oh gosh... Clumsy stupid me...

[sudz]

I think i just wrote the definition of overfeeding. I went to flick open the lid of my fishfood... and the whole bloody top of it came off and spilled 1/4 of the can in there. I used my fishnet to get alot of it out... but its still indecently full. Looks like i'll be changing my filter tonight.

times like this i'm glad i'm overstocked! At least the fish that don't normally recieve alot of food will be getting it!

Most of my neons are trying hard not to float to the surface... :S THey overeat like mad.

Any ideas?

 

[Jchillin]

Not much more you can do other than some intense gravel vac'ing in the accumulated areas, which may be a moot point if these were flakes.

 

[sudz]

Flakes indeed. I'm thinking i'm going to take my power head and aim it at the gravel, kick up some of the uneaten flakes, let my filter and skimming with a fishnet handle the majority of it. I have a semi decent "cleanup" crew: a clown loach, a CAE and two Tijii cory's. I find the dwarf gourami's pick away at the dirt too.

Sound ok? or is kicking up that rubbish a bad idea?

 

[Jchillin]

LOL...if you can stand having your tank deeply overwhelmed with mulm...go for it. I personally wouldn't worry, a good gravel vac should take care of it. The rest will just dissolve anyway.

 

[sudz]

mulm? Whats that?

The brown cruddy stuff? as soon as i notice a fish start to stir it up, i vac the tank. I just did a few days ago, so it shouldn't be bad?

The only thing that annoys me is the floating bits of leaves. clogs the filter inlet.

 

[rich311k]

I skim my leaves off with a net. You are right they are annoying. The mulm is the fish poop and stuff that accumulates in the gravel.

 

[crazycat]

i skim my leaves (and duckweed--sigh) off the top too--i use one of those kitchen skimmers--works like a charm. i also put sponge prefilters on both of my filters and both powerheads--it means that i don't have to clean the filter as often--which a big messy job--and all i do is rinse out the sponges when they get clogged and start reducing the flow from the filter. with my tank, i rinse the filter sponges about 2x/wk.

 

[MREAGLEWO1]

couldnt you just do a pwc? wouldnt that clear up the mess and keep the levels rising from the dissolving amounts of food?

 

[sudz]

twice a week! wow! i rinse out my AC 70 once or twice a month! Find my water stays clearer that way too. Every time i take apart my filter, i get a mini bacterial bloom, water gets cloudy. Annoying, but fairly harmless. I was thinking of getting the foam filter for my powerhead (201)

Wonding if its worth it to make a home made jabber for it instead.... *ponders*...

 

[BrianNY]

I like crazycats routine much better. Sponge prefilters are so easy to clean. Clean filters promote a healthier tank.

If you're getting a bacterial bloom after cleaning your filter, it means you're killing off too large a portion of the nitrifying bacterial colony at the same time. You should only be rinsing the bio media from your filters with tank water.

 

[sudz]

gotcha, less cleaning of the filter, more often. I do use tank water, but i really give it hell to get out all the particles.

 

[Tiffi]

Don't give it hell, just gently squeeze it out. That the sponges look brown is normal and you shouldn't try to get them back to white again . I clean my canister filter about once every two months (but I have an Eheim prefilter for the big dirt).

I wouldn't worry about the food in there too much. Just vacuum some away tonight, don't give your fishes any food for the next few days, monitor your water parameters, and do some pwc for one week.

 

[nomadofthehills]

Don't use tap water to clean your sponges, use tank or dechlorinated water.
Also, my tank gets cloudy after cleaning my sponges, for 1 hour or so, but it is because of the jump that falls off the sponge when I take them out.