filthy water

[Alexp08]

I have a 65 gal hex tank. It has about 30 fish in it of mixed species. Over the past couple weeks ive noticed alot of debris floating around. I have a aqua top CF-400UV canister filter cleaning the tank. Ive changed the carbon, the fine pad mesh, added more mesh,added more carbon. cleaned the canister multiple times. I do 10-15 percent water changes once a week. However the debris never seems to go away. The day after i replace the filter media its clean but within 24 hours even before feeding, all the debris is back.

Any idea on how to keep this thing clean?

 

[treemanone2003]

More WC's, both volume and frequency. That's an incredibly overstocked tank IMO with too little filtration and husbandry. You should also look at vacuuming the gravel as I'm sure that's where most of the detritus is winding up. Hex tanks generally tend to be taller and more columnar than having any kind of a decent footprint. IMO they're junk tanks and only meant for a few fish that like to sit in one place and do nothing as there's really no room for them to swim. I would recommend re homing a lot of those fish. As well, with that stocking and the tiny WC's, I'm sure the nitrates are thru the roof. What are the numbers of your current parameters ?


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you.

 

[jim532]

1st off you probably have too many fish. Also you should vacuum the gravel while doing a 40-50% water change daily till that debris clears up. Be sure to add Prime or some other dechlorinator. Don't replace any more filter media (filter pads), otherwise you ruin your biological environment. You can shake out the debris by rinsing the filter pads in tank water instead.




Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Caliban07]

I have a 65 gal hex tank. It has about 30 fish in it of mixed species. Over the past couple weeks ive noticed alot of debris floating around. I have a aqua top CF-400UV canister filter cleaning the tank. Ive changed the carbon, the fine pad mesh, added more mesh,added more carbon. cleaned the canister multiple times. I do 10-15 percent water changes once a week. However the debris never seems to go away. The day after i replace the filter media its clean but within 24 hours even before feeding, all the debris is back.



Any idea on how to keep this thing clean?

Do you have the filter media in the right order? If you put the fine mesh before the larger sponge the fine mesh will collect everything and clog up quicker.

I would agree that your problem lies with the fact that you are overstocked. I would agree with the last poster albeit in a less insulting manner, column tanks are not everyone's first choice and that tank does seem to have quite a lot of fish in it. Do you have a test kit out of curiosity? Definitely start by siphoning the gravel. A lot of the debris will be there and perhaps slowly start in increase the amount of water you change a week to perhaps 30%. The frequency is fine at weekly.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Brookster123]

Tree man hit it.. youll need too step up the maintenance routine.. big time.. weekly 50% wc's, bi weekly grave/substrate cleaning. Additional filtration would not be a bad idea, an aquaclear 70 stuffed with floss could catch all that floating crap over night...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[PNWaquarist]

I wouldn't say he's overstocked until I knew the identities of those 30 fish.

Still, the level of detritus suggests that if you're not overstocked, you're under-cleaning. You may want to do two water changes per week. Maybe 20-25% each time. Do a heavy cleaning of half of the gravel with the gravel vac on one of those days and light skimming of the entire substrate on the other day. The following week, clean the other half of the gravel thoroughly. When you get the detritus under control, you can scale back to one 30-50% water change per week.

 

[Alexp08]

I do have a test kit, i did it about a week ago it everything was great. Most of the tanks inhabitants are no bigger then neon tetras. Except for one dwarf groumia and 3 mollies. 14 of the fish have o ly been in there for 4 days as im holding them there till my 55 gal is ready. The substrate is sand and i do vacuum that when i do my changes. Yes the filter media is in the rigjt order. And i love my hex tank for these little guys live it and its perfect for liw lecel, med and high level fish for a good mix.