gouramis started fighting and I lost a fish because of it. I would suggest to fix this before that happens. No one is hurt yet.

I might also recommend to clean more often (maybe once every 2.5 months), especially with fake plants that need no nutrients. For example, I have a planted aquarium on a canister filter. I clean my canister filter once every 6-8 weeks and do a light gravel vacuum (only what is on top of the substrate) every week. Jealous of the size of your tank though!
 
What? No one called you a lair? We just said in time your fish will start fighting. Let me ask you this, if we are all saying in unison the same thing, and you are the only one saying different, don't you think we are right..? Also, I am not on the staff, nor is Nirbhao.

What we are talking about are absolutes. These are known facts that we are saying, and we say this to help you. Not to hurt you. Would you rather have a yes-man, or someone there to help you if you aren't doing it correctly so you can fix it? That is the way I look at it at least. Many times people come on this forum looking for us to tell them what they are doing is okay so they can get rid of their guilt, but once we give suggestion of how to fix it they get defensive. All we are trying to do is help. Thats all.
 
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Please understand we're all here to help each other, as Abw0004 said we just want to help. We have made many of the same mistakes, we know what is not going to work long term. Agree with what Abw0004, nirbhao, seaweed, and others said, but I won't repeat it.

We come here to learn from and help each other, that is all were here for. I work 3rd shift (it's currently 11am here), I have been on here since 7am helping someone else that someone ticked off by being short with an answer.

We do it so you will learn, your fish will live, and you will enjoy our hobby.
 
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