Help please !!

[paulinkorat]

I have just made i sealed canister unit which seems to be working just fine, but i'm concerned about the fish waste laying on the bottom of the tank and never going through my filter system.. I'm also interested in building an aqua-scape environment inside my tank, but don't want to do this if the fishes waste is going to spoil it...
The filtration system i have at the moment drains the water from a pipe i have in the left hand side on the tank going down to about half the waters depth, and then the filtered water is then returned in to the right hand side of the tank. And the waste lays on the bottom of the tank in amongst the gravel..
I do have a spare pump, and i have thought of setting up a second filtration system just for the purposes of collecting the fishes waste, So is this what i should do ? or what do other people do to extract the waste from their tanks ?

Thank you, all replies much appreciated
Paul

 

[Brookster123]

You could get a circulation fan at the bottom pushing towards your filter intake.. This would keep waste floating and hopefully get it to your intake..

 

[paulinkorat]

Ok sounds like a good idea.. but i have never hear of a circulation fan or seen one. How do others get around this problem if they don't use circulation fans ? surely if the waste isn't removed it will make the water toxic. ?

 

[himdie]

Gravel vacuum! In other words u manually vacuum up the waste with a tube usually done once a week with a water change

 

[Mebbid]

What's the gph you're getting atm? A low flow rate will absolutely allow detritus to settle on the tank bottom. Also, is your filter able to be opened up for cleaning? That's a big problem I see with diy canister filters.

Also, by circulation fan they meant to say powerhead. A hydor koralia is a great brand to go with.

What size tank is this?