joeynuna
Aquarium Advice Regular
I've been keeping aquiriums for 7 years. This post is about things we've learned and preventing our own problems.
Over cleaning, over feeding
- Thread starter joeynuna
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OP
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joeynuna
Aquarium Advice Regular
When I started this hobby 7 years ago, I was diligent in checking parameters, feeding 3x a day but only what they eat within 1 minute, cleaning the tank once a week. Yet I was always scooping dead fish out of my tanks. Yes, I know certain rules must be adhered to. About 4 years into this wonderful hobby I went through a horrible divorce. During this time I battled with depression. Nothing serious but I was dejected. I went from cleaning the tank every week to every month, then to every other month. I went from feeding the 3x daily to once a week. This went on for 3 years. I never lost a fish during that time frame, no fish became sick, and the fish were happy and active. Now that I’m doing better I clean the tank every other month, I never check parameters unless something is wrong, and I feed three times a week. Think about this, in the wild fish do not eat three square meals a day. Fish are scavengers in their natural environment. I’m sure people will dislike this post but results speak for themselves.
Joeynuna; I like your post.
Filters clean better when they are allowed to gunk up and it is not good to over feed
Too much cleaning (filter / gravel vac. / WC) doesn't let nature balance things out.
I clean my filters out once every two weeks.. All that means is that I squeeze out the filter sponge in a bucket.
As for feeding, I have to do it a little more often than you. I keep some larger cichlids mixed with a lot of smaller fish. Got to keep the big ones satisfied so they don't make dinner of the little ones.
Filters clean better when they are allowed to gunk up and it is not good to over feed
Too much cleaning (filter / gravel vac. / WC) doesn't let nature balance things out.
I clean my filters out once every two weeks.. All that means is that I squeeze out the filter sponge in a bucket.
As for feeding, I have to do it a little more often than you. I keep some larger cichlids mixed with a lot of smaller fish. Got to keep the big ones satisfied so they don't make dinner of the little ones.
OP
OP
joeynuna
Aquarium Advice Regular
Yes, agreed. I clean the tank every other month but I clean the media every month.
Funken_A
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm a once a week guy.. But i have a high tech planted aquarium... So without weekly water changes and debris vaccuum my powerful grow lights would cause me all kinds of issues.
Before I upgraded my tank I had it stocked with plastic decor, I would clean it every 6 to 8 weeks and top it off every 2 weeks
My biggest screw up was bleaching my plastic decor but not rinsing it enough. Something I did every 4 to 6 months for almost 20 years.... Got lazy must of had some trapped bleach water or something because I killed my entire tank.
If you bleach rinse rinse and then rinse some more.. then rinse one more time
if you clean your filter medium do it in a bucket of water you just took form your tank so you can preserve the healthy bacteria. DO not run your filter under tap water unless you have more filtration where healthy bacteria can live because chlorine can kill the bacteria you want thriving in your filtration
Before I upgraded my tank I had it stocked with plastic decor, I would clean it every 6 to 8 weeks and top it off every 2 weeks
My biggest screw up was bleaching my plastic decor but not rinsing it enough. Something I did every 4 to 6 months for almost 20 years.... Got lazy must of had some trapped bleach water or something because I killed my entire tank.
If you bleach rinse rinse and then rinse some more.. then rinse one more time
if you clean your filter medium do it in a bucket of water you just took form your tank so you can preserve the healthy bacteria. DO not run your filter under tap water unless you have more filtration where healthy bacteria can live because chlorine can kill the bacteria you want thriving in your filtration
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I think we are all on the same page here. Old school fundamental tank maintenance. Although technical advances have been made that have improved the aqua hobby; without the noted established cleaning and replacing routines failure follows.
25-30% weekly, I run 2 aquaclear 110's so I alternate cleaning one every 3rd water change never both at the same time and that's just the sponge and tubing as you have to make sure the filter runs adequately as if you take care of your filter it will take care of you, as far as the op losing fish constantly when doing them weekly it was probably cause of over cleaning /not letting the tank mature enough, I might be wrong it wouldn't be the first but you can definitely over do the cleaning as I too had fish dying because i was doing 50-60% changes weekly, filters weekly, 100% gravel vac weekly, glass /decor armaments everything, I was also over dosing prime as I thought you added the amount for the whole tank not just the amount of water going back into the tank (bucket method not a python, as with a python you do treat the whole tank cause you can't "pre treat" the water before it goes into the tank) , I could do one every 2 weeks but my plants start to hate me and look sickly if I don't do them every week/week and a half, as far as parameters goes I could definitely do one every month, I do feed 3 x a day though with one day of fasting but I think I'm going to go with 2 days of fasting as a hungry fish is a happy fish, still trying to get my plants to actually grow without my fish eating them, was told I have to stock the heck out of the tank with plants and that should help. But yes you can definitely kill fish if you over clean the tank, you should never have to do more than 30% pwc unless the tank is stocked with super sensitive fish, example: discus, or if something is majorly wrong then you should do 50%-75% over a long period of time throughout the day should take about 5-6 hours to do a tank flush, never do it in one go.
As far as filters working better when they are gunked up I disagree, yes they do filter slower which in theory filters twice as it passes through the filter sponges at a slower rate but I run my filters on high but they are modified with filter floss which also in theory is kinda the same as a gunked up filter just not dirty and waste filled as it restricts the flow a bit bit, I don't like the idea of a gunked up sponge putting stuff back into my tank, also a gunked up sponge leads to high nitrates.
As far as filters working better when they are gunked up I disagree, yes they do filter slower which in theory filters twice as it passes through the filter sponges at a slower rate but I run my filters on high but they are modified with filter floss which also in theory is kinda the same as a gunked up filter just not dirty and waste filled as it restricts the flow a bit bit, I don't like the idea of a gunked up sponge putting stuff back into my tank, also a gunked up sponge leads to high nitrates.
Potluck, I also run two A.C. 110's and pretty much follow the same cleaning routine that you do. When I said "gunked up" I didn't mean clogged up. Lol.
You know as well as I do that the A.C. sponges fill up with unwanted waste and nutrients in turn beneficial bacteria thrives there too. That's why we only squeeze the sponges out every 2-3 weeks.
I run the 110's wide open like you do, and have never let the filter material clog up enough to noticeably alter the flow rate.
For the newbies, if your tanks have fully cycled, a way to tell if your filtration is functioning properly, give the filter media the old smell test on WC day.
The media should have a clean, almost chemical odor. If it smells rotten / fishy then something is out of balance.
You know as well as I do that the A.C. sponges fill up with unwanted waste and nutrients in turn beneficial bacteria thrives there too. That's why we only squeeze the sponges out every 2-3 weeks.
I run the 110's wide open like you do, and have never let the filter material clog up enough to noticeably alter the flow rate.
For the newbies, if your tanks have fully cycled, a way to tell if your filtration is functioning properly, give the filter media the old smell test on WC day.
The media should have a clean, almost chemical odor. If it smells rotten / fishy then something is out of balance.
