Hi folks, first post here. Hoping I can get lots of useful help here.
So, My name is Edgerton and I work in a group home where we support 6 men with developmental disabilities. I am the team leader here and one of the staff came to me with an idea that the guys would really like a fish tank. I thought it was a great idea so I said yes and we started the wheels turning and ended up with a pretty sweet set up.
We have a 60 gallon freshwater tank with a Eheim professional 3 Ultra G canister filter and also a fancy led light with timers and 'thunderstorms' and whatnot.
Our problem is that starting off non of us understood nitrogen cycling (still don't really) and the fact that the tank needs to be cleaned weekly. We have a few fish in it now (2 x fintail barbs, 2 x gourami, 3 x cory cat) and we have had 2 pleko, 1 brab and a gourami die. The tank is about 3 months old now.
I took our water into the fish store we are using (Big Al's a popular chain fish store in Ontario) and they said our nitrate (I think) was very high and asked how much we are feeding and how much we have cleaned it. I told him we feed once a day but had only cleaned it twice in the eight week period
So... I have now cleaned (removed 25% of water) twice in the last 8 days. When I clean the tank it is chrystal clear afterwards, but when I return to work a couple days later the tank is cloudy again.
I'm just not sure what to do... Do I just keep going with cleaning it once a week and hope that the clarity improves as our fish tank maintenance improves?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks!
So, My name is Edgerton and I work in a group home where we support 6 men with developmental disabilities. I am the team leader here and one of the staff came to me with an idea that the guys would really like a fish tank. I thought it was a great idea so I said yes and we started the wheels turning and ended up with a pretty sweet set up.
We have a 60 gallon freshwater tank with a Eheim professional 3 Ultra G canister filter and also a fancy led light with timers and 'thunderstorms' and whatnot.
Our problem is that starting off non of us understood nitrogen cycling (still don't really) and the fact that the tank needs to be cleaned weekly. We have a few fish in it now (2 x fintail barbs, 2 x gourami, 3 x cory cat) and we have had 2 pleko, 1 brab and a gourami die. The tank is about 3 months old now.
I took our water into the fish store we are using (Big Al's a popular chain fish store in Ontario) and they said our nitrate (I think) was very high and asked how much we are feeding and how much we have cleaned it. I told him we feed once a day but had only cleaned it twice in the eight week period
So... I have now cleaned (removed 25% of water) twice in the last 8 days. When I clean the tank it is chrystal clear afterwards, but when I return to work a couple days later the tank is cloudy again.
I'm just not sure what to do... Do I just keep going with cleaning it once a week and hope that the clarity improves as our fish tank maintenance improves?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks!