Fancy goldfish help.

[Mumma.of.two]

You said to cut my old filters up and put them in the filter housing ? That won't slow down the water flow through the filter ?

It might a bit but you can remove the old media after the new media is seeded with bacteria. Usually 2-4 weeks.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I know there are some cold water plecos out there, but other than that do u guys know of any other algae eaters I could add to the tank to help with clean up or is that not neccesary ?

Algae eaters are not necessary. It's usually not recommended to have any plecos with goldfish because some can suck the slime coats off the fish. A balanced tank won't have algae in excess. Are you seeing brown dust like algae in your tank?

 

[ScottyAllen]

I had some brown dust like algae. I scrubbed it off and did a 50% water change.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I had some brown dust like algae. I scrubbed it off and did a 50% water change.

Sounds like diatoms. They will use up their food source in a month or two and burn out. Nothing to worry about just an eyesore for now.

 

[ScottyAllen]

What is a uv sterilizer ? Should I get one ?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

A UV sterilizer is a UV bulb in a tube that you pump water through. It kills any bacteria, small organisms and algae in the water that flows through it. Not an essential IMO. I have one built into a canister filter and I turned it off because it wasn't doing anything (my tank was healthy and algae free without it).

 

[ScottyAllen]

Awesome. I'll hold off on that for now. I really want to upgrade to a canister filter , but I think I'm gonna wait til I get my new tank. Are canister filters a lot of work to maintain and are they expensive to maintain etc. Etc. ?

 

[ScottyAllen]

What size is your tank and what do you have ? We have been looking for something at least 120 gallons.

 

[ScottyAllen]

I have another aquarium with a few silver dollars and an eclipse catfish. I feed them shrimp pellets, can the goldfish eat those too ?

 

[jlk]

I feed real bits of shrimp without a problem. The pellets are probably ok on occasion but just make sure they dont blow up huge when wet or your goldies may have some tummy issues. Opt for the real thing instead if possible (a single large cooked shrimp can last all wk) to limit problems related to food.

 

[ScottyAllen]

Sweeet ! I'll grab a few shrimp. I've really been trying to give them a huge variety of stuff. I've been giving them broccoli everyday. They absolutely LOVE it ! And they also get either flakes or crisps daily as well. And I've been mixing in frozen blood worms and goldfish granules too. How's that sound ? Is there anything I can toss in the mix ?

 

[jlk]

I honestly would skip the flakes & the crisps & look for some other brands of food. They both encourage air-gulping which is not good for goldies. Bloodworms & brine shrimp are fine as is other types meat-type items (bits shrimp, salmon, tuna, etc). A friend of mine actually feeds her goldies bits of cooked chicken but I cant say i have tried this! You can try different brands of sinking foods such as Hikari Saki, Lionhead or Purple, NLS goldfish pellets or Pro-Gold (goldfish connection) for variety. For other variety, you can try various veggies & fruits to see what they like.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Awesome. I'll hold off on that for now. I really want to upgrade to a canister filter , but I think I'm gonna wait til I get my new tank. Are canister filters a lot of work to maintain and are they expensive to maintain etc. Etc. ?

Canisters are awesome and absolutely worth it IMO/E. Less cleaning, more room for media, a choice in media, fits under the tank, quiet and, once you've bought it, not expensive to maintain. I replace half the floss in one tray ( out of 3-4 trays) every 1-3 months. Cost a few dollars to do 3 canisters. All other media I just rinse in tank water.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

What size is your tank and what do you have ? We have been looking for something at least 120 gallons.

I have a 40g goldfish tank (that I'm swapping with my 70g when needed (don't worry jlk nitrates are at or under 20ppm between water changes every 5-7 days )) and a sunsun (aka aquatop) canister filter rated 2000L/hour. Cost me $80 on eBay. Works great. I have the end of the intake pipe right at substrate level and it sucks up just about all waste. I don't need to vacuum anymore because there's enough flow to disturb the waste. For a 120g your looking at 1or 2 fluval fx5 or a sump set up. IMO a HOBs wouldn't be worth it on a tank that size.

 

[ScottyAllen]

What is a hobs? And u would reccomend I get two canister filters for a 120 gallon ?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

What is a hobs? And u would reccomend I get two canister filters for a 120 gallon ?

Sorry. HOB = hang on back filter. How many depends on what filter and what stock you have. If you have a 120g with 11 large fancy goldfish you'll need massive amounts of filtration. An fx5 filters 900g an hour if I remember correctly. So you'd need one of them and some thing else powerful or two of them running simultaneously.

 

[ScottyAllen]

As far as the canister filters go , are they expensive to maintain and replace the filters or media ? Are they as quiet as a hang on back filter ?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

As far as the canister filters go , are they expensive to maintain and replace the filters or media ? Are they as quiet as a hang on back filter ?

Not at all. You don't need to replace the media just like HOBs. I put floss in mine that I replace occasionally but that's only a few dollars every few months. As far as noise they are quieter than HOBs. No water fall sound. If you keep them in the cabinet underneath they are complexly silent. Can't even hear the motor unless you stick your head in the door. Lol.
The initial set up costs more with canisters (more media, etc) but after that that same as any other filter.

 

[ScottyAllen]

Hey. Do you guys have any advice for cleaning artificial plants ? I keep scrapping that brown sludge off the sides of the tank and my declarations, but I was wondering if there was any good way to clean the plants. Their kind of a pain in the *** to clean lol.

 

[Fishy Aston]

Get a cleaner fish they will clean them.

If you keep the plants in the water then should grow some algae on them thats a good thing.

Normal Imo